Our Cultural Crisis Ep XII: Virtue Signaling and its Discontents

Virtue signaling is another feature of a rule-keeping morality and the flip-side to our obsession with calling out the hypocrisy of others. Talk of it is everywhere. What, then, is virtue signaling exactly and, more to the point, what drives it? In this episode (part 3 of a 3-episode arc), we explore the social science of self-justification and the human tendency towards self-flattery. Most importantly, we explore how—by naming and labeling virtue signaling—we can choose a different path to real virtue, beyond mere appearances.