How to Moralize

ABSTRACT This article provides an account of what it means to moralize. I claim that to moralize is to use a shared good as a means to a contested moral cause. Moralizing can be thought of as a three‐place predicate involving an agent, a shared good (like a conference, vacation, meal, or concert), and a contested moral cause. Key criteria for an act to count as moralizing include: that the good be shared with others, that the moral cause be controversial, that the moral cause be unrelated to the shared good by social convention, and that the agent is motivated to act on behalf of their moral cause. I distinguish moralizing from related concepts like moralism, moral hyperactivity, moral grandstanding, and politicizing. This article provides a conceptual analysis of moralizing that can ground a moral evaluation of moralizing. I conclude with a brief moral evaluation of moralizing.