Ethics enjoys great social esteem. This can obscure the fact that the understanding of ethics that still dominates today raises many questions. In this essay, Johannes Fischer critically examines its detachment from life and contrasts it with the concept of an ethics of the life-world.

To this day, the understanding of ethics is decisively shaped by modern ethics. According to this, ethics is philosophical reflection on morality. This view is based on the opinion that moral questions can be answered by a non-moral, namely philosophical way of thinking and arguing. In order to understand how this strange view could come about, Johannes Fischer traces the close connection between the Enlightenment and ethics in this essay. Central importance is attached to the religious origins of morality and the role of Christian theology. The critique of the modern ethical paradigm leads to the thesis that the future of ethics lies in turning to the life-world, since all action derives its reasons from it. The author uses examples to explain the concept of an ethics of the life-world and develops its basic features.