The Dynamics of Moral Revolutions – Prelude to Future Investigations and Interventions

Springer Science and Business Media LLC - Tập 22 Số 3 - Trang 779-792 - 2019
Eriksen, Cecilie1
1Department of Philosophy and the History of Ideas, Aarhus University, Aarhus C, Denmark

Tóm tắt

What drives moral revolutions like the legal abolition of slavery and women’s right to vote? The importance of having an answer to this question lies in the hope of it being able to help us create moral progress in the future. This can be changing harmful practices and traditions like honour killing, child marriage, genital mutilation and political corruption. Furthermore, a wrong or insufficient picture of the dynamics of change, held by e.g. politicians or NGOs and incorporated into laws and institutions, can lead to misfired inventions, wasted resources and possibly human harm. If we lack conceptual clarity and empirical insights, we will have trouble making good decisions. However, before answering the above question we need to consider what answering it entails. This article therefore discusses which form an understanding of the dynamics of moral revolutions should take in order to best help us create progress. I do so by critically investigating one currently dominant way of approaching this issue, namely the idea that we should produce a general explanatory theory of the fundamental dynamics of change. In order to expose the problems in this approach, I engage with a contemporary example of it, namely Appiah’s work on moral revolutions, and demonstrate that honour codes cannot have the explanatory role, which Appiah claims for them. The article concludes by pointing to alternative models of understanding the dynamics of moral revolutions and changes.

