From politicians taking moral stances to increase popularity, to companies like BP accused of 'greenwashing' to boost revenue, we tend to see the flaunting of virtue as a fundamental perversion of morality. This is mistaken argues Holly Elmore. Virtue signalling is a vital component of ethical behaviour and we should seek to adopt better and more meaningful signals to navigate through the moral landscape.

We all hate virtue signalling, right? Talk is cheap, and performances of virtue can be utterly bankrupt. Sam Bankman-Fried brazenly described his “talking about ethics” before the FTX crash as “this dumb game we woke westerners play where we say all the right shibboleths and so everyone likes us”, confirming the internet’s worst suspicions about conspicuous displays of “virtue”.

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