French Literature Reviews - 2026

Stéphane Chauvier, Bonté gracieuse. Essai sur l’asymétrie du bien et du mal
Philosophy, Anthropology and Ideas

Why is it morally more serious to abandon one's children than to fail to adopt orphans? Why is it morally more serious to force someone to listen to the music they detest most than not to play them the music they prefer? Why, more generally, is the obligation not to do harm or does it appear to be more imperative than that of doing good? Is this asymmetry a constitutive feature of all morality, a logical consequence of what good and evil are, or is it a particularity of our morality—at least the one most common or familiar to us? Could we not only conceive of, but adopt, a morality that treats the obligation not to do harm and the obligation to do good symmetrically? Could we live under a regime of severe goodness?

The inquiry belongs to the broad tradition of moral philosophy and normative ethics, where thinkers have long debated the structural relationship between beneficence and non-maleficence. Philosophical inquiry frequently confronts the question of whether ethical systems inherently prioritize prohibitions against causing injury over injunctions to promote welfare. Readers interested in contemporary moral philosophy and foundational questions of ethics may find this volume a relevant contribution to ongoing debates about the nature of moral demands.