ABSTRACT
This chapter critically engages with problems of consequentialist ethics in modern risk society. The main question which will be discussed is ‘How can we act responsibly as decision makers in a society that is increasingly unpredictable and unknown to us?’ It is well known that moral philosophers have long insisted that they can solve this problem by finding valid arguments for what is good and evil and on this basis formulate rules for responsible action. The aim of this chapter is to give an argumentation for the inadequacy of the moral philosophers’ standpoint. Instead we should reflect upon the conditions themselves that declare an action to be moral. But this requires that the social context for morality and ethics be brought into analysis. Rather than giving principles for right and wrong behaviour, we should reflect upon how we communicate morality in risk society. This point of departure leads us into an investigation of the sociology of morality.
