What is it about?
What is the relationship between morals and politics? What is the relationship between moral philosophy and political philosophy? Defenders of political moralism postulate moral aims or constraints for politics, and hence they see political philosophy as a chapter of moral philosophy. Contrastingly, advocates of political realism describe politics as an independent endeavor aiming at providing order and security, and conceive of political philosophy as an autonomous discipline. This article claims that political moralism and political realism share the mistake of assuming that politics has substantial, permanent goals or constraints. After criticizing political substantialism, the article explains the main ingredients of its alternative, political minimalism. Finally, it addresses some foreseeable criticisms of political minimalism.
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Why is it important?
After whowing the problems of political realism and political moralism, the article explains the main ingredients of its alternative, political minimalism: (1) the idea that politics, understood as collective instrumental rationality, aims at providing adequate means for the accomplishment of people’s goals, whatever these are; and (2) the conception of the relationship between morality and politics as one of “reciprocal containment.”
Perspectives
This article provides a framework that can help understand better the relationship between morality and politics in different fields. In related articles I have applied this framework to the ethics of human enhancement (“Political Minimalism and Social Debates: The Case of Human-Enhancement Technologies”. Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11673-017-9790-0) and social work ethics (“Por la reflexión moral, contra los códigos de ética en el Trabajo Social”. Cuadernos de Trabajo Social, https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/CUTS/article/view/52435). In subsequent papers I intend to apply this view to further fields, like driverless cars and the justification of pacifism.
Javier Rodríguez-Alcázar
Universidad de Granada
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Beyond Realism and Moralism: A Defense of Political Minimalism, Metaphilosophy, October 2017, Wiley,
DOI: 10.1111/meta.12259.
You can read the full text:
Resources
“Political Minimalism and Social Debates: The Case of Human-Enhancement Technologies”. Journal of Bioethical Inquiry.
“Political Minimalism and Social Debates: The Case of Human-Enhancement Technologies”. Journal of Bioethical Inquiry.
“Por la reflexión moral, contra los códigos de ética en el Trabajo Social”.
“Por la reflexión moral, contra los códigos de ética en el Trabajo Social”. Cuadernos de Trabajo Social, https://revistas.ucm.es/index.php/CUTS/article/view/52435.
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