Institutions and Moral Demandingness
-
Jelena Belic
Abstract
How much should we sacrifice for the sake of others? While some argue in favour of significant sacrifices, others contend that morality cannot demand too much from individuals. Recently, the debate has taken a new turn by focusing on moral demands under non-ideal conditions in which the essential interests of many people are set back. Under such conditions, in some views, moral theories must require extreme moral demands as anything less is incompatible with equal consideration of everyone’s interests. The insistence on the extremeness of moral demands, however, presupposes a simplistic account of non-ideal conditions as characterized mainly by the non-compliance of many individuals. Non-ideal conditions are also characterized by institutional non-compliance, whereby institutions often do not do what they ought to do. Institutional non-compliance is significant as it increases the size of moral demands significantly, thereby exacerbating the conflict between these demands and the self-interest of individuals subjected to these institutions. I argue that individuals have a meta-interest in not experiencing such internal conflicts as these can undermine their affirmation of self-respect. Meta-interest can be advanced by adopting the promotion of just institutions as an ultimate aim, as such institutions lessen the conflict and, accordingly, enable us to live more harmonious lives. Moreover, the promotion of just institutions allows us to affirm our sense of self-respect under non-ideal conditions too. Because the promotion of just institutions is in our self-interest, this is not an extreme but a moderate moral demand.
Acknowledgments
I am very grateful to Brian Berkey, Stephanie Collins, Viktor Ivankovic, Yuliya Kanygina, Janos Kis, Dragan Kuljanin, Tim Meijers, Tom Theuns, participants of the Demandingness in Practice Workshop at the University of Munster, and members of CEU POLEMO research group, as well as two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments on previous versions of this article. I would also like to thank Marius Jakstas and Thomas Rooney for their stylistic comments and copy-editing.
References
Abizadeh, A. 2008. “Democratic Theory and Border Coercion No Right to Unilaterally Control Your Own Borders.” Political Theory 36 (1): 37–65. https://doi.org/10.1177/0090591707310090.Suche in Google Scholar
Bandura, A. 2015. Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm and Live with Themselves, 1st ed, 2016 edition. New York: Worth Publishers.Suche in Google Scholar
Batson, C. D. 2010. “Toward a Pluralism of Prosocial Motives—and a More Humane Society.” In Altruism in Humans, 208–28. Oxford: Oxford University Presshttps://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195341065.003.0010.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195341065.003.0010Suche in Google Scholar
Belic, J. 2017. “When the Practice Gets Complicated: Human Rights, Migrants and Political Institutions.” In Moral and Political Conceptions of Human Rights: Implications for Theory and Practice, edited by R. Maliks, and J. Schafer, 157–80. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/9781316650134.010Suche in Google Scholar
Belic, J., and Z. Bozac. forthcoming. “Structural Injustice, Shared Obligations, and Global Civil Society.” Social Theory and Practice.Suche in Google Scholar
Berkey, B. 2016. “The Demandingness of Morality: Toward a Reflective Equilibrium.” Philosophical Studies 173 (11): 3015–35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11098-016-0648-9.Suche in Google Scholar
Berkey, B. 2018. “The Institutional Critique of Effective Altruism.” Utilitas 30 (2): 143–71, doi:https://doi.org/10.1017/S0953820817000176.Suche in Google Scholar
Buchanan, A. 1996. “Perfecting Imperfect Duties: Collective Action to Create Moral Obligations.” Business Ethics Quarterly 6 (1): 27–42. https://doi.org/10.2307/3857239.Suche in Google Scholar
Caritas Europa. 2019. The ‘Criminalisation’ of Solidarity Towards Migrants. Also available at https://www.caritasinternational.be/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/190617_Caritas_Europa_criminalisation_solidarity_FINAL.pdf.Suche in Google Scholar
Crouch, D. 2018. “Swedish Student’s Plane Protest Stops Afghan Man’s Deportation ‘to Hell.’” The Guardian. Also available at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/25/swedish-student-plane-protest-stops-mans-deportation-afghanistan).Suche in Google Scholar
Deaton, A. 2015. The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Duarte, M. 2020. “The Ethical Consequences of Criminalising Solidarity in the EU.” Theoria 86 (1): 28–53. https://doi.org/10.1111/theo.12219.Suche in Google Scholar
Finlay, S. 2007. “Too Much Morality.” In Morality and Self-Interest, edited by P. Bloomfield, 137–56. Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195305845.003.0008Suche in Google Scholar
Goodin, R. E. 2009. “Demandingness as a Virtue.” The Journal of Ethics 13 (1): 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10892-007-9025-4.Suche in Google Scholar
Kingsley, P. (2018). “Hungary Criminalizes Aiding Illegal Immigrants”. New York Times. Also available at https://www-nytimes-com.ezproxy.leidenuniv.nl/2018/06/20/world/europe/hungary-stop-soros-law.html.Suche in Google Scholar
Levoy, M., and S. Binder. “Sea Watch: Lack of EU Action is Criminalising Solidarity.” EUobserver. https://euobserver.com/opinion/145334 (accessed October 14, 2021).Suche in Google Scholar
