Moralisk öppenhet : förutsättningar för etik bortom religiöst och sekulärt

During the last few centuries the way morality is understood has changed radically. In early modernity ethics was defined by Christian thought and Church authorities. Since the religious wars in the 17^th century, moral philosophy has been looking for purely human foundations for ethics. Still, moral thinking among ordinary people in Europe became secular only during the latter part of the 20^th century. Secular moral thinking has today developed different ethical theories. However, during the last few decades the idea of a common secularity has been questioned. Our multicultural society is now confronting post-secular undercurrents.

In this book the author discusses how to understand these ongoing changes in the current moral discourse. The book is a collection of articles written by the author during his time as professor at Åbo Akademi University (1998-2015). He discusses how we can understand moral language and what the conditions for a meaningful use of such language are. The book sheds light upon contributions of ethics to urgent societal problems like environmental questions, questions concerning sexuality, the challenges for political life in our current multicultural societies etc. The author underscores the importance of the responsibility of every individual person.

Eight of the eighteen articles are written in English, the rest in Swedish. The book is divided into four sections: I. Frames for morality in late modernity; II. Political ethics and theology – secular or religious?; III. Current moral challenges; IV. Ethics – a question of values. In a new introductory article, “Conditions for an open morality”, the author presents his intellectual and cultural landscape.