"The Morality of Praise": Jules Holroyd in conversation with Hallvard Lillehammer

In everyday life, praise can be defined as the expressions we use to elevate others, esteem them, and celebrate their achievements. These expressions are a pervasive feature of social life, occurring within families, among friends or colleagues, and in institutional settings such as education and employment. But have you ever considered that our practices of praising can be harmful and implicated in oppression?

Like blame, praise has historically been regarded as one of the defining aspects of human morality. However, compared to blame, praise has received much less attention in the philosophical canon, perhaps because—unlike its putative counterpart, blame—praise is assumed to be a benefit; an expression of positive appraisal that requires little scrutiny or justification.

In this event, Jules Holroyd and Hallvard Lillehammer will demonstrate that, contrary to this assumption, praise can be as harmful as blame. Holroyd will introduce cases of oppressive praise, using them to develop a diagnosis of when and why praise is oppressive, and an account of praise that focuses on its function in affirming and entrenching values within a community. This role of praise is essential to understanding moral appraisal as a social practice, one that can contribute to social hierarchy and oppression.

The discussion on praise will explore further questions: How does the morality of praise differ from the morality of blame? How is the morality of praise affected by considerations of autonomy, contingency, identity, and luck? What are the moral dangers associated with praise, particularly as it relates to distributive justice? To what extent can the morality of praise be illuminated by facts about its social and psychological functions?

Jules Holroyd is a senior lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Sheffield, working on topics in social philosophy, political philosophy and moral psychology. This has included work on implicit bias, collective vice, discrimination and structural injustice. Jules has a book forthcoming on Oppressive Praise, the idea that far from being unproblematic positive appraisals, some expressions of praise can entrench social oppression.
Website: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/hpdh/people/philosophy-staff/jules-holroyd

Hallvard Lillehammer is Professor of Philosophy in the School of Historical Studies at Birkbeck, University of London. His research is focused on the interpretation and criticism of basic ideas in moral and political thought, such as reason, objectivity, impartiality, autonomy, indifference and responsibility. He is the author of numerous books and is currently editing a collection of original essays entitled The Morality of Praise for Cambridge University Press.
Website: http://www.hallvardlillehammer.com 

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