Tài liệu tham khảo

Andersen J G (2011) Borgerne og lovene 2010. Syddansk Universitetsforlag, Odense citation_title=The honor code: how moral revolutions happen. W; citation_inbook_title=W; citation_publication_date=2010; citation_id=CR2; citation_author=KA Appiah; citation_publisher=Norton & Company citation_title=The concept of work – ancient, medieval, and modern; citation_publication_date=1992; citation_id=CR3; citation_author=H Applebaum; citation_publisher=State University of New York Press citation_title=Norms in the wild – how to diagnose, measure, and change social norms; citation_publication_date=2017; citation_id=CR4; citation_author=C Bicchieri; citation_publisher=Oxford University Press citation_title=The honor code: how moral revolutions happen by Kwame Anthony Appiah – review. The Guardian 30.10; citation_publication_date=2010; citation_id=CR5; citation_author=S Blackburn Davis DB (2011) Honor thy honor. The New York Review of Books citation_journal_title=Mind; citation_title=Book reviews. The honor code: how moral revolutions happen; citation_author=D Demetriou; citation_volume=122; citation_issue=486; citation_publication_date=2013; citation_pages=509-514; citation_doi=10.1093/mind/fzt064; citation_id=CR7 Diamond C (2017) Slavery and Justice: Williams and Wiggins . In: Neges K et al (eds) Realism - relativism - constructivism. De Gruyter, pp 313–326 citation_title=The history of work; citation_publication_date=2010; citation_id=CR9; citation_author=R Donkin; citation_publisher=Palgrave Macmillian citation_title=De elendige; citation_publication_date=2013; citation_id=CR10; citation_author=I Dübeck; citation_publisher=Retshistoriske studier over samfundets marginaliserede. Jurist- og Økonomiforbundets Forlag citation_journal_title=J Appl Philos; citation_title=Book review: honor code: how moral revolutions happen; citation_author=J Fischer; citation_volume=28; citation_issue=1; citation_publication_date=2011; citation_pages=96-99; citation_doi=10.1111/j.1468-5930.2010.00510.x; citation_id=CR11 citation_journal_title=Philos Q; citation_title=The honor code: how moral revolutions happen, Contractualism and the foundations of morality, partiality; citation_author=M Gibb; citation_volume=64; citation_issue=254; citation_publication_date=2014; citation_pages=174-179; citation_doi=10.1093/pq/pqt022; citation_id=CR12 citation_journal_title=Crim Law Philos; citation_title=Should law improve morality?; citation_author=L Green; citation_volume=7; citation_publication_date=2013; citation_pages=473-494; citation_doi=10.1007/s11572-013-9248-3; citation_id=CR13 Haidt J (2010) In the eyes of others. New York Times citation_journal_title=NWR ; citation_title=Three metaphors towards a conception of moral change; citation_author=N Hämälainen; citation_volume=6; citation_issue=2; citation_publication_date=2017; citation_pages=47-69; citation_id=CR15 citation_journal_title=Man, New Series; citation_title=Honour and shame: problems in the comparative analysis of moral systems; citation_author=M Herzfeld; citation_volume=15; citation_issue=2; citation_publication_date=1980; citation_pages=339-351; citation_id=CR16 Hopf T (2017) Change in international practices. Eur J International Rel:1–25 citation_title=Inventing human rights: a history; citation_publication_date=2008; citation_id=CR18; citation_author=L Hunt; citation_publisher=W. W. Norton & Company King R (2008) Brunelleschi’s dome: the story of the great Cathedral in Florence. Penguin Random House, London citation_title=The ethical project; citation_publication_date=2011; citation_id=CR20; citation_author=P Kitcher; citation_publisher=Harvard University Press citation_title=Work – the last 1,000 years; citation_publication_date=2018; citation_id=CR21; citation_author=A Komlosy; citation_publisher=Verso citation_journal_title=Ethics Int Aff; citation_title=The honor code: how moral revolutions happen; citation_author=SR Krause; citation_volume=25; citation_issue=4; citation_publication_date=2011; citation_pages=475-488; citation_doi=10.1017/S0892679411000384; citation_id=CR22 citation_title=The structure of scientific revolutions; citation_publication_date=1970; citation_id=CR23; citation_author=T Kuhn; citation_publisher=The University of Chicago Press citation_journal_title=Ethic Theory Moral Prac; citation_title=Honor and moral revolution; citation_author=V Kumar, R Campbell; citation_volume=19; citation_publication_date=2016; citation_pages=147-159; citation_doi=10.1007/s10677-015-9593-5; citation_id=CR24 Laidlaw J (2011) Morality and Honour. Anthropology of this Century Issue 1. citation_title=Radical Hope: ethics in the face of cultural devastation; citation_publication_date=2008; citation_id=CR25; citation_author=J Lear; citation_publisher=Harvard University Press citation_journal_title=In Jyllands-Posten, Sektion; citation_title=Røgfri fremtid kræver handling nu; citation_author=S Lose; citation_volume=1; citation_publication_date=2018; citation_pages=19; citation_id=CR26 citation_journal_title=In Jyllands-Posten, Sektion; citation_title=Danskerne retter ind; citation_author=L Malacinski; citation_volume=1; citation_publication_date=2011; citation_pages=6-7; citation_id=CR27 citation_journal_title=Metaphilosophy; citation_title=The idea of moral Progress; citation_author=MM Moody-Adams; citation_volume=30; citation_issue=3; citation_publication_date=1999; citation_pages=168-183; citation_doi=10.1111/1467-9973.00120; citation_id=CR28 citation_title=Fieldwork in familiar places: morality, culture and philosophy; citation_publication_date=2002; citation_id=CR29; citation_author=MM Moody-Adams; citation_publisher=Havard University Press citation_journal_title=Ethic Theory Moral Prac; citation_title=Moral Progress and human agency; citation_author=MM Moody-Adams; citation_volume=20; citation_publication_date=2017; citation_pages=154-168; citation_doi=10.1007/s10677-016-9748-z; citation_id=CR30 Mandag Morgen, Tryg Fonden (2008). Fremtidens forebyggelse – ifølge danskerne. Huset Mandag Morgen, Copenhagen. (MM/TF 2008) Mandag Morgen, Tryg Fonden (2017) Mellem broccoli og bajere – forebyggelse ifølge danskerne. Huset Mandag Morgen, Copenhagen. (MM/TF 2017) citation_title=The global history of childhood reader; citation_publication_date=2012; citation_id=CR33; citation_publisher=Routledge citation_journal_title=Philos Phenomenol Res; citation_title=Moral Revolutions; citation_author=D Palmer, M Schagrin; citation_volume=39; citation_issue=2; citation_publication_date=1978; citation_pages=262-273; citation_doi=10.2307/2106984; citation_id=CR34 citation_journal_title=Issue; citation_title=You say you want a revolution? The Philosopher’s magazine; citation_author=M Pianalto; citation_volume=32; citation_publication_date=2011; citation_pages=103-104; citation_id=CR35 citation_journal_title=Soc Theory Pract; citation_title=The structure of moral revolutions; citation_author=NJ Pleasants; citation_volume=44; citation_issue=4; citation_publication_date=2018; citation_pages=567-592; citation_doi=10.5840/soctheorpract201891747; citation_id=CR36 citation_title=Becoming sinners; citation_publication_date=2004; citation_id=CR37; citation_author=J Robbins; citation_publisher=University of California Press citation_journal_title=Anthropological Theory; citation_title=Positioning theory: an introduction; citation_author=NG Schiller; citation_volume=16; citation_issue=2–3; citation_publication_date=2016; citation_pages=133-145; citation_doi=10.1177/1463499616663792; citation_id=CR38 citation_journal_title=Anthropological Q; citation_title=The honor code: how moral revolutions happen (review); citation_author=Y Stainova; citation_volume=84; citation_issue=4; citation_publication_date=2011; citation_pages=1063-1067; citation_doi=10.1353/anq.2011.0054; citation_id=CR39 Viskum B (2015) In the name of the law: how consistency can enhance legal legitimacy. In Andersen P et al. (eds) Law & Legitimacy. Djøf Forlag, Copenhagen, pp 57–72