MARIE SKŁODOWSKA-CURIE INDIVIDUAL FELLOWSHIP 2022
MORAL IMPOSSIBILITY: RETHINKING CHOICE AND CONFLICT (MIGHT)
This project aims to offer a theoretical framework for a significant yet under-explored set of phenomena which I call ‘moral impossibility’ (MI), and to use the theoretical understanding achieved to propose a new approach to intractable moral conflict. MI refers to what – for moral reasons – lies outside the range of possibilities available in one’s choices. While empirical and logical impossibilities are widely accepted, moral ones are far less obvious, yet they shape and delimit, often silently, all choices. These include the possibilities we never consider, those we cannot make sense of (e.g. because too morally abhorrent), and those we consider but cannot bring ourselves to carry out. Neglecting the role of MI can lead to crucial misrepresentations of choice, freedom, and conflict in philosophy. The objectives of the research are 1) to construct a conceptual framework of MI, 2) to conduct a normative analysis of its most controversial manifestations, and 3) to use the conceptual and normative frameworks to offer a new understanding of the causes, meaning, and possible resolution, of intractable moral conflict. Each objective corresponds to a work package with a distinct methodology and contributing to a different branch of ethics: moral theory/moral psychology, normative ethics, and applied ethics.
For more information see https://moralimpossibility.weebly.com/
MORAL IMPOSSIBILITY: RETHINKING CHOICE AND CONFLICT (MIGHT)
This project aims to offer a theoretical framework for a significant yet under-explored set of phenomena which I call ‘moral impossibility’ (MI), and to use the theoretical understanding achieved to propose a new approach to intractable moral conflict. MI refers to what – for moral reasons – lies outside the range of possibilities available in one’s choices. While empirical and logical impossibilities are widely accepted, moral ones are far less obvious, yet they shape and delimit, often silently, all choices. These include the possibilities we never consider, those we cannot make sense of (e.g. because too morally abhorrent), and those we consider but cannot bring ourselves to carry out. Neglecting the role of MI can lead to crucial misrepresentations of choice, freedom, and conflict in philosophy. The objectives of the research are 1) to construct a conceptual framework of MI, 2) to conduct a normative analysis of its most controversial manifestations, and 3) to use the conceptual and normative frameworks to offer a new understanding of the causes, meaning, and possible resolution, of intractable moral conflict. Each objective corresponds to a work package with a distinct methodology and contributing to a different branch of ethics: moral theory/moral psychology, normative ethics, and applied ethics.
For more information see https://moralimpossibility.weebly.com/
Publications
FORTHCOMING: Moral Impossibility: Ethical, Political, and Psychological Approaches (Routledge 2026)
In every choice, action, and act of the imagination, what is possible for us is variously determined and delimited not only by physical and logical limits, but also by moral ones. These limits constitute the domain of ‘moral impossibility’. Moral impossibilities limit what we conceive of, what we consider practically, and what we are capable of doing. They manifest in what is not-thought, what is unthinkable, and what is undoable. They have individual and collective roots, change over time, and have significant consequences for the framing of problems, for the scope of deliberation, and for individual and social worldviews – as well as the conflicts that arise between them. This phenomenon is ubiquitous, yet scarcely discussed. The volume aims to open up and unify a field of inquiry, collecting original contributions from international philosophers that explore both conceptual and applied questions through the moral psychology, meta-ethics, and politics of moral impossibility.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1. Moral Impossibility: What It Is and Why It Matters
Silvia Caprioglio Panizza
Chapter 2. How Virtues and Institutions Limit Practical Thought
Ulf Hlobil
Chapter 3. Reflections on Moral Impossibility for the Virtuous: Towards a Dual Model of Virtuous Agency
Peter Shiu-Hwa Tsu
Chapter 4. The Innocence You Have Fought For
Sophie Grace Chappell
Chapter 5. Pacifism: Impossible, Unthinkable, or Merely Wrong?
