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Project

Against the fat relentless ego: love at the centre of morality.

Although a commandment to 'love thy neighbor' is an important feature of most age-old religious traditions, a moral obligation to love seems to be unpopular in contemporary analytic philosophy. In light of recent societal challenges such as polarization and hate for 'out-groups', we might however be in need for a contemporary secular moral call for love, if we have in mind the goal of a peaceful and embracing society. This project investigates whether we can make sense of the argument that we should love one another. It aims to develop an account of love and morality inspired by the ideas of Iris Murdoch to defend that we do, thereby rejecting the widely held claim that love and morality are somehow in tension. The main investigation consists in researching on the basis of which grounds it can be said that we should love everyone. The project also aims to offer a practical guide: what are our exact responsibilities in loving everyone? What difference would such a claim make in comparison with an already widely established and acknowledged moral claim for respect or empathy? The project aims to answer 1) societal challenges such as polarization, 2) skeptics of moral love in contemporary analytical philosophy and 3) feminist worries that could arise with a moral obligation to love. The project will address moral questions of interest to a wide public, because it concerns love on both a personal and political level.
Date:1 Nov 2019 →  31 Oct 2023
Keywords:LOVE, MORALITY, EMOTIONS
Disciplines:Feminist philosophy, Virtue ethics, Metaethics, Ethics not elsewhere classified