{"id":843,"date":"2020-01-27T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-01-27T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/?p=843"},"modified":"2020-01-26T08:59:40","modified_gmt":"2020-01-26T08:59:40","slug":"moralism-wins-morality-loses-moralism-as-a-vice-in-the-public-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/moralism-wins-morality-loses-moralism-as-a-vice-in-the-public-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"Moralism wins, morality loses. Moralism as a vice in the public debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Federico Zuolo<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Back in the 20th <\/sup>century, it was not uncommon to hear a leftist accusing a conservative of being \u201cmoralist\u201d. Indeed, conservatives were attacked for their pruderies, bigotry and unjustified moralist worries about sexual liberation, drugs, female role, and so on; while a common tenet of the Marxist culture was that ideals were to be advanced not in terms of moral values, but rather to the extent that they were coherent with historical progress and the interests of the working class. In sum, the charge of moralism and a worry on the excess and misuse of morality was a prerogative of the leftist criticisms of the conservative culture. Nowadays the situation is \u2013 as it were \u2013 topsy-turvy.<\/p>\n

Although this situation pervades the American debate about Trump and Trumpism, its origin perhaps dates back to Berlusconi\u2019s era and in particular his government in early 2000s. In that period Italian leftist opposition drew on moral (and moralistic) arguments to accuse Berlusconi not only of public vices (corruption, conflict of interest, use of public goods for personal purposes, and so on) but also of being prone to other personal vices. His \u201celegant dinners\u201d \u2013 as he self-indulgently dubbed these parties involving many young women and very few powerful men \u2013 inflamed the leftist public opinion not only for their clear political vices but also for their blatant display of private vices. Ironically, some cheeky commentators defended Berlusconi from these attacks by retorting the old argument and replying that the leftist opposition was swamped in moralistic attitudes that unduly limited the personal freedom of Mr. Berlusconi (and of real Italians!). Explaining why and how progressive opposition came to rely on these arguments, instead of using other more political ones, would require a long discourse. Nowadays, many Italian conservatives charge leftist with the accuse of being buonisti<\/em> (literally do-gooders). By this they entail that leftist are phoney do-gooders, namely people who preach universal values \u2013 in particular in favour of migrants \u2013 but are not willing to bear the costs of these values (in particular of migration). This charge is not only about the vice of hypocrisy but also about the supposed excess of moral demands, in particular in favour of migrants. It is a charge of moralism. Hence, leftist now are seen as moralists (besides being hypocrite) and conservatives herald the battle for more freedom against the strictures of morality (in its moralistic fashion).<\/p>\n

Whatever the winner in this political and verbal controversy is, we should ask why moralism has such a bad press irrespective of whether it is an accuse coming from the right or from the left. In sum, why is moralism a public vice that all parties shun? Isn\u2019t moralism a form of moral concern, which everybody should welcome insofar as it is a moral concern? What\u2019s wrong with moralism that makes all those being accused of if so unwilling to accept this label?<\/p>\n

Our answer is pretty straightforward: the problem with moralism is precisely that it is a vice. To be more specific, we take it that mo<\/em>ralism is the vice of exceeding the boundaries of morality<\/em>, i.e., an attitude in which morality exceeds its prerogatives in some way concerning the assessment of actions. This may mean that one, when judging another\u2019s deeds, requires too much<\/em> of them, as if they were supposed to go well beyond the call of duty, even to their own damage; or, that one requires from another to stick inflexibly<\/em> to a moral principle no matter what other considerations may be at stake, both coming from specific facts which call for an adjustment of the principle to the situation, and from non-moral requirement posed, for instance, by manners, personal values or taste, which may at times provide more relevant reasons. Finally, think of the attitude which is likely to be the most commonly associated with moralism, i.e., that of expressing a judgment without being entitled to do so. We might call this the \u201cwho are you to judge\u201d kind of moralism.<\/p>\n

In other words, moralism is a multifaceted vice, which can be expressed by a number of vicious attitudes. Being a moralist, that is, can take alternatively the form of being overdemanding<\/em>, rigid<\/em>, absolutist<\/em>, or arrogant<\/em>, in the literal sense of arrogating the capacity to pass judgment on others.<\/p>\n

It can be helpful, however, not to mistake moralism for other cognate concepts which \u2013 despite resembling it \u2013 are in fact different violations of a proper use of morality. \u00a0A hypocrite, for instance, may lack self-assessment and display misplaced self-indulgence without necessarily being moralist towards others. Paternalism, in turn, insofar as it implies interfering with someone else\u2019s moral conduct in light of a supposed authority, may be at times justified by a legitimate authority someone has, say, over their own minor children. Puritanism, which may be mistaken for overdemandigness, need not necessarily lead to being judgmental (and thus moralistic) towards others, but it can simply imply sticking to an extremely demanding moral code. Even the moral grandstanding of public figures \u2013 who aim to convince others that they are morally respectable, out of vanity or interest \u2013 can at most correlate with moralism, but it neither implies nor is implicated by it. Although all of these attitudes involve misuses or abuses of morality, failing to notice the difference between them and moralism may jeopardize one\u2019s chances to spot genuine moralism when it is at play, and thus to counter moralistic attacks with the right weapons.<\/p>\n

