The Higher Research Seminar: Christian Rostbøll, University of Copenhagen - “Moralizing Politics: The Practice of Judging Others”

Abstract

Moralizing Politics: The Practice of Judging Others (MoPo)

Key developments in contemporary politics share a tendency of moralization. People moralize politics when they judge each other and assess them as good or bad people. A moralizing politics of judging others and a counter-politics of reacting to being judged can be found in phenomena such as cancel culture, esteem of work, accusations of fake news, and climate shaming. The existing literature tends to focus on the detrimental effects of using moral language in politics, for example, as a catalyst of polarization. MoPo takes a step back and seeks to understand the meaning and value of social practices of moral responsibility ascriptions. 

The idea is that moralized politics must be approached as having roots in people’s deep and ineradicable concern with how they are regarded and treated by other people. Moreover, judging others is not only something we cannot stop doing as human beings but also integral to the democratic ideal. Democracy is an ideal for how citizens should regard and hold each other mutually accountable. Judging others is necessary to demonstrate commitment to and uphold this ideal. At the same time, judging others can create unproductive hostility and make people feel inferior. 

The challenge that MoPo addresses is to understand when the human propensity to judge others is pernicious versus beneficial for democracy and to answer how we can transform it into a resource that strengthens democracy. The project does so through a research design that combines insights from moral and political philosophy and four case studies of moralizing politics (Cancel Culture, Dignity of Work, Fake News, and Climate Shaming). 

MoPo breaks new ground by comprehensively rethinking the idea of moralizing politics, creatively integrating philosophical analysis and research into practices of moral judgment in different areas and arenas, and by theorizing how practices of judging others can be channeled into improving (rather than undermining) democracy.

Christian F. Rostbøll

Christian F. Rostbøll is Professor of Political Theory at the University of Copenhagen, and he holds a PhD from Columbia University. He is the author of Democratic Respect: Populism, Resentment, and the Struggle for Recognition (Cambridge University Press, 2023), Deliberative Freedom (2008,), and numerous articles on political and democratic theory, as well as co-editor of Compromise and Disagreement in Contemporary Political Theory (2018). He is the principal investigator of the ERC-funded research project “Moralizing Politics: The Practice of Judging Others.”

The Higher Research Seminar is the main collective seminar of the Department. The research staff and invited national and international leading scholars present ongoing research and analyses of a broad range of exciting topics of relevance for Political Science.

The Higher Research Seminar is held on Wednesdays, 13.15 to 14.30 in Eden 367, unless otherwise indicated. PhD Mid-term seminars 13:15 to 14:45. 

Convenors: Robert Klemmensen and Jonathan Polk

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The Higher Research Seminar | Department of Political Science