Moral and Moralism in Public Debates: a moral philosophical view
Talk in the Colloquium Fundamentale series
Abstract
According to a common critique of our times, social discussions—e.g., about what we eat (“organic-vegan”), how we travel (“flight-shame”), speak (“gender-neutral”), dress (“fair trade”), heat our homes (“heat pump”), or invest our money (“ethically”) —are increasingly morally charged, unduly moralistic, indeed thoroughly moralistic; and that this is bad, misguided, a problem.
But is that true?
To find out, we must ask two questions that fall within the realm of moral philosophy:
- What exactly is moralism anyway? and
- What is actually wrong (and right) about it?
In this talk, I would like to use these questions to shed light on the role of morality and the phenomenon of moralism in public debates from the perspective of moral philosophy. This will allow us to identify some simplifications and misunderstandings that sometimes underlie the widespread diagnosis of our times.
(Talk in german)
