ABSTRACT
Personal convictions and commitments sometimes conflict—in content, priority, or application—with broader moral and social values. Furthermore, honoring personal convictions can involve forgoing other worthy projects and causes. Those who prioritize matters of personal conviction over other moral or social values are vulnerable to criticisms of self-indulgence, misplaced priorities, or ineffective action. However, such criticisms are often to be rejected as unacceptably moralistic. Action that “does not make a difference” can nevertheless be a mark of virtue or internal moral development, as has been argued by Iris Murdoch. Excessive concern to produce desirable external results fails to respect the value of inner activities such as contemplation and can also generate problematic moral compromises or be self-defeating. Given the multitude of worthy projects and problems in the world, there is nothing inherently self-indulgent in choosing to focus on projects and ways of living that prioritize one’s most fundamental, life-enriching values. Such “ground projects,” as Bernard Williams calls them, constitute the basis of a meaningful and motivated life. These issues are illustrated in J.M. Coetzee’s novel Disgrace by the character David Lurie, who honors his conviction about the respect owed to animals in a manner that may seem not to “make a difference” but which nevertheless reflects ethical sensitivity and integrity.
