Love as the source of morality

There is a natural connection between love and morality. Both are manifestations of the social nature of human beings and expressions of what binds people. In many cultural traditions (including but not limited to the Christian tradition) moral wisdom is connected to a love of humankind. Yet there also seems to be an inherent tension between love and morality, since love requires a personal relationship whereas the moral standpoint is essentially impartial and therefore often thought to be impersonal. Many philosophers believe that personal relationships imply a form of partiality that is incompatible with the moral standpoint. Following, amongst others, Bernard Williams and Michael Stocker, there seems to be a general consensus in contemporary analytic moral philosophy that somehow indeed love and morality are in tension.

The Symposium starts from the assumption that this consensus may have blinded moral philosophers to the ways in which love and morality are connected. More in particular, it wants to examine the idea that morality presupposes love, or that love in a sense is the source of morality.

Speakers:

• Prof. dr. Carla Bagnoli (Modena)
• Prof. dr. Edward Harcourt (Oxford)
• Dr. Esther Kroeker (Antwerp)
• Prof. dr. Raffaele Rodogno (Aarhus)
• Prof. dr. Sebastian Rödl (Leipzig)
• Prof. dr. Maureen Sie (Rotterdam)

Registration: Participation is free, but places are limited. Register by sending an e-mail to the organiser: [email protected]