On Grown-Up Idealism

The American moral philosopher Susan Neiman has written books such as Why Grow Up? Subversive Thoughts for an Infantile Age and Moral Clarity: A Guide for Grown-Up Idealists. In them, she always seeks to chart a middle course between blind utopianism and cynical realism. She also describes this as ‘idealism for adults’: an idealism that determines who we are, does not shy away from the world as it is, but does permit itself to look beyond it in search of fresh possibilities.