Some Musings About the Limits of an Ethics That Can Be Applied – A Response to a Question About Courage and Convictions That Confronted the Author When She Woke Up on November 9, 2016
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21497392 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Sarah Buss (University of Michigan 2215 Angell Hall 435 South State St 48109 Ann Arbor Michigan USA, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 37 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 1-33 |
| Publication date | 2020-02-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Applied Philosophy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0264-3758 • E-ISSN: 1468-5930 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/japp.12408 |
| OpenAlex | W3005722015 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 1 |
I experienced the 2016 Presidential election as a loss of innocence. For the first time in my life, the prospect of losing my most basic rights and freedoms did not feel so remote. Confronting this possibility prompted the musings in this article. I call them ‘musings' because the article is not a systematic defense of a clearly demarcated position. It is, rather, a somewhat circuitous exploration of the many questions that pressed themselves upon me as I struggled to understand what distinguishes (a) reasonable accommodations to injustice from (b) morally unacceptable accommodations. When is a commitment not really a commitment? When does reasonable fear become shameful cowardice? When does my knowledge that I can do something to resist injustice give me good enough reason to resist? Under what conditions is my reason an enemy of my ideals? What is the proper balance between valuing myself beyond price and appreciating that many, many things matter far more than my own life and security? In grappling with these questions, I have been reminded of the extent to which moral discernment does not involve applying a ‘philosophy' and the extent to which it cannot be secured by prior training
Adversary · Courage · Cowardice · Discernment · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Injustice · Innocence · Law and economics · Moral courage · Political science · Sociology · Ethics in medical practice · Free Will and Agency · Law · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |