Professor Lea Ypi (London School of Economics)
The Moral Ought in 'As If' Politics
Progress is an idea both unavoidable and dangerous. It is unavoidable because without it, our efforts to do the right thing seem to have very little meaning. And it is dangerous because the pursuit of progress has often given rise to instances of paternalism, colonial domination and narratives of civilisational superiority. The latter perhaps explains why much recent philosophical writing is at best silent, at worst uneasy about the topic. In what follows I shall explore the former: the unavoidability of the belief in progress. I will do so by looking at the relation between moral normativity and that kind of belief. This is a familiar Kantian theme and in my outline and defence I shall help myself to a number of key elements in Kant’s thought. However, in what follows, I also hope to present the idea as sufficiently plausible in itself and sufficiently relevant to at least one variety of contemporary moral theory, the variety of moral theory that purports to defeat scepticism and dogmatism by grounding morality on a rational procedure of construction of valid norms.
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University of NottinghamUniversity Park Nottingham, NG7 2RD
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