TY - CHAP
T1 - Values as Hypotheses and Messy Institutions
T2 - What Ethicists Can Learn from the COVID-19 Crisis
AU - Pesch, Udo
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - In this chapter, the COVID-19 crisis is examined as an episode that reveals various complications in the relation between values and institutions. I argue that these complications cannot be addressed satisfactorily by ethics, as this field is characterised by a gap between the identification of values worth pursuing and the effectuation of these values in society through politics. This chapter aims to bridge this gap between ethics and politics by outlining the dialectical relation between values and institutions. It will do so by first presenting values as collectively held understandings that emerge in public deliberation. Second, these values are safeguarded by setting up appropriate institutions, which, at the same time, also allows the further substantiation of these values. However, it also needs to be acknowledged that institutions are not mere instrumental solutions to further societal values. On the contrary, they have their own morally laden dynamics. As such, they should also be susceptible to adjustment following societal demand.
AB - In this chapter, the COVID-19 crisis is examined as an episode that reveals various complications in the relation between values and institutions. I argue that these complications cannot be addressed satisfactorily by ethics, as this field is characterised by a gap between the identification of values worth pursuing and the effectuation of these values in society through politics. This chapter aims to bridge this gap between ethics and politics by outlining the dialectical relation between values and institutions. It will do so by first presenting values as collectively held understandings that emerge in public deliberation. Second, these values are safeguarded by setting up appropriate institutions, which, at the same time, also allows the further substantiation of these values. However, it also needs to be acknowledged that institutions are not mere instrumental solutions to further societal values. On the contrary, they have their own morally laden dynamics. As such, they should also be susceptible to adjustment following societal demand.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85138531872&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-031-08424-9_7
DO - 10.1007/978-3-031-08424-9_7
M3 - Chapter
AN - SCOPUS:85138531872
SN - 978-3-031-08423-2
T3 - Philosophy of Engineering and Technology
SP - 129
EP - 144
BT - Values for a Post-Pandemic Future
PB - Springer Nature
ER -