Moralism and Realism in Theorizing Social Norms
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N. P. Adams
Abstract
In Morality and Socially Constructed Norms, Valentini searches for a unifying principle that underlies whatever genuine obligations we might have to obey the norms of any and all social practices, ranging from line queueing norms, through offsides rules in soccer, to obligations not to break the law. I argue that this search is driven, and distorted, by a commitment to what Bernard Williams labeled the ‘morality system’. Once we see this, we should question the value of the unifying project. Most social norms can be considered on their own terms, as part of a rich and variegated ethical life, without subsuming them under the question of whether others’ moral rights are at stake. Similarly, political obligation needs to be understood in relation to the practical activity of politics, not as an abstract moral quandary.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Do Socially Constructed Norms have Moral Force? Précis to a Symposium
- Moralism and Realism in Theorizing Social Norms
- Two Types of Social Norms
- Political Obligations and Respect for Social Norms
- Must I Honor Your Convictions? On Laura Valentini’s Agency-Respect View
- Social Norms and Obligation: Rescuing the Joint Commitment Account
- General Part
- Moral Paradigms of Intergenerational Solidarity in the Coronavirus-Pandemic
- The Weight of History After October 7 and the Gaza War: Shaping a New Future
- Germany, Israel’s Security, and the Fight Against Anti-Semitism: Shadows from the Past and Current Tensions
- Kantian Rights and the Zionist Settlement in Palestine
- War and Self-Defense: Some Reflections on the War on Gaza
- Discussion
- What is Classical Realism?
- Do We Learn Anything from Kirshner?
- Classical Realism is not ‘Everything, Everywhere, All at Once’
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Do Socially Constructed Norms have Moral Force? Précis to a Symposium
- Moralism and Realism in Theorizing Social Norms
- Two Types of Social Norms
- Political Obligations and Respect for Social Norms
- Must I Honor Your Convictions? On Laura Valentini’s Agency-Respect View
- Social Norms and Obligation: Rescuing the Joint Commitment Account
- General Part
- Moral Paradigms of Intergenerational Solidarity in the Coronavirus-Pandemic
- The Weight of History After October 7 and the Gaza War: Shaping a New Future
- Germany, Israel’s Security, and the Fight Against Anti-Semitism: Shadows from the Past and Current Tensions
- Kantian Rights and the Zionist Settlement in Palestine
- War and Self-Defense: Some Reflections on the War on Gaza
- Discussion
- What is Classical Realism?
- Do We Learn Anything from Kirshner?
- Classical Realism is not ‘Everything, Everywhere, All at Once’
