Nihilists, heroes, samaritans and I

Jill Stauffer

pp. 79-98

in: Alistair Welchman (ed), Politics of religion/religions of politics, Berlin, Springer, 2015

Abstract

A wide array of recent scholarly writing has expressed concern with a motivation deficit at the heart of secular liberal individualism. What drives persons to act on a sense of justice that transcends concern for self? This paper surveys two recent arguments—one from an atheist, Simon Critchley, the other from a Christian, Charles Taylor—about what that question means for justice and politics in the contemporary world. Critchley and Taylor agree that heroism is not enough: the actions of an exceptional individual do not necessarily motivate everyone else to act. The two thinkers also agree that motivation comes from somewhere other than the self's autonomy. However, they disagree about what that outside source is, and in that disagreement we may find useful resources for theorizing—across otherwise contentions divides—the emergence of a renewed commitment to ethical politics within secular liberalism.

Cited authors

Taylor Charles

Critchley Simon