The distant moral agent
Among the defining characteristics of moral cosmopolitanism are the convictions that personal relations, membership in social or political organizations like local communities or nation-states are insignificant for agents when determining their scope of moral concern. The moral scope is unlimited an...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | Danish |
| Published: |
Norwegian University of Science and Technology Library
2017-11-01
|
| Series: | Etikk i Praksis: Nordic Journal of Applied Ethics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.ntnu.no/ojs/index.php/etikk_i_praksis/article/view/1988 |
| _version_ | 1818037624543117312 |
|---|---|
| author | Tom Andreassen |
| author_facet | Tom Andreassen |
| author_sort | Tom Andreassen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Among the defining characteristics of moral cosmopolitanism are the convictions that personal relations, membership in social or political organizations like local communities or nation-states are insignificant for agents when determining their scope of moral concern. The moral scope is unlimited and the moral duties reach globally. Following up observations made by Onora O’Neill and others, it is argued that Singer’s model needs a complementary tool to allocate duties.
That tool can be found by supplementing the agent centered perspective of the model with a regard for the social and institutional circles encompassing right holders. Instead of focusing on the duty holder, I suggest that the cosmopolitan’s “ultimate unit of moral concern” – here, the claimholder is regarded central.
Thus, Singer’s cosmological model is kept, but in a rights-based methodological approach for allocating duties. Methodologically, what needs to be investigated is whether the scope of legitimate moral claims expands from the agent for the same reasons that the circle of moral concern expands from Singer’s agent. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-10T07:29:48Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9569799f67784fb2af9845cf268e51a2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1890-3991 1890-4009 |
| language | Danish |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-10T07:29:48Z |
| publishDate | 2017-11-01 |
| publisher | Norwegian University of Science and Technology Library |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Etikk i Praksis: Nordic Journal of Applied Ethics |
| spelling | doaj.art-9569799f67784fb2af9845cf268e51a22022-12-22T01:57:36ZdanNorwegian University of Science and Technology LibraryEtikk i Praksis: Nordic Journal of Applied Ethics1890-39911890-40092017-11-0111210.5324/eip.v11i2.1988The distant moral agentTom Andreassen0Program for Applied Ethics, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, NorwayAmong the defining characteristics of moral cosmopolitanism are the convictions that personal relations, membership in social or political organizations like local communities or nation-states are insignificant for agents when determining their scope of moral concern. The moral scope is unlimited and the moral duties reach globally. Following up observations made by Onora O’Neill and others, it is argued that Singer’s model needs a complementary tool to allocate duties. That tool can be found by supplementing the agent centered perspective of the model with a regard for the social and institutional circles encompassing right holders. Instead of focusing on the duty holder, I suggest that the cosmopolitan’s “ultimate unit of moral concern” – here, the claimholder is regarded central. Thus, Singer’s cosmological model is kept, but in a rights-based methodological approach for allocating duties. Methodologically, what needs to be investigated is whether the scope of legitimate moral claims expands from the agent for the same reasons that the circle of moral concern expands from Singer’s agent.https://www.ntnu.no/ojs/index.php/etikk_i_praksis/article/view/1988cosmopolitanismglobal justicemoral claimshuman rightsPeter Singer |
| spellingShingle | Tom Andreassen The distant moral agent Etikk i Praksis: Nordic Journal of Applied Ethics cosmopolitanism global justice moral claims human rights Peter Singer |
| title | The distant moral agent |
| title_full | The distant moral agent |
| title_fullStr | The distant moral agent |
| title_full_unstemmed | The distant moral agent |
| title_short | The distant moral agent |
| title_sort | distant moral agent |
| topic | cosmopolitanism global justice moral claims human rights Peter Singer |
| url | https://www.ntnu.no/ojs/index.php/etikk_i_praksis/article/view/1988 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT tomandreassen thedistantmoralagent AT tomandreassen distantmoralagent |