Towards a Critical Political Ethics

In her book Hille Haker pleads for a radical course correction of Catholic social ethics by focusing on three foundational concepts of social ethics: human rights, human dignity and moral responsibility based on the interplay of compassion, solidarity and justice. The author argues for a historically and politically mediated ethics that replaces the natural law ethics. The theoretical reflections of the book are carried out by the practical social-ethical studies: The politicization of individual human rights is examined in the contexts of migration, religious freedom, and criminal justice. Human dignity is spelled out as "vulnerable agency" allowing for a sharp criticism of Catholic sexual morality and neglect of women’s human rights. The book ends with a discussion of the relationship of political theology and political ethics and its social-ethical implications for the further development of a Critical Political Ethics.