Your complimentary articles

You’ve read all of your complimentary articles for this month. To have complete access to the thousands of philosophy articles on this site, please

If you are a subscriber please sign in to your account.

To buy or renew a subscription please visit the Shop.

If you are a print subscriber you can contact us to create an online account.

Books

Moreel Esperanto by Paul Cliteur

Floris van den Berg takes a course in Paul Cliteur’s moral Esperanto.

Philosopher, humanist and public intellectual Paul Cliteur’s latest book Moreel Esperanto (which translates as Moral Esperanto) is written as a philosophical reaction to the murder of Theo van Gogh [Dutch critic of religion and provocative film-maker] on November 2nd 2004, and other manifestations of religious terrorism, such as the murder of Rabin, the murder of William of Orange, and more. Now, three years after the murder of van Gogh, Cliteur makes this political, philosophical and meta-ethical statement. Instead of directly criticizing Islam or religion in general, he asks the fundamental political question, how can people live together peacefully, especially in a multicultural, multi-religious society? What is implicit is the assumption that religious fanatics who base their morality on divine command cannot fit in with an open liberal society such as the Netherlands, although other religious positions that do not take religion as the starting point for ethics may be compatible with liberal democracy.

During the past few decades there has been a continuous influx of immigrants to the Netherlands, of whom the majority are Muslim. Because of the pluralist model of the separation of church and state in the Netherlands, the state finances religious education and cultural organizations of all religious denominations equally.

…