Sami Pihlström
Chapter 6. The Bat and the Dolphin: Perception, Imagination, and the Impossibility of Empathy
Carlo Salzani
Chapter 7. ‘Here I Stand’. Moral Impossibility and Personal Practical Necessity
Katharina Bauer
Chapter 8. Murdoch on Moral Realism and First-Person Moral Judgments
Craig Taylor
Chapter 9. Trying to Understand Another’s Moral Impossibility
Christopher Cowley
Chapter 10. Virtue or Self-Sabotage? Moral Incapacity, the Superego, and the Unconscious
Talia Morag
Chapter 11. The Experience of the Unthinkable
Evgenia Mylonaki
Chapter 12. The Beautiful and the Good
Simone Weil
Translated by Aviad Heifetz
Postscript. Simone Weil on Moral Impossibility and Moral Dexterity
Aviad Heifetz
In every choice, action, and act of the imagination, what is possible for us is variously determined and delimited not only by physical and logical limits, but also by moral ones. These limits constitute the domain of ‘moral impossibility’. Moral impossibilities limit what we conceive of, what we consider practically, and what we are capable of doing. They manifest in what is not-thought, what is unthinkable, and what is undoable. They have individual and collective roots, change over time, and have significant consequences for the framing of problems, for the scope of deliberation, and for individual and social worldviews – as well as the conflicts that arise between them. This phenomenon is ubiquitous, yet scarcely discussed. The volume aims to open up and unify a field of inquiry, collecting original contributions from international philosophers that explore both conceptual and applied questions through the moral psychology, meta-ethics, and politics of moral impossibility.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1. Moral Impossibility: What It Is and Why It Matters
Silvia Caprioglio Panizza
Chapter 2. How Virtues and Institutions Limit Practical Thought
Ulf Hlobil
Chapter 3. Reflections on Moral Impossibility for the Virtuous: Towards a Dual Model of Virtuous Agency
Peter Shiu-Hwa Tsu
Chapter 4. The Innocence You Have Fought For
Sophie Grace Chappell
Chapter 5. Pacifism: Impossible, Unthinkable, or Merely Wrong?
Sami Pihlström
Chapter 6. The Bat and the Dolphin: Perception, Imagination, and the Impossibility of Empathy
Carlo Salzani
Chapter 7. ‘Here I Stand’. Moral Impossibility and Personal Practical Necessity
Katharina Bauer
Chapter 8. Murdoch on Moral Realism and First-Person Moral Judgments
Craig Taylor
Chapter 9. Trying to Understand Another’s Moral Impossibility
Christopher Cowley
Chapter 10. Virtue or Self-Sabotage? Moral Incapacity, the Superego, and the Unconscious
Talia Morag
Chapter 11. The Experience of the Unthinkable
Evgenia Mylonaki
Chapter 12. The Beautiful and the Good
Simone Weil
Translated by Aviad Heifetz
Postscript. Simone Weil on Moral Impossibility and Moral Dexterity
Aviad Heifetz
.Journal articles
Caprioglio Panizza, S. (forthcoming) 'Choicelessness as the Moral Goal'. The Monist.
Caprioglio Panizza, S. (2025) ‘Deep Disagreement and Unthinkable Possibilities’. International Journal of Philosophical Studies 1-20.
Caprioglio Panizza, S. and Vaccarezza, M.S. (2024) 'Moral transformation as shifting (im)possibilities'. The Journal of Ethics 29, 195–210.
Panizza, S. (2022) 'Forms of Moral Impossibility'. European Journal of Philosophy 30: 361–373.
Panizza, S. (2020) ‘If Veganism Is Not a Choice: The Moral Psychology of Possibilities in Animal Ethics’. Animals 10 (1): 145.
Public article
Panizza, S. (2020) ‘The Unthinkable and the Unconceived’. London School of Economics' 'Forum for Philosophy'.
Caprioglio Panizza, S. (forthcoming) 'Choicelessness as the Moral Goal'. The Monist.
Caprioglio Panizza, S. (2025) ‘Deep Disagreement and Unthinkable Possibilities’. International Journal of Philosophical Studies 1-20.
Caprioglio Panizza, S. and Vaccarezza, M.S. (2024) 'Moral transformation as shifting (im)possibilities'. The Journal of Ethics 29, 195–210.
Panizza, S. (2022) 'Forms of Moral Impossibility'. European Journal of Philosophy 30: 361–373.
Panizza, S. (2020) ‘If Veganism Is Not a Choice: The Moral Psychology of Possibilities in Animal Ethics’. Animals 10 (1): 145.
Public article
Panizza, S. (2020) ‘The Unthinkable and the Unconceived’. London School of Economics' 'Forum for Philosophy'.
