Particularities of Moral Contexts

Abstract We can only become competent moral thinkers by engaging in our community, but even if our communal practices and language in this way provide us with the resources necessary for moral thought, they may also be the source of moral bias, distortion, and corruption, a problem which is explored in this chapter with the aim of understanding the connection between moral thought and moral context. In opening, the chapter addresses the question of whether the embeddedness of the moral subject in a particular context or community challenges the possibility of moral responsibility, but its main part is devoted to the question of how context influences our moral thought and responsibility. An investigation of cases of changes in language use and linguistic practices demonstrates how we face a twofold moral responsibility, both for what we say and do and for the practices in which these sayings and doings are embedded. A further discussion of moral practices leads to the insight that even if particular practices can inhibit or distort moral thought, they cannot make certain moral thoughts or judgements inaccessible to us. Nonetheless, even if we in principle may think any moral thought in any context, context still greatly influences what thoughts we have reason to think, making some moral insights readily accessible while hiding or marginalising others. This again points to a general moral responsibility for critical moral reflection on context.