MT23 St Cross Seminar, Professor Predrag Cicovacki

*IMPORTANT - PLEASE NOTE THE NEW START TIME OF 5PM*

You are welcome to attend this hybrid seminar in-person at St Cross College or online (Zoom). See registration details below.

Title

Morality and Personality

Abstract

I will explore the mutual relationship between morality and personality. While these two concepts are certainly related – who else needs morality but human persons, and how could someone be a person without being concerned with morality? – there are also tensions between them. First, while morality (like law) aspires toward a universal application and validity, personality necessarily involves an element of uniqueness; what happens when what my unique personality prompts me to do is in conflict with the general norms of morality? Second, personality is something dynamic and every personality must develop: while the focus on morality seems to be what a person does, the focus on personality seems to be on who or what a person wants to become. To explore these issues further, I will consider four possible models of their mutual relationship: 1. Their initial union, in which neither concept is fully developed; 2. Their initial separation, when the concept of morality becomes objectified into a moral law and dominates over the concept of personality [reflecting most of the Western history]; 3. A reaction to 2., which led to a further development in favor of the relative independence of individuality [which mostly captures the human condition in the last 150 years]; 4. A possible reintegration of morality and personality through which they could enhance each other and better serve a further development of humanity.

Speaker

Professor Predrag Cicovacki (The College of the Holy Cross)

Registration

About the Seminar Series

The New St Cross Special Ethics Seminars are jointly arranged by the Oxford Uehiro Centre and the Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities.  The talks are open to the public, and all are welcome.