Invited talks
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'Of Moral Bondage: necessity and impossibility in ethics' Columbia University (2026)
'Deep disagreement and moral hinges' The New School for Social Research (2026) 'Choicelessness as a moral goal' Vanderbilt University (2025) 'Absent practical possibilities: Virtue or Vice?’ The Good Life and Why We Don’t Have It workshop, University of Warsaw (2025) *Keynote ‘Practical Necessity in Iris Murdoch and Bernard Williams’ Situating Murdoch conference, Lisbon University (2025) ‘Choicelessness as a moral goal’ Philosophy After Murdoch workshop, Vanderbilt University (2025) Moral impossibility and necessity, Iris Murdoch's Philosophy Summer School, University of Vienna / Central European University (2025) 'What's your moral impossiblity?' University of Vienna research seminar (2024) Moral impossibility: a conversation with Craig Taylor, Andrew Gleeson, Ryan Manhire, Gillian Dooley, Libbey Weber. Flinders University, Australia (2023) Simone Weil and the impossibility of good and evil. Formations and Reformations of Moral Universes workshop, Centre for Ethics, University of Pardubice (2023) Moral impossibility. Ethics Forum, The University of Cape Town (2023) Moral possibilities and impossibilities. Prague-Valencia Workshop on Analytic Philosophy, Institute of Philosophy, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (2022) The limits of my world. 7th Colloquium on the Modalities of the Good. Institute of Philosophy, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (2022) Imaginative resistance and the statues we cannot stand. Prague Art and Ethics Conference, Czech Academy of Sciences (2022) Simone Weil: Defining the Impossible. Royal Institute of Philosophy Human Sciences Seminar, Manchester Metropolitan University (2022) Cora Diamond and the Difficulty of Reality. International Iris Murdoch Conference workshop (2021) |
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Interviews & public talks
‘Moral impossibility and the vegan paradigm shift’, radio interview CKCU 93.1 FM, Ottawa, Canada (2023) (LISTEN HERE)
‘Moral impossibility and cultural self-knowledge: a MSCA conversation’ with Olli Lagerspetz & Silvia Caprioglio Panizza. Philosophy Voiced Podcast. Spotify & Apple podcasts (2022) (LISTEN HERE)
'Moral impossibility’ public lecture, Kulturni Front Opatija, Croatia (2025)
‘Moral impossibility and cultural self-knowledge: a MSCA conversation’ with Olli Lagerspetz & Silvia Caprioglio Panizza. Philosophy Voiced Podcast. Spotify & Apple podcasts (2022) (LISTEN HERE)
'Moral impossibility’ public lecture, Kulturni Front Opatija, Croatia (2025)
Papers in progress
‘The Sources of Moral Incapacity’: Examining various accounts of moral incapacity offered by Bernard Williams, Craig Taylor, Rai Gaita, Harry Frankfurt, Dwight Furrow, and David Holiday, the paper aims to make space for the abrupt and experientially world-directed character of moral incapacity, while questioning the roles attributed to both character and deliberation.
‘Imaginative Resistance and the Statues We Cannot Stand’: The paper interprets debates about the removal of statues of wrongdoers through the lens of imaginative resistance. It argues that celebratory statues invite an imaginative engagement with the moral world within which their creators intentionally operated, and that the clash between that world and our own generates a form of imaginative resistance that may disclose a potential harm to the moral community.
‘Conspiracy Theories and One Possibility Too Many’ (with J. McGuire, University College Dublin): We trace the trajectory of the conspiracist mindset as beginning from a form of scepticism that employs leading questions to support the belief that “anything is possible.” The conspiracist thus differs from the non-conspiracist not primarily in the particular beliefs they hold, but in the range of possibilities they regard as open.
Events organised
‘Possibilities, Impossibilities and Conflict in Ethics’, MSCA MIGHT International conference. Centre for Ethics, University of Pardubice, June 2023.
‘“Here I stand, I can do no other; or can I?” On the reality of moral impossibility’, MSCA MIGHT workshop. Centre for Ethics, University of Pardubice, September 2022.
‘“Here I stand, I can do no other; or can I?” On the reality of moral impossibility’, MSCA MIGHT workshop. Centre for Ethics, University of Pardubice, September 2022.
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Outreach workshop
This highly interactive workshop employs techniques from theatre and performance to explore philosophical questions around moral impossibility and the shape of our moral worlds. Participants immerse themselves into a fictional situation that shed new light on their thinking processes, imagination, and intuitions. No background in drama nor philosophy is required, just open mindedness and curiosity. We will raise questions about humanity, animality, habit and transformation. Extracts from the film Gunda by Vikor Kossakowsky will be showed. The workshop is led by drama teacher and philosophy researcher Evie Filea (University College Dublin), followed by a discussion led by philosopher Dr Silvia Caprioglio Panizza (University of Pardubice) and filmmaker Veronika Janatková.
Past event dates and venues:
Past event dates and venues:
- 9/02/2024 Prague DISPLAY 5-8pm
- 10/02/2024 Pardubice GAMPA 10-12:30am
