"One needs to know what the hierarchy of values are from which one takes inspiration, and in a democratic society this is the subject of continuous democratic debate"
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There is a quiet power move hiding in Buttiglione's measured phrasing: he smuggles moral seriousness back into the procedural language of democracy. "Hierarchy of values" is not the vocabulary of technocracy or managerial politics; it implies ranking, sacrifice, and the uncomfortable idea that not all goods can coexist. By insisting one must "know" that hierarchy, he frames politics less as opinion-shopping and more as character formation: citizens (and lawmakers) should be able to name what they ultimately serve, instead of outsourcing meaning to polls, markets, or vague "European values."
The second clause is the rhetorical safety latch. In a democratic society, he says, this hierarchy is "the subject of continuous democratic debate". That word continuous matters. It nods to pluralism and avoids the charge of imposing doctrine, while still arguing that democracy cannot be value-neutral. The subtext is a rebuttal to the liberal fantasy that you can keep morality private and run the public sphere on rights-talk alone. Buttiglione is suggesting that rights themselves sit on a moral foundation, and that foundation needs daylight.
Context sharpens the edge. As an Italian Christian Democrat intellectual who collided with EU politics over questions of sexuality, family, and religion, Buttiglione speaks from the fault line between secular governance and religiously informed ethics. The line reads like an attempt to reconcile two audiences: believers who fear moral drift, and democrats who fear moral coercion. The intent is to legitimize moral argument in public without conceding theocratic authority: values are real, but they must be fought over in the open, endlessly, by citizens who can articulate what they worship.
The second clause is the rhetorical safety latch. In a democratic society, he says, this hierarchy is "the subject of continuous democratic debate". That word continuous matters. It nods to pluralism and avoids the charge of imposing doctrine, while still arguing that democracy cannot be value-neutral. The subtext is a rebuttal to the liberal fantasy that you can keep morality private and run the public sphere on rights-talk alone. Buttiglione is suggesting that rights themselves sit on a moral foundation, and that foundation needs daylight.
Context sharpens the edge. As an Italian Christian Democrat intellectual who collided with EU politics over questions of sexuality, family, and religion, Buttiglione speaks from the fault line between secular governance and religiously informed ethics. The line reads like an attempt to reconcile two audiences: believers who fear moral drift, and democrats who fear moral coercion. The intent is to legitimize moral argument in public without conceding theocratic authority: values are real, but they must be fought over in the open, endlessly, by citizens who can articulate what they worship.
Quote Details
| Topic | Ethics & Morality |
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