:: Moral - Ethics – Communities ::

Sociological Perspectives of Moral Dimensions inside the Globalisation Process

Moral – Approaches I

The Philosophical Approach:

Social Coherence and Individual Subjective Utilities and Egoismn (Thomas Hobbes) Unvisible-Hand-Explanation (The Scottish Moral Philosophers, Adam Smith and David Ricardo), individual benefit will lead to general welfare Contracts, Convention and Constitutions, The French Line (Montesquieu)

Moral – Approaches II

The German Classics: Kant categorical imperative, Hegel (Bewusstsein -> Sein; Marx, Sein-> Bewusstsein) The relevance of the German Philosophy about Moral is the inclusion of the French tradition of enligthenment and literacy to more social aspects of social communities (sociology Spencer et al., constructivsm Schütz, Husserl et al.)

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The sociological Approach

Social Systems and construction of Moral Beliefs and Systems • • • Social Systems needs individual restrictions by shared common rules (values and norms) These restrictions have to legitimated by all involved people (democracy) Moral is a social construction, depends of culture and socialisation (civilization)

Definition Approaches

• • • Definition of Moral: Conventions about common rules of living together in one society Definition of Ethics: Individual Belief in these Moral Standard(s) Best moral is, when people internalized the societal moral beliefs as their own beliefs (socialisation)

Differentiation of Moral

• • • • • • Modern Societies hold different Moral Standards in the Subsystems with different codes: Society (law) Community (Religion, Sexuality, Subcultures) Politics and Professions (Ethos) Science (Truth) Economy (common welfare, benefit)

The Process of Civilisation

• • • First moral standards were performed by religion. „Moral is God“ and „Follow your leader“ Moral get more and more individual and more self-responsible Moral subsystems appears on the scene (Human rights, social rights, political rights)

The Process of Rationalisation

• • • • Progress in science delegitimated moral mythos and historical standards (Max Weber) Science will substitute moral Discussion: Rationalisation will going back to individual egoism or is moral rational?

Process of globalisation bring in competition between different moral standards

Civic Society

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Civic Society

• • • Rationalisation and Civilisation will lead to Civic Society (Habermas) Civic Society means participation will get new moral standard in individual value orientation The way to Civic Society are discourses and deliberative democracy, i.e. civic culture (Nie+Verba, Lazarsfeld) in partizipation (highest level of direct democracy)

Analytical Deliberation

• • • Definition of Deliberation: Common public discourses with the following properities: transparent decision making, all arguments on the top, fair discussion of advantages und disadvantages, risks and benefits, open-mind process Examples: america speaks, GM Nation, Nano Nation, Future, Citizen Panels a.s.o.

www.americaspeaks.org

University of Stuttgart Department for Social Sciences Institute of Technological Assessment and Protection of Environment Chair Dr. Uwe Pfenning