Moral Impossibility: Rethinking Choice and Conflict

Informations projet

MIGHT

N° de convention de subvention: 101026701

DOI

10.3030/101026701

Projet clôturé

Date de signature de la CE 22 Mars 2021

Date de début 1 Janvier 2022

Date de fin 31 Decembre 2023

Financé au titre de

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Coût total

€ 144 980,64

Contribution de l’UE

€ 144 980,64

Coordonné par

UNIVERZITA PARDUBICE
Czechia

Description du projet

Une nouvelle structure théorique de l’impossibilité morale

L’impossibilité morale (IM) décrit ce qui se situe en dehors de l’éventail des possibilités disponibles dans les choix d’une personne pour des raisons morales. Bien moins évidentes, les possibilités morales façonnent et délimitent tous les choix, souvent de manière tacite, y compris ceux que nous n’envisageons jamais et ceux qui n’ont pas toujours de sens. Négliger le rôle de l’IM conduit à des représentations erronées de situations de conflit dans la philosophie contemporaine. Dans ce contexte, le projet MIGHT, financé par l’UE, développera une nouvelle structure théorique de l’IM et proposera une méthode d’analyse des conflits moraux insolubles. Il établira un cadre conceptuel de l’IM et analysera ses manifestations les plus controversées afin de fournir une nouvelle compréhension de ses causes et de sa signification.

Objectif

The project aims to offer a theoretical framework for a significant yet under-explored set of phenomena which I will call ‘moral impossibility’ (MI), and to use the theoretical understanding achieved to propose a new approach to intractable moral conflict. MI refers to what – for moral reasons – lies outside the range of possibilities available in one’s choices. While empirical and logical impossibilities are widely accepted, moral ones are far less obvious, yet they shape and delimit, often silently, all choices. These include the possibilities we never consider, those we cannot make sense of (e.g. because too morally abhorrent), and those we consider but cannot bring ourselves to carry out. Neglecting the role of MI leads to crucial misrepresentations of situations of conflict in contemporary philosophy. Using recent case-studies, I propose to analyse intractable moral conflict in terms of moral possibilities that are not shared between the parties, in opposition to the dominant ‘disagreement’ model. The objectives of the research are 1) to construct a conceptual framework of MI, 2) to conduct a normative analysis of its most controversial manifestations, and 3) to use the conceptual and normative frameworks to offer a new understanding of the causes, meaning, and possible resolution, of intractable moral conflict. Each objective corresponds to a work package with a distinct methodology and contributing to a different branch of ethics: moral theory/moral psychology, normative ethics, and applied ethics. The action, proposed at a crucial stage in my research career, will be carried out at the Centre for Ethics as Study in Human Value at the University of Pardubice, where I will be trained in its distinctive research methods, case study analysis, and included in its wide European and global networks, and where I will in turn set up a new Czech-Irish link with my home institution (UCD)'s Centre for Ethics in Public Life.

Champ scientifique (EuroSciVoc)

• lettres › philosophie, éthique et religion › philosophie › histoire de la philosophie › philosophie contemporaine
• sciences sociales › psychologie

Mots‑clés

• Ethics
• possibility
• impossibility
• moral psychology
• moral commitment
• intractable moral conflict
• choice
• deliberation
• moral theory
• applied ethics
• normative ethics
• action

Programme(s)

• H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions PROGRAMME PRINCIPAL
  
• H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
  

Thème(s)

• MSCA-IF-2020 - Individual Fellowships
  

Régime de financement

MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)

Appel à propositions

H2020-MSCA-IF-2020

Coordinateur

UNIVERZITA PARDUBICE

• Contribution nette de l'UE: € 144 980,64
• Adresse: Studentska 95 ; 532 10 PARDUBICE ; Tchéquie
• Type d’activité: Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
• Coût total: € 144 980,64