The decline of yuck: Moral judgment in the anthropocene

摘要

The status and development of disgust as a moral emotion is gaining attention from scholars. This increased consideration largely rests on the question of whether disgust can and should play a role-even a decisive role-in moral judgment. Some ethicists believe that disgust manifests the emotional expression of a "deep wisdom," and in this respect may constitute the last bulwark against eroding social norms associated with technological development. Others see the transformation or displacement of disgust as an appropriate human adaption to the times. This essay investigates the precarious status of disgust in the Anthropocene, a global age of artifice and engineering that increasingly challenges the "natural order" of things. The decline of disgust as a moral emotion presents a critical challenge to ethicists, legal theorists, and scholars of society, culture and technology.