WIPS

"Neglected moral phenomenon and limits of current explanatory models."

Abstract:

Current studies on moral change focus mostly on the historical emergence and shift of moral beliefs as well as the conceptions of moral progress, whereas an overlooked phenomenon is that while the moral beliefs people abide by change over time, the thought that some moral issues have been resolved prevents people from diving further into the issues and developing other moral ideas. Thus, what appears to be a liberatory moral change process may at the same time be a limiting one. Surrounding this phenomenon, I will argue that existing models of moral change, such as methodological individualism and structuralism, are insufficient to explain it. In response, I will develop the person-centric model, which conceptualizes moral change as a complex system of contextualized dynamic processes that is neither reduced to the activities at the individual level nor imposed upon individuals from the external conditions. Rather, it focuses on real-world situations, stresses the psychological processes underlying the change of moral beliefs, and explains the transformation and ignorance of morality from the interaction between individuals’ mental experiences and societal change.