"Many see populism with its focus on immigration and nationalism as not only politically dangerous but morally wrong. This reflects the universalist morality of all of the main Western moral frameworks, from utilitarianism to Kant's rule-based morality. But critics argue moral universalism has generated policies that favour strangers over the interest of those close to us and that it is profoundly mistaken. In contrast, Chinese Confucian morality accepts partiality towards our nearest. And recent studies have shown that in practice we favour those close to us and more so the closer they are. What's more a 2021 study concluded that we also think we are morally right to act in this partial way.
Do we need to abandon moral universalism, and see it as an overreach of an Enlightenment attachment to reason that flies in the face of our actions and what is beneficial for society? Have the excesses of moral universalism been responsible for the rise of populism? Or is moral universalism essential to the value system of the West and abandoned at great peril to ourselves and the world? "
