Introduction — The Problem of Moral Status

Abstract

We live in an orderly moral world, or so we believe most of the time. When we disregard the sour fruits of sceptical thinking, we usually experience a moral universe in which each entity has its proper place, a world in which value is arranged and distributed neatly among the entities. This moral and metaphysical harmony is not only pleasing to the mind; embodied and unfolding in our actions and our habits, it is also necessary to live our lives. How could we possibly go on with our daily business if we tried to live as sceptics in this respect? How could we live at all if we constantly questioned the value and status of entities? We would be at a loss to understand the world, to give meaning to the world and to ourselves, and to act in the world. Without the moral womb of tradition or ‘folk metaphysics’ that shields us from moral Angst and allows us to safely develop into responsible and social adults, we would starve from perplexity, unable to relate to the objects, people and other entities around us. We would find ourselves in the nihilistic situation Nietzsche sketched so vividly when he told the story of ‘The Madman’ (or ‘The Death of God’) in The Gay Science: How were we able to drink up the sea? Who gave us the sponge to wipe away the entire horizon? What did we do when we unchained the earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving now? Away from all suns? Are we not perpetually falling? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there any up or down left? Are we not straying as through an infinite nothing? Do we not feel the breath of empty space? Has it not become colder? Is it not more and more night coming on all the time? (Nietzsche 1882/1887, pp. 181–182)