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Denise Gamble, Visiting Research Fellow, School of Humanities, University of Adelaide

Do universal values exist? A philosopher says yes, and takes aim at identity politics – but not all of his arguments are convincing

Ravi Sharma/Unsplash, CC BY-SA

In Moral Progress in Dark Times, German philosopher Markus Gabriel makes a case for a new enlightenment based on universal values, arguing that the democratic law-based state is a valuable vehicle for encouraging this “moral progress”.

The aims of his book are admirable, but Gabriel is only partially successful in explaining what the new enlightenment might entail and how it might be implemented in democratic societies.

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