Lisa Tessman, “Moral Failure: On the Impossible Demands of Morality” (Oxford UP, 2015)
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What is Lisa Tessman's book *Moral Failure* about and why does it matter?
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Welcome to the New Books and Philosophy channel of the New Books Network. My name is Robert Talis. I'm Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University. I co host the channel with Carrie Figter. Harry is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Iowa. Today my guest is Lisa Tessman. Her new book is titled Moral Failure. on the impossible demands of morality. It's just been published by Oxford University Press. Tessman is Professor of Philosophy at Binghamton University. Moral theories are often focused on answering the question. What ought I do? Typically, theories presuppose that That for any particular agent under any given circumstance There indeed is some particular thing that she ought to do.
And if she were indeed to do this thing, she would thereby morally succeed. But we know from experience that our moral lives involve moral dilemmas. Cases in which it seems that moral success is not possible. Every action available to us is morally wrong. Even unacceptable. In such cases Morality requires what is not possible. No matter what one does. One acts as one ought not to act. In her book Moral Failure, Lisa Tessman proposes an original account of of impossible moral demands. And forcefully argues for a novel approach to moral theory that can recognize their normative authority. Hello Lisa Tessman.
Hello Bob.
How are you doing today?
I'm great. How are you?
Oh, I'm doing fine. Thank you for joining us on New Books in Philosophy.
Well thank you for inviting me.
And thank you, listener, for checking out the program. My guest today is Lisa Tessman. Her new book is titled Moral Failure on the impossible demands of morality. Uh this is a fascinating exploration of cases where uh agents seem to be confronted With a moral choice. Uh but in the context there's no way to avoid Choosing something that's wrong. Um, this is a book about what are sometimes called tragic conflicts. These are conflicts where one must not only do wrong But commit a wrong that is uncompensated for. uh that represents a loss that can't be made up for in any way. Um I highly recommend the book. Uh the um phenomena that it discusses are familiar to moral agents all over the place. But um the actual philosophical structure of these phenomena are not uh not always clear and are
Um it's hard to get a handle on them, although uh Lisa goes a long way uh in helping us do so. Um so before we get on uh to talking about the details of the book, uh we usually start with the author. Lisa, uh why don't you share some things about yourself with us?
Okay. Um Well, I'm from the Boston area. I I did my undergraduate degree at Carlton College in Minnesota. And that's where I took my first philosophy course, which I still remember.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is Lisa Tessman's book *Moral Failure* about and why does it matter?
0:00–9:47
2
How does Tessman define an impossible moral requirement?
9:47–20:56
3
Why do many moral theories assume ‘ought implies can’ and how does Tessman challenge this view?
20:56–32:15
4
What is the moral dilemmas debate and how does Tessman’s account differ from anti‑dilemma positions?
32:15–43:00
5
How does empirical research on moral psychology (dual‑process, sacred values) inform the experience of impossible obligations?
43:00–53:43
6
What is Tessman’s constructivist framework and how does it handle the contingency of values?
53:43–1:00:51
7
How do Holocaust testimony and other real‑world cases illustrate unavoidable moral failure?
1:00:51–1:02:32
8
What are the practical implications of recognizing impossible moral demands for theory and everyday moral decision‑making?
1:02:32–1:02:45
Speakers
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