WP1
The WP1 delineates the field of MI as a distinctive domain of morality and ethical enquiry. This consisted in unifying and refining existing discussions relevant to MI (on unthinkability, moral incapacity, practical necessity, and option ranges), including a comprehensive literature review on the topic, to provide a coherent and distinctive conception of this domain and show how MI is crucial in expanding ethical reflection and discussion beyond deliberation and argument. Instrumental to this WP was the multi-disciplinary approach, which included a survey of MI in psychology and sociology (option ranges and taboo cognition). The main research output of the WP have been: a research paper ‘Why Moral Impossibility Matters’, submitted to Philosophers’ Imprint; and an edited volume proposal, ‘Moral Impossibility’ (submitted to Routledge).
WP2
WP2 built on WP1 by asking normative questions about MI: What do our moral impossibilities say about us, and how can we describe the different ways possibilities do and do not enter individual fields of moral vision? The main theoretical approach here has been a combination of virtue theory and empirical psychology. The key output has been a joint talk and article with M.S. Vaccarezza (Genoa): ‘Moral transformation and shifting possibilities’, submitted to The Journal of Ethics (2023). Simone Weil’s ideas inform questions of impossibility, necessity and obedience, hence the output also included a paper and a volume on Weil: ‘Perception, Self, and Zen: On Iris Murdoch and the Taming of Simone Weil’ Philosophies 8,4:64 (2023); Mirror of Obedience, tr. and ed. with P. Wilson, Bloomsbury (2023). A strategic part of the WP was the workshop, which lay the foundation for future collaborations, particularly the book proposal: ‘Here I stand, I can do no other; or can I?’ On the reality of moral impossibility, UPa 2022. Dissemination included two research seminars, two conferences, and two workshops.
WP 3
The third WP focused on applied questions. How does the theory of MI so far developed help us understand contemporary moral problems, such as emerge as intractable conflicts? The outcome of the WP has been the proposal that we understand intractable moral conflict as a clash between mutually incompatible MIs: what one party demands is morally impossible for the other, and vice versa. This proposal has explanatory value, in showing why and how little progress is made either by rational argumentation or by the attempt to find common ground; tracing the sources of each party’s MI are strategies to understand and address, if not resolve, the conflict. This WP has been immensely improved by the research visit in 2023, with an intensive seminar with Profs Gleeson and Taylor at Flinders, and in Melbourne, where I worked closely with Prof Gaita, one of the leading thinkers on MI and key sources in the project. The research output includes: a book review ‘The Subversive Simone Weil by R. Zaretsky, The Iris Murdoch Review 14 (2023); the article ‘Landing with the firefly’, Constructivist Foundations 17(3): 210–211 (2022); and the initial draft of a paper ‘Moral impossibility, intractable conflict, and conspiracy theories’, with J. McGuire (UCD). The key dissemination of the WP was the international conference: ‘Possibilities, Impossibilities and Conflict in Ethics’, UPa 2023. In addition, the dissemination included four conference talks, two workshop talks and a departmental lecture. The main career development objective of the WP was met by achieving the Italian Associate Professorship Habilitation (ASN) in Moral Philosophy (2023).
WP 4
The Project management plan and Technical and financial reports have been delivered.
WP5
The training element has included a) CE research methods (seminar participation, supervision, intensive seminar with Prof Mulhall, Oxford); b) social science research methods and Atlas.ti c) PhD supervision; d) training in ERC grant application by Technology Centre CAS; e) joining the following: MCAA; Association for Critical Animals Studies; European Moral Psychology Research Network.
WP6
Communication included: website; 2 Philosophy Voiced podcasts: with Olli Lagerspetz; and with Sophie Grace Chappell: Radio interview ‘Moral impossibility and the Vegan Paradigm Shift’, CKCU FM Canada; Non specialist articles: ‘An Invitation of Attention’ Symposeum 5; ‘The Exactitude of Suffering’, Thinkful.ie; ‘Trust and OCD’, Thinkful.ie; CE blog post ‘The name of the mother’. The key outreach event of the action was the public ‘Experiential philosophy workshop: moral impossibility and being animals’ (in Prague and Pardubice).
