Susan Wolf on supererogation and the dark side of morality

Title:

Susan Wolf on supererogation and the dark side of morality

Creator:

Grigore, Nora

Identifier:

https://cdk.lib.cas.cz/client/handle/uuid:fe77b715-ee05-4d00-b093-fa664efc4b5f
uuid:fe77b715-ee05-4d00-b093-fa664efc4b5f
doi:10.31577/orgf.2022.29202

Subject:

morality, moral saints, and supererogation

Type:

model:article and TEXT

Format:

bez média and svazek

Description:

Wolf proposes supererogation as a solution for curbing the exaggerated demands of morality. Adopting supererogation is supposed to prevent us from considering that all morally good deeds are obligatory. Supererogation, indeed, makes some morally good deeds merely optional, saving the agent from the requirement of behaving as much as possible like a Moral Saint. But I argue that Wolf cannot use supererogation in service of her overall project, for two reasons. First, because implied in the concept of supererogation is that going beyond duty adds to our humanity rather than detract from it (as Wolf argues). Secondly, after analyzing attempts to acclimatize supererogation in other theoretical frameworks, I conclude that supererogation can limit morality’s claims only if Wolf’s reasons of “individual perfection” can defeat moral reasons. I argue that a common scale of evaluation between moral and non-moral reasons is needed for their comparison, but Wolf explicitly rejects this way out.

Language:

Slovak

Rights:

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
policy:public

Coverage:

200-218

Source:

Organon F: filozofický časopis | 2022 Volume:29 | Number:2

Harvested from:

CDK

Metadata only:

false