Consideratio. Tugenden in einer ungewissen Welt

Corine Pelluchon develops an ethics of virtue that helps us to deal with the challenges of our modern societies. She does not focus primarily on the principles of our actions, but rather on our concrete motivation, the ideas and emotions that lead us to take action. This ethics of reflection has its source in the moral philosophies of antiquity, but rejects their essentialism. Instead, it is based on humility and the experience of vulnerability. Where Bernard of Clairvaux bases reflection on the experience of incomparability and thus on faith, Pelluchon defines it through “transdescendence”. This refers to a self-observation through which the subject perceives its connection to other living beings and through which the theoretical knowledge of belonging to a common world becomes lived knowledge. Such an attitude can lead to concrete commitment.