To build a just society in Aotearoa New Zealand, we must reset an alternative moral discourse to the current prevailing philosophy of liberal rationalism.
Child Poverty Action Group co-convenor Alan Johnson gave a talk entitled “Telling a new justice story — reframing the poverty debate” to members of the Auckland diocese Justice and Peace Commission on May 28, at the Pompallier Diocesan Centre.
Mr Johnson, who authored The Salvation Army’s well-regarded State of the Nation Reports from 2009 to 2019, drew on the works of modern day philosophers Martha Nussbaum and Alisdair McIntyre, as well as John Rawls, to “prompt thinking around how we might build a more just society”.
He said that, though Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern often talks about kindness, the Covid response showed that the middle class and the rich ended up “doing well more than the poor”.
“One of the things, I suggest, we need to think about is, how do we work beyond that idea of kindness?,” he said.
Mr Johnson, quoting St Teresa of Kolkata, observed that “the primary poverty we have in Aotearoa is the poverty of love”.
Public love
Mr Johnson said that, at the moment, he believes the prevailing philosophy in New Zealand is liberal rationalism, a philosophy developed by John Stuart Mill, where one’s rights are limited by the other’s rights.
“We weren’t worried about the total sum of happiness in society, and good was judged by whatever makes you happy. And whatever makes you happy, according to the harm principle, is your business. So, if you are happy gambling and drinking, then that’s your business. If you are happy with charitable works, that’s your business. There was no moral compass inside this little bag. It is entirely up to you,” he said.
However, he said, modern moral philosophers such as Nussbaum and McIntyre have shown a way out of liberal rationalism through moral liberalism, which builds on public love, one that is not soft and sentimental, but is uncompromising in its demand for justice.
Mr Johnson added that Mr McIntyre suggests that the way forward involves three elements: a focus on a personal practice aimed at excellence, the use of a shared narrative about a worthwhile life,
and the development of a shared moral tradition.
Mr Johnson said that the idea of a worthwhile life in New Zealand needs to be re-examined as, at the moment, “we applaud sports stars and rich people”.
A way out
Mr Johnson suggested five steps that can be taken to build this public love in New Zealand.
The first, he said, is to build a shared moral discourse, and from this, a tradition based on virtues which we think define our “New Zealandness”.
“I think that kindness, empathy and a generosity of spirit can genuinely be included. I think, New Zealanders can generally be described as that,” he said.
The second step is to exemplify this moral tradition with the examples of the lives of New Zealanders who have shown generosity and kindness.
The next step is to physically build spaces for civic inter-action, and to utilise the spaces that we have for a rich communal and public life, “so we actually spend time in each other’s company”, and we build spaces to do that.
After that, we need to “acknowledge our history without chagrin, guilt or bitterness, and reflect on why and how we celebrate or ignore this history”.
And lastly, we need to “make sure that we see anger as a block to our future, and that we recognise all our fellow New Zealanders as equal partners in our future”.
Moral values
Mr Johnson said that, while the Catholic Church and other faith traditions should not be the moral arbiters in society, they “do have valuable moral frameworks and traditions which should be openly shared”.
“These should sit alongside Māori frameworks and traditions. We’ve got rich abundance of traditions that we can use,” he said.
“At the very least, the Church should tend its own flock, and ensure that its members can be actively engaged in an informed and respectful debate on how the various harms and hurts — including those from colonisation and poverty — can be addressed and reconciled.”
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