Table Of ContentJustice, equality, and righteousness—these are some of our greatest
moral convictions. Yet in times of social conflict, morals can become rigid,
making religious war, ethnic cleansing, and political purges possible. M
o
Morality, therefore, can be viewed as pathology—a rhetorical, psychological,
e
and social tool that is used and abused as a weapon. l
l
An expert on Eastern philosophies and social systems theory, e
Hans-Georg Moeller questions the perceived goodness of morality and those r
who claim morality is inherently positive. Critiquing the ethical “fanaticism” of
Western moralists, such as Immanuel Kant, Lawrence Kohlberg, John Rawls,
and the utilitarians, Moeller points to the absurd fundamentalisms and impracticable
prescriptions arising from definitions of good. Instead he advances a theory of
a Case
“moral foolishness,” or moral asceticism, extracted from the “amoral” philosophers T
h for aMorality
of East Asia and such thinkers as Ludwig Wittgenstein and Niklas Luhmann.
e
The moral fool doesn’t understand why ethics are necessarily good, and he isn’t
M
convinced that the moral perspective is always positive. In this way he is like The
most people, and Moeller defends this foolishness against ethical pathologies that o
support the death penalty, just wars, and even Jerry Springer’s crude moral theater. r
Mor a l
Comparing and contrasting the religious philosophies of Christianity, Daoism,
a
and Zen Buddhism, Moeller presents a persuasive argument in favor of amorality.
l
“The Moral Fool fully and easily engages the philosophical issues that are present Fool
F
in contemporary life. Hans-Georg Moeller moves naturally from more theoretical
o
discussions to the analysis of concrete social phenomena. His facility with
o
applying philosophical discussions is what makes his book important, relevant,
and engaging, not to mention provocative, remarkably clear, and even funny. l
Hans-GeorG
In fact, this book is the best attempt I have read to bring Chinese philosophy into
contemporary philosophical discussion.” Moeller
franklin Perkins, DePaul University
Hans-GeorG Moeller is senior lecturer in the Philosophy
Department at University College Cork, Ireland. His publications on
Daoism and social systems theory include Choice Outstanding
C
Academic Title The Philosophy of the Daodejing as well as a translation o
l
of the Daodejing, Daoism Explained: From the Dream of the Butterfly u
M
to the Fishnet Allegory, and Luhmann Explained: From Souls to Systems. b
ia
CoUrteSy of tK
ColuMbia university Press / new york
www.cup.columbia.edu
Cover image: © Getty iMaGes
Cover + Book design: aleJanDro larGo
Printed in the U.S.A.
The
MORAL
FOOL
The
MORAL
FOOL
a casE fOr amOrality
HANS-GEORG MOELLER
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York | Chichester, West Sussex
Copyright © 2009 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Moeller, Hans-Georg, 1964–
The moral fool: a comparative case for amorality / Hans-Georg Moeller.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-231-14508-4 (cloth: alk. paper) —ISBN 978-0-231-14509-1
(pbk.: alk. paper) —ISBN 978-0-231-51924-3 (e-book)
1. Social ethics. 2. Moral conditions. 3. Social values. I. Title.
HM665.M633 2009
1719.7—dc22
2008050513
Casebound editions of Columbia University Press
books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America
c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
p 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
References to Internet Web Sites (URLs) were accurate
at the time of writing. Neither the author nor Columbia University Press
is responsible for Web sites that may have expired
or changed since the book was prepared.
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments | ix
Introduction | Is It Good to Be Good? | 1
Part 1 | On amOrality | 16
1 | The Moral Fool | 19
2 | Negative Ethics | 29
Part 2 | a PathOlOgy Of Ethics | 40
3 | The Redundancy of Ethics | 43
4 | The “Morality of Anger” | 53
5 | Ethics and Aesthetics | 64
6 | The Presumptions of Philosophical Ethics | 76
7 | The Myth of Moral Progress | 89
Part 3 | Ethics in cOntEmPOrary sOciEty | 104
8 | For the Separation of Morality and Law | 107
9 | Morality and Civil Rights | 121
10 | How to Get a Death Verdict | 131
11 | Masters of War | 156
12 | Ethics and the Mass Media | 172
Conclusion | Applied Amorality | 185
Notes | 189
Index | 203
In my personal experience
the more seriously I tried to do good and to avoid evil,
the more clearly I realized myself to be far away
from good and to be involved in evil.
Masao Abe, The Emptying God
“God save us always,” I said, “from the innocent and the good.”
Graham Greene, The Quiet American
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
thE PrEsEnt bOOk is very similar in content to a recent pub-
lication by Günter Wohlfart, a longtime colleague and friend. The
title of Günter’s book is Die Kunst des Lebens und andere Künste:
Skurrile Skizzen zu einem eurodaoistischen Ethos ohne Moral (The Art
of Living and Other Arts: Ludicrous Sketches of a Euro-Daoist Ethos
without Morality) (Berlin: Parerga, 2005). He is currently working on
another manuscript discussing similar issues. Its tentative title is
“Moralphilosophische Splitter.” In the notes I referred to Günter’s
work only a couple of times, but my whole approach toward Dao-
ism, ethics, and philosophy in general has been shaped to a great
extent by exchanges with and cooperation from Günter during the
past fifteen years.
I am deeply indebted to Ryan O’Neill for agreeing to help me
out again with my English. Ryan not only corrected many linguistic
errors but also relentlessly cut what was mere repetition, what was
not really necessary to say, and what was better left unsaid.
The following friends and colleagues read the manuscript in
whole or in part and provided detailed criticisms and suggestions for
changes: Hannes Bergthaller, Paul D’Ambrosio, Jay Goulding, John
Maraldo, Franklin Perkins, Rolf Trauzettel, and Günter Wohlfart. I
am also grateful to a number of students at Brock University who
discussed with me the ideas presented in this book.
Many thanks to Anne R. Gibbons for her careful editorial work
and her encouragement, and to Wendy Lochner and Christine
Mortlock at Columbia University Press for their support and advice.
Finally, I thank Brock University for providing generous research
funds.
Description:Justice, equality, and righteousness—these are some of our greatest moral convictions. Yet in times of social conflict, morals can become rigid, making religious war, ethnic cleansing, and political purges possible. Morality, therefore, can be viewed as pathology-a rhetorical, psychological, and s
