Testing Schwarz’s Framework for Abolitionist Politicians: Politics Equals Normative Ethics

In this thesis I start with the assumption that politics equals normative ethics and argue to what extent politicians that do not use moral concepts (and thus endorse the abolitionist answer to the “Now what?” question within the Moral Error Theory) are able to communicate with people that do use moral concepts. As such, it focuses on whether abolitionists can engage in normative ethics without using moral concepts. Schwarz’s theory is posed which provides a framework for doing so and I argue that this theory comes with flaws as seen in problematic scenarios. I also argue that some of these problematic scenarios are solvable by adding to her theory and that her theory comes with two problematic scenarios that are theoretically unsolvable. The proposed solutions are meant to show how these can enhance the relevance of the theory. It is also argued that a possible solution to the theoretically unsolvable problematic scenarios is that abolitionist politicians, when adhering to Schwarz...Show moreIn this thesis I start with the assumption that politics equals normative ethics and argue to what extent politicians that do not use moral concepts (and thus endorse the abolitionist answer to the “Now what?” question within the Moral Error Theory) are able to communicate with people that do use moral concepts. As such, it focuses on whether abolitionists can engage in normative ethics without using moral concepts. Schwarz’s theory is posed which provides a framework for doing so and I argue that this theory comes with flaws as seen in problematic scenarios. I also argue that some of these problematic scenarios are solvable by adding to her theory and that her theory comes with two problematic scenarios that are theoretically unsolvable. The proposed solutions are meant to show how these can enhance the relevance of the theory. It is also argued that a possible solution to the theoretically unsolvable problematic scenarios is that abolitionist politicians, when adhering to Schwarz’s theory, can temporarily divert from her theory by conceding to using moral concepts just to be able to communicate with people that do use moral concepts. This thesis uses the case of the COVID-19 pandemic to demonstrate how these problematic scenarios can occur in practice. This thesis concludes that, while Schwarz’s theory provides a framework that allows abolitionist politicians that do not use moral concepts to effectively communicate with people that do use moral concepts, Schwarz’s theory comes with problematic scenarios for which I show how her theory can be improved. Furthermore, it is also concluded that her theory sometimes fails to provide these abolitionist politicians the full ability to effectively communicate within the practice of normative ethics without using moral concepts. Additionally, I propose further research is needed to improve the shortcomings of Schwarz’s theory that arise whenever her criteria C1 comes into play, which is often inevitable.Show less

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Testing Schwarz’s Framework for Abolitionist Politicians: Politics Equals Normative Ethics