In a world ruled by profits and productivity, the moral values that previously guided us on how to live are being replaced by the motives of the market. But with environmental destruction and rising inequality, our need for ethical guidance is more urgent than ever. Do we need to revive the role of the inner voice of conscience? Could attunement to our human compass guide us towards the good life, even when it directs us to challenge the basic conventions of society?

Novelist and philosopher Janne Teller argues for the revitalisation of individual conscience in the face of the contemporary world.

In this course, Janne Teller will argue that:  

• An ethical human compass is inherent to all human beings.
• Capitalism, technology, and globalisation are skewing this compass.
• Sensual experience is under attack, undermining our ability to empathise.
• Literature is central to rediscovering empathy.
• Kant’s categorical imperative should serve as a guide for action.
• Only through compassion and humanity can an ethical community be possible.

As part of the course, there are in-video quiz questions to consolidate your learning, suggested further readings to stimulate a deeper exploration of the topic, discussion boards to have your say, and an end-of-course assessment. 

Janne Teller

Janne Teller is an acclaimed Danish novelist and essayist. In her existential novel, Nothing, a group of teenagers set out to prove that life has meaning. Initially banned, it became a prize-winning international bestseller, selling more than 1.7 million copies. Her subsequent work touches on themes of religious and political fanaticism, European identity, and the nature of art.

In 2013, Teller organised the Writers Against Mass Surveillance campaign, which was signed by over 500 international authors.

• Arendt, H., The Human Condition, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998).
• Bauman, Z., Postmodern Ethics, (Oxford: Blackwell, 1993).
• MacIntyre, A., After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory, (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 2007).
• Nussbaum, M. C., Upheavals of Thought: The Intelligence of Emotions, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001).
• Sandel, M. J., Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?, (London: Penguin, 2010).
• Taylor, C., Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity, (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1992).
• Teller, J., Nothing, (London: Simon & Schuster, 2011).
• Tugendhat, E., Egocentricity and Mysticism: An Anthropological Study, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016).