Autonomy,Interdependence,and Moral Governance

Abstract

Drawing on key themes in the work of Sir Geoffrey Vickers, this article outlines the need for a moral perspective that can address the pluralistic social realities of the dawning 21st century. The trends of globalism and localism are traced out against the material advances that our technologies make possible and the often conflicting moral claims to a share of that wealth that our distinct but increasingly interdependent cultures make inevitable. We have come to see these moral claims as entitlements of membership in society and have designed an array of institutions that we hold responsible for their fulfilment. This status quo, however, is systemically unstable, unsustainable, and, therefore, morally unjustifiable. To achieve an acceptable form of stability (in terms of human systems, the virtuous mean between chaos and stagnation), we must, at the very least, learn to manage both conflicting moral claims and conflicting standards of morality—we must develop a system of moral governance that can enable us to act responsibly within our increasingly pluralistic moral world. Some requirements of such a system are outlined.