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FLATTENING THE CURVE OF MORAL IMAGINATION

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Beran O.

Organon F. medzinárodný časopis pre analytickú filozofiu

2022

vol. 29

issue 2

174 – 199

In this paper, I discuss some moral dilemmas related to the COVID-19 crisis and their framing (mainly) in the public debate. The key assumption to engage with is this: that we need primarily to take into account the long-term economic consequences of the proposed safety measures of social distancing. I argue that the long-term economic concerns, though legitimate, cannot suspend the irreducibly moral nature of the demand placed on the decision-makers by those who are vulnerable, at risk, or in need of medical treatment. This is discussed in relation to two points: 1) The political endeavour and rhetoric of “flattening the curve” is not necessarily short-sighted, but expresses the acknowledgment of a legitimate expectation placed on elected representatives. 2) Not being able to prevent harm (to those who are in real need, or otherwise vulnerable) may lead to a genuine moral distress, even if it is not clear whether it was in one’s, or anybody’s, powers to prevent the situation, or even if the best possible outcome has been otherwise reached. The second point may be understood as a part of the broader context of the established criticisms of utilitarianism.

THE ROLE OF THE “PRIVATE” IN INTER-GENDER MISUNDERSTANDING

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Beran O.

Organon F. medzinárodný časopis pre analytickú filozofiu

2017

vol. 24

issue 2

142 – 165

In this paper, the author uses Wittgenstein’s private language argument for reflecting on some folk-linguistic misconceptions. In Section 1, he shows that elements of the private language semantics inform common ways of looking at some situations referred to as “misunderstandings”. He suggests that it would be appropriate to conceive of the alleged misunderstandings as practical attitudes of mistreatment. This suggestion is explored in Section 2, which is devoted to a commonly assumed prominent example of the problem: the so-called inter-gender misunderstanding. It is believed that men and women use language in systematically different ways, as a result of which they do not understand each other properly, because they miss what their interlocutors “mean”. The conceptual apparatus of mentalist semantics presumed here is abused in order to advocate morally reprehensible actions against women. In Section 3, the author suggests that the Wittgensteinian accounts of language and mind offer arguments for denying private conceptions of understanding on the grounds of both philosophy of language and ethics.

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2 Organon F. medzinárodný časopis pre analytickú filozofiu

2 Beran O.

1 2022

1 2017

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FLATTENING THE CURVE OF MORAL IMAGINATION

THE ROLE OF THE “PRIVATE” IN INTER-GENDER MISUNDERSTANDING