With Dr. Alida Liberman, Southern Methodist University. Abstract: I articulate and defend the notion of everyday moral stress, or the various ways in which ordinary, low-stakes moral decision-making in a deeply flawed world can lead to distress, demoralization, desensitization, and denigration of your moral capacities. Like ordinary stress, moral stress can be beneficial in small doses. But everyday moral stressors become overwhelming and counterproductive when they are pervasive and unavoidable. I identify and illustrate two common sources of everyday moral stress—everyday moral injury and moral residue—that are present in ordinary life and were greatly amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. In doing so, I develop a conceptual framework for thinking about how everyday moral stress occurs and what the impacts of it on moral agency might be. I conclude by considering how we should respond to the ubiquity of everyday moral stress.

Open to all campus community members