Persuasive Force: The Role of Aesthetic Experience in Moral Persuasion

In modern societies individuals do not take moral positions because they consider these positions to be pointless and ineffective in addressing serious problems. This project will show that this problem arises because individuals are not engaged by the abstract nature of moral argumentation. Moreover, it will solve this problem by showing that for individuals to engage in moral paths of action, moral argumentation needs to engage with an aesthetic background. The outcome of this project will be to show how this aesthetic background is the necessary condition for moral categories and language to have persuasive force.