The Department of Philosophy Colloquium Series is pleased to present

Kilian Jörg (FUTURAMA°LAB) & Alexis Shotwell (Carleton University)

"An Ecology of Moralizing"

Thursday, September 26, 2024

Time: 4:00 pm

Watson Hall, Room 517

“Moralizing” is now mostly regarded as a pejorative. How did this start? The term is often – especially from the left – seen as the purview of the pursed-lips privileged prude who disregards the material grounds and social complexities of capitalist life. To be moralizing is to be naive, preposterous and even apolitical. Thus, while many want to be ethical humans, few want to appear to be moralizing under any circumstances. In this presentation, we examine how we have gotten to this point and ask if this prevalent dualism between ethics (as good) and morals (as bad) is not itself an oversimplification neoliberal theory thrives on. Turning to anarchist thought, we reformulate moralizing as a situated, concrete form of custom- and communitybuilding in a shared planetary situation of ongoing catastrophe. We argue that this kind of moralizing might be essential for the long breath that transformative politics require in today’s dire situation.

EVERYONE WELCOME 

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