Details
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 395-409 |
| Number of pages | 15 |
| Journal | Ethics and Social Welfare |
| Volume | 15 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| Early online date | 19 Aug 2021 |
| Publication status | Published - 2021 |
Abstract
Ethical relations to the past demand a conscious confrontation of the past. In this sense we will examine the close connection between past events and moral concepts and their influence on current moral discourses. We presume a weak moral objectivism, since strong moral objectivism fails to take account of relevant particulars of a given context, now or in the past, and since it might carry a tendency to dogmatism and rigidity. A stringent moral relativism, on the other hand, can lead to the trivialisation and denial of the violation of universal ethical values. From a philosophical standpoint, it will be argued that moral judgments about past actions are appropriate and necessary, followed by reflections on the significance of universalist and relativist positions in social science discourses and from psychoanalytic social psychology.
Keywords
- human rights, moral learning, moral relativism, moral universalism, psychohistory, Transgenerational transmissions
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Social Sciences(all)
- Sociology and Political Science
- Arts and Humanities(all)
- Philosophy
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In: Ethics and Social Welfare, Vol. 15, No. 4, 2021, p. 395-409.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Are Moral Judgments About the Past a Necessity or Unethical?
T2 - Reflections on the Meaning of Universalistic and Relativistic Ethical Positions
AU - Wulfekühler, Heidrun
AU - Moré, Angela
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Ethical relations to the past demand a conscious confrontation of the past. In this sense we will examine the close connection between past events and moral concepts and their influence on current moral discourses. We presume a weak moral objectivism, since strong moral objectivism fails to take account of relevant particulars of a given context, now or in the past, and since it might carry a tendency to dogmatism and rigidity. A stringent moral relativism, on the other hand, can lead to the trivialisation and denial of the violation of universal ethical values. From a philosophical standpoint, it will be argued that moral judgments about past actions are appropriate and necessary, followed by reflections on the significance of universalist and relativist positions in social science discourses and from psychoanalytic social psychology.
AB - Ethical relations to the past demand a conscious confrontation of the past. In this sense we will examine the close connection between past events and moral concepts and their influence on current moral discourses. We presume a weak moral objectivism, since strong moral objectivism fails to take account of relevant particulars of a given context, now or in the past, and since it might carry a tendency to dogmatism and rigidity. A stringent moral relativism, on the other hand, can lead to the trivialisation and denial of the violation of universal ethical values. From a philosophical standpoint, it will be argued that moral judgments about past actions are appropriate and necessary, followed by reflections on the significance of universalist and relativist positions in social science discourses and from psychoanalytic social psychology.
KW - human rights
KW - moral learning
KW - moral relativism
KW - moral universalism
KW - psychohistory
KW - Transgenerational transmissions
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85113752430&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/17496535.2021.1966486
DO - 10.1080/17496535.2021.1966486
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85113752430
VL - 15
SP - 395
EP - 409
JO - Ethics and Social Welfare
JF - Ethics and Social Welfare
SN - 1749-6535
IS - 4
ER -