The decline of duty

Contemporary societies oscillate between two discourses representing opposite poles; one advocating the revival of morals, and the other emphasizing moral decline. Possible connections can be found between these two discourses; where moral upheaval can be interpreted as a reaction to behavioral collapse, and the revival of consciences as a struggle against irresponsible individualism. However, this link is incapable of explaining the complexities of the intertwining between individualism and the collective aspiration for morality. The Namaa Center presents the Arabic version of this book to the social scholar Jille Lipovetsky, which seeks to answer central and pivotal questions within this framework, as it attempts to address what prosperity and moral activity are, or in other words; to discuss the idea of "return to morals," in contrast to modern individualistic pressures against moral values. This is in accordance with the philosophy of critical modernity and postmodernity through which Lipovetsky works, where he discusses concepts of "secularization of morals," developments of the "age of leaving religion," and the "post-moral society," in addition to monitoring the decline of concepts of moral duty and the roles of traditional social control institutions as a result of neoliberal policies. The Namaa Center, through this translation, completes some of Lipovetsky's important works within the context of the rise of critical schools of modernity and postmodernity in Western social philosophy, with the aim of bringing them closer to the Arab reader and the Arab library, to serve as a resource for developing Arab thought and critical tools within this framework.