“The Moral Insight”

Ethical Culture was greatly shaped by rationalism, and today Ethical Societies are part of a humanist movement dedicated to reason and skeptical of blind passion and magical thinking. But Ethical Culture also calls for empathy toward others – for holding others in our hearts. While respecting the role of emotion in a meaningful life, Hugh Taft-Morales believes reason is important in supporting “the moral insight” – the deep realization that other people are conscious creatures living lives full of pain, pleasure, suffering and joy. How do Immanuel Kant, Josiah Royce, and Martin Luther King Jr. help understand the rational nature of this insight?

Hugh Taft-Morales joined the Baltimore Ethical Society as its professional leader in 2010, the same year he was certified by the American Ethical Union as an Ethical Culture Leader. He also serves as Leader of the Ethical Humanist Society of Philadelphia. His presence in Ethical Culture has been termed “invigorating.” Taft-Morales lives in Takoma Park, Maryland, with his wife Maureen, a Latin American Analyst with the Congressional Research Service, with whom he has three beloved children, Sean, Maya, and Justin.