Harming others : universal subjectivism and the expanding moral circle
Berg, F. van den
Citation
Berg, F. van den. (2011, April 14). Harming others : universal subjectivism and the expanding moral circle. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/1887/16719
Version: Corrected Publisher’s Version
License: Licence agreement concerning inclusion of doctoral thesis in the
Institutional Repository of the University of Leiden
Harming Others
Universal Subjectivism and the Expanding Moral Circle
Harming others is bad because it’s harmful, and what’s harmful is bad.
Michael Allen Fox, Deep Vegetarianism.
ISBN/EAN 9789461081476
© 2011 Floris van den Berg Druk: Gildeprint Enschede Oplage: 250 exemplaren
Harming Others
Universal Subjectivism and the Expanding Moral Circle
PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van
de graad van Doctor aan de Universiteit Leiden,
op gezag van Rector Magnificus prof. mr. P. F. van der Heijden, volgens besluit van het College voor Promoties
te verdedigen op donderdag 14 april 2011 klokke 15.00 uur
door
Floris van den Berg geboren te Naarden in 1973
Promotiecommissie:
Promotor: Prof. dr. P.B. Cliteur
Overige leden: Prof. dr. J. Braeckman (Universiteit Gent, België) Prof. dr. A. Ellian
Mr. dr. J.P. Loof Prof. dr. S. Haring
For Annemarieke
Contents
1. Introduction to Universal Subjectivism 1
1.1 Harming Others 1
1.2 Overview of Harming Others 1
1.3 Universal Subjectivism in a Nutshell 2
1.4 Worst-Off Positions 3
1.5 Practical Ethics 6
1.6 The Enlightenment Project 10
2. Preliminaries to Universal Subjectivism 13
2.1 Inconvenient Truths of Harming Others 13
2.2 Moral Nausea 15
2.3 Why Moral Theory? 20
2.4 Basic Concepts 23
2.4.1 Naturalism 23
2.4.2 Constructivism 24
2.4.3 Universalism 25
2.4.4 Subjectivism 27
2.5 Rawls + Singer 27
2.6 A Broad Reinterpretation of Rawls’ A Theory of Justice 29
2.7 Nussbaum’s Expansion of Rawls’ Theory 32
2.8 An Astronomer’s View on Ethics 33
2.9 Singer’s Utilitarian Ethics 33
2.10 Reflective Equilibrium 34
2.11 For Whom? 36
2.12 By Whom? 38
2.13 What For? 39
2.14 Two Principles of Universal Subjectivism 41 3. Universal Subjectivism and the Expanding Moral Circle 43
3.1 One World 44
3.1.1 Rooted Cosmopolitanism 47
3.1.2 A Cosmopolitan Language 48
3.1.3 Rawls’ Pragmatically Limited Scope 49
3.1.4 Critique of Cosmopolitanism 50
3.1.5 Beyond Rootism 53
3.1.6 An Intellectual and Social Dungeon 55 3.1.7 Children Should Be Free From Religion 58 3.1.8 A Blind Spot in Liberal Democracies: Muslim Women 60
3.2 Mentally and Physically Handicapped 62
3.3 Non-human Animals 64
3.3.1 Beyond Speciesism 64
3.3.5 Nussbaum’s Capabilities Approach 74
3.3.6 Carruthers and Rational Agency 77
3.3.7 Coeckelbergh’s Co-operation Approach 80 3.3.8 Felipe’s Biocentric Contractarianism 81 3.3.9 Garner’s Argument from Marginal Cases 82 3.3.10 Abbey: Away from Contractarianism 84
3.3.11 Rowland’s Extensionism 85
3.3.12 Conclusion: Pathocentric Contractarianism 85 3.4 The Expanding Moral Circle in Contemporary Literature 90
3.4.1 Saturday 92
3.4.2 The Lives of Animals 93
3.4.3 Eating Animals 97
3.4.4 Solar 102
3.4.5 Freedom 105
3.5 Future Generations 109
3.6 Environmental Cataclysm 113
3.6.1 Universal Subjectivism and Environmentalism 114 3.6.2 The Precautionary Principle in Environmental Ethics 121
3.6.3 Minimal Ecological Consensus 127
3.6.4 Anthropogenic Climate Change 129
3.6.5 Everything Won’t Be Fine 133
3.6.6 Universal Subjectivism and Deep Ecology 138
3.7 Judging the Past 144
3.7.1 Killing Civilians with Allied Area Bombing in WWII 146
4. Applications of Universal Subjectivism 149
4.1 Political Philosophy 149
4.2 Ethics 151
4.3 Social Criticism 153
4.4 A Philosophy of Freethought 155
4.5 Setting Priorities 156
5. Problems of and Obstacles to Universal Subjectivism 159 5.1 Some Critiques on the Project of the Enlightenment 159
5.1.1 John Gray 159
5.1.2 Roger Scruton 165
5.2 Abortion 170
5.3 Pedophilia 172
5.4 Walking on the Grass 173
5.5 Intercultural Evaluation 175
5.5.1 Cultural Relativism 176
5.5.2 Dangerous Liberal Pluralism 179
5.5.3 Worldviews and the Problem of Pluralism 183
5.6 Limits to Freedom 186
5.7 The Problem of Projecting 187
5.8 Lack of Empathy 188
5.11 ‘We Are Here Now, and We Deserve It!’ 197
5.12 Partial Rationality 199
5.13 Partial Emotionality 201
6. Clarifications of Universal Subjectivism 205
6.1 No Reliance on Religion 205
6.2 No Reliance on Metaphysics: Political Secularism 206
6.3 No Reliance on Altruism 207
6.4 No Dependence on Human Nature 208
6.5 No Need for Human Dignity 208
6.6 No Natural Law 209
6.7 No Need to Focus on Eudaimonia 209
6.8 No Reliance on Intuitions 210
6.9 No Uncritical Reliance on Tradition, Custom and Authority 210
6.10 A Humanist Outlook 211
6.11 Not a Panacea for All Problems 214
7. Conclusion 217
7.1 Living within Limits 217
7.2 Deep Pessimism or Desperate Optimism 218
8. Mediagraphy 223
8.1 Books and Papers 223
8.2 Documentaries 239
Summary 241
Samenvatting 245
Curriculum Vitae 247
