On what is harmful

the negative basis of normative agreements

Carlos Thiebaut

pp. 149-156

in: Dana Riesenfeld, Giovanni Scarafile (eds), Perspectives on theory of controversies and the ethics of communication, Berlin, Springer, 2014

Abstract

The notion of harm, as a negative experience of what could have been avoided and should be avoided in the future, is understood as a process of understanding actions, behaviours and institutions that not only imply these modal shifts, away from what is taken to be necessary or unavoidable, but also as a learning process in which different epistemic and attitudinal perspectives are at play that are summarily described. This understanding of harm experiences can help to understand the normative force of moral and political agreements.