Morality and Politics: The Individual and Institutional Dialectic

To avoid falling victim to political nihilism, the often perceived contradiction between morals and politics must be resolved. Individual morality is a persistent discussion in ethics, while those who believe that morals and politics can intersect customarily favour discussion of ways to determine responsibility in an institutional context over individual responsibility. The present paper proposes a new resolution to the problem of political morality. It argues for what can be called institutional morality. It is true that morals and politics belong to two different philosophical realms; however, it is possible to depart from the individual and generalize morality in an institutional setting using the methodology of systemics to understand morals and institutions.

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To avoid falling victim to political nihilism, the often perceived contradiction between morals and politics must be resolved. Individual morality is a persistent discussion in ethics, while those who believe that morals and politics can intersect customarily favour discussion of ways to determine responsibility in an institutional context over individual responsibility. The present paper proposes a new resolution to the problem of political morality. It argues for what can be called institutional morality. It is true that morals and politics belong to two different philosophical realms; however, it is possible to depart from the individual and generalize morality in an institutional setting using the methodology of systemics to understand morals and institutions.

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