MacAskill, W., M. Andreas, and O. Toby. 2018. “Giving Isn’t Demanding.” In The Ethics of Giving: Philosophers’ Perspectives on Philanthropy, edited by P. Woodruff, 178–203. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oso/9780190648879.003.0007Suche in Google Scholar
Massey, S. J. 1982. “Is Self-Respect a Moral or a Psychological Concept?” Ethics 93 (2): 246–61.10.1086/292432Suche in Google Scholar
Murphy, L. B. 1998. “Institutions and the Demands of Justice.” Philosophy & Public Affairs 27 (4): 251–91. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1088-4963.1998.tb00071.x.Suche in Google Scholar
Murphy, L. B. 2003. Moral Demands in Nonideal Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Nagel, T. 1995. Equality and Partiality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/0195098390.001.0001Suche in Google Scholar
Noggle, R. 2009. “Give Till it Hurts? Beneficence, Imperfect Duties, and a Moderate Response to the Aid Question.” Journal of Social Philosophy 40 (1): 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9833.2009.01435.x.Suche in Google Scholar
Ord, T. 2014. “Global Poverty and the Demands of Morality.” In God, the Good, and Utilitarianism: Perspectives on Peter Singer, edited by Perry, 177–91. Cambridge University Presshttps://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107279629.013.Suche in Google Scholar
Owen, D. 2016. “Refugees, Fairness and Taking up the Slack: On Justice and the International Refugee Regime.” Moral Philosophy and Politics 3 (2): 141–64. https://doi.org/10.1515/mopp-2016-0001.Suche in Google Scholar
Pasternak, A. 2011. “Sharing the Costs of Political Injustices.” Politics, Philosophy & Economics 10 (2): 188–210. https://doi.org/10.1177/1470594x10368260.Suche in Google Scholar
Philp, M. 2017. “William Godwin.” In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, edited by E. N. Zalta. Stanford: Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University.Suche in Google Scholar
Rawls, J. 1971. A Theory of Justice. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.10.4159/9780674042605Suche in Google Scholar
Reykowski, J. 2008. “The Justice Motive and Altruistic Helping: Rescuers of Jews in Nazi-Occupied Europe.” In The Justice Motive in Everyday Life. 1st ed., edited by M. Ross, and D. T. Miller, 251–70. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511499975.014Suche in Google Scholar
Scheffler, S. 1994a. Human Morality. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Scheffler, S. 1994b. The Rejection of Consequentialism: A Philosophical Investigation of the Considerations Underlying Rival Moral Conceptions. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/0198235119.001.0001Suche in Google Scholar
Scheffler, S., and V. Munoz-Dardé. 2005. “The Division of Moral Labour.” Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supplementary Volumes 79: 229–84.10.1111/j.0309-7013.2005.00134.xSuche in Google Scholar
Singer, P. 1972. “Famine, Affluence, and Morality.” Philosophy and Public Affairs 1 (3): 229–43.Suche in Google Scholar
Singer, P. 2015. The Most Good You Can Do: How Effective Altruism is Changing Ideas About Living Ethically, 1st ed. New Haven: Yale University Press.Suche in Google Scholar
Smart, J. J. C., and B. Williams. 1973. Utilitarianism: For and Against. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9780511840852Suche in Google Scholar
Tan, K.-C. 2016. “Does Global Justice Require More than Just Global Institutions?” De Ethica 3 (1): 19–31, doi:https://doi.org/10.3384/de-ethica.2001-8819.163119.Suche in Google Scholar
Tanyi, A. 2015. “Moral Demands and Ethical Theory: The Case of Consequentialism.” In The Bloomsbury Companion to Analytic Philosophy, edited by B. Dainton, and H. Robinson. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.10.5040/9781474236461.ch-029Suche in Google Scholar
Valentini, L. 2015. “Social Samaritan Justice: When and Why Needy Fellow Citizens Have a Right to Assistance.” American Political Science Review 109 (4): 735–49. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0003055415000490.Suche in Google Scholar
Zink, J. R. 2011. “Reconsidering the Role of Self-Respect in Rawls’s A Theory of Justice.” The Journal of Politics 73 (2): 331–44. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0022381611000302.Suche in Google Scholar
© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Institutions and Moral Demandingness
- Political Equality and Political Sufficiency
- Means Paternalism and the Problem of Indeterminacy
- Dissent and Legitimacy
- Individual Responsibility under Systemic Corruption: A Coercion-Based View
- Egalitarian Trade Justice
- Moral and Political Foundations: From Political Psychology to Political Realism
- ‘I’m Just Stating a Preference!’ Lookism in Online Dating Profiles
- Combining Philosophical and Democratic Capability Lists
- Climate Justice and the Duty of Restitution
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Frontmatter
- Articles
- Institutions and Moral Demandingness
- Political Equality and Political Sufficiency
- Means Paternalism and the Problem of Indeterminacy
- Dissent and Legitimacy
- Individual Responsibility under Systemic Corruption: A Coercion-Based View
- Egalitarian Trade Justice
- Moral and Political Foundations: From Political Psychology to Political Realism
- ‘I’m Just Stating a Preference!’ Lookism in Online Dating Profiles
- Combining Philosophical and Democratic Capability Lists
- Climate Justice and the Duty of Restitution