That morality is limited and has boundaries does not entail a depreciation of its value and authority. On the contrary, it is when legitimacy is assigned to trespassing the boundaries of morality, therefore allowing morality to be confused or conflated with moralism, that the binding force and authoritativeness of morality gradually fades.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Picture: Finger Mobile 7 by J. E. Theriot from Flickr CC BY 2.0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Federico Zuolo         Back in the 20th century, it was not uncommon to hear a leftist accusing a conservative of being \u201cmoralist\u201d. Indeed, conservatives were attacked for […]","protected":false},"author":1319,"featured_media":845,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"A new post by Vaccarezza and Zuolo \"Moralism wins, morality loses. Moralism as a vice in the public debate\" on Open for Debate","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[19],"tags":[135,216,215,7,63],"custom_author":[214],"class_list":["post-843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-open-for-debate","tag-moral-criticism","tag-moralism","tag-morality","tag-politics","tag-vice","custom_author-vaccarezza-maria-silvia"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8KPlM-dB","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":486,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/improving-moral-education-through-neuroscience\/","url_meta":{"origin":843,"position":0},"title":"Improving moral education through neuroscience","author":"Alessandra Tanesini","date":"August 13, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Thanks to the rapid development of science and technology, scholars interested in morality now have more sophisticated ways to do their research. To date, relatively simple methods, such as the interview and self-report questionnaire, have been available to study morality among human subjects. However, achievements in the field of neuroscience\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Open for Debate"","block_context":{"text":"Open for Debate","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/category\/open-for-debate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/533\/2018\/08\/fMRI.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/533\/2018\/08\/fMRI.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/533\/2018\/08\/fMRI.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":492,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/identifying-core-psychological-processes-with-neuroimaging-experiments-to-improve-education-in-practice\/","url_meta":{"origin":843,"position":1},"title":"Identifying Core Psychological Processes with Neuroimaging Experiments to Improve Education in Practice","author":"Alessandra Tanesini","date":"August 27, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Following my previous post\u00a0for this blog, in this post I discuss why examining psychological processes related to teaching and learning can provide useful insights about how to improve education. Many educators might think that they have their own tacit knowledge about how to make their classroom activities effective and that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Open for Debate"","block_context":{"text":"Open for Debate","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/category\/open-for-debate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":445,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/group-membership-moral-criticism-and-self-affirmation\/","url_meta":{"origin":843,"position":2},"title":"Group membership, moral criticism and self-affirmation","author":"Alessandra Tanesini","date":"May 21, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Public debates often involve issues that people find distressing, especially if they involve accusations of moral wrongdoing (even in the past) by groups with whom one identifies.\u00a0 People want to avoid guilt \u2018by association\u2019 and maintain a general belief that they are good, rational, and moral creatures. Avoiding such feelings\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Open for Debate"","block_context":{"text":"Open for Debate","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/category\/open-for-debate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/533\/2018\/05\/black-and-white-bridge-dancing-70402.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/533\/2018\/05\/black-and-white-bridge-dancing-70402.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/533\/2018\/05\/black-and-white-bridge-dancing-70402.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/533\/2018\/05\/black-and-white-bridge-dancing-70402.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/533\/2018\/05\/black-and-white-bridge-dancing-70402.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/533\/2018\/05\/black-and-white-bridge-dancing-70402.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":499,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/applying-findings-from-neuroscience-to-education-in-practice-and-educational-policy-making\/","url_meta":{"origin":843,"position":3},"title":"Applying Findings from Neuroscience to Education in Practice and Educational Policy-Making","author":"Alessandra Tanesini","date":"September 10, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"In this blog post, the last post of my post series, I intend to outline, by means of concrete examples, how findings from neuroscience can contribute practically to the improvement of education. As a prior teacher in moral education in Korean secondary schools, I was interested in how to effectively\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Open for Debate"","block_context":{"text":"Open for Debate","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/category\/open-for-debate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/533\/2018\/09\/Evstafiev-barocoa-school.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1527,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/the-ambivalence-of-cynicism\/","url_meta":{"origin":843,"position":4},"title":"The ambivalence of cynicism","author":"Alessandra Tanesini","date":"September 19, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Cynicism seems to have an ambivalent status. On the one hand, \u2018being cynical\u2019 might mean dogmatic scepticism about people\u2019s moral character. A cynic can be arrogant \u2013 too smart, too savvy, to be taken in by illusions the rest of us pathetically take to be the truth. Some cynics work\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Open for Debate"","block_context":{"text":"Open for Debate","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/category\/open-for-debate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/533\/2022\/09\/crazy-cake-08vpbfpq_II-unsplash.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/533\/2022\/09\/crazy-cake-08vpbfpq_II-unsplash.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/533\/2022\/09\/crazy-cake-08vpbfpq_II-unsplash.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/533\/2022\/09\/crazy-cake-08vpbfpq_II-unsplash.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/533\/2022\/09\/crazy-cake-08vpbfpq_II-unsplash.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/533\/2022\/09\/crazy-cake-08vpbfpq_II-unsplash.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":921,"url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/ethicists-hold-your-horses-part-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":843,"position":5},"title":"Ethicists, hold your horses (Part 2)","author":"Alessandra Tanesini","date":"June 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Fleur Jongepier\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Karin Jongsma In Part 1 we have argued that it\u2019s better if ethicists do not publish their takes on triage at this moment. A democratic\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Open for Debate"","block_context":{"text":"Open for Debate","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/category\/open-for-debate\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/533\/2020\/05\/lego.2_0_image003-300x169.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"meta_box":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/533\/2020\/01\/Theriot_finger_mobile_7.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1319"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=843"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":850,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/843\/revisions\/850"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=843"},{"taxonomy":"custom_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/openfordebate\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/custom_author?post=843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}