“Moralizing” is now mostly regarded as a pejorative. How did this start? The term is often – especially from the left – seen as the purview of the pursed-lips privileged prude who disregards the material grounds and social complexities of capitalist life. To be moralizing is to be naive, preposterous and even apolitical. Thus, while many want to be ethical humans, few want to appear to be moralizing under any circumstances. In this presentation, we examine how we have gotten to this point and ask if this prevalent dualism between ethics (as good) and morals (as bad) is not itself an oversimplification neoliberal theory thrives on. We reformulate moralizing as a situated, concrete form of custom- and community-building in a shared planetary situation of ongoing catastrophe. We argue that this kind of moralizing might be essential for the long breath that transformative politics require in today’s dire situation.
This workshop is organized by Prof. Dr. Barbara Schellhammer and Lena Schützle (Intercultural Social Transformation).
We invite students, colleagues, and pro philosophia e.V. members to join the discussion.
Please register via zgf@hfph.de . The Workshop will be held in English.