DE-MORALIZATION AS EMANCIPATION: LIBERTY, PROGRESS, AND THE EVOLUTION OF INVALID MORAL NORMS *. Issue 2 (21st December 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Buchanan, Allen; Powell, Russell
• Is Part Of: Social philosophy and policy. Volume 34:Issue 2(2017)
• Page Start: 108
• Page End: 135
• Publication Date: 2017-12-21
• Subjects: de-moralization, -- surplus moral constraints, -- invalid moral norms, -- social experimentation, -- evolution, -- Environment of Evolutionary Adaptation (EEA), -- moral progress; Social policy -- Periodicals; Social sciences -- Philosophy -- Periodicals; 303.01
• DOI: 10.1017/S0265052517000231
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0265-0525

Abstract

Abstract: Liberal thinkers of the Enlightenment understood that surplus moral constraints, imposed by invalid moral norms, are a serious limitation on liberty. They also recognized that overcoming surplus moral constraints — what we call proper de-moralization — is an important dimension of moral progress. Contemporary philosophical theorists of liberty have largely neglected the threat that surplus moral constraints pose to liberty and the importance of proper de-moralization for human emancipation. This essay examines the phenomena of surplus moral constraints and proper de-moralization, utilizing insights from biological and cultural evolutionary thinking