TEHRAN - “Ethics, as an academic discipline, and politics, as something practiced in the public realm, should seek to define, strengthen and defend the difference between the morally bad and the legally wrong,” says Jens Timmermann, a senior lecturer at the University of St Andrews.

Timmermann made the remarks in an interview with the Mehr News Agency conducted by Hossein Kaji and Javad Heirannia.
Following is the text of the interview:
Q: What are the most important questions about the relationship between ethics and politics?
A: Ethics, as an academic discipline, and politics, as something practiced in the public realm, should seek to define, strengthen and defend the difference between the morally bad and the legally wrong. There are many actions one would condemn as vicious that should not be punishable by law; and there are many actions we commend morally that the law should not force us to do. The two spheres are constantly confused in public life today. Of course, the question where exactly the line should be drawn remains...
Q: Some thinkers have focused on the point that Kantian ethics is for personal spheres and utilitarian ethics is for public spheres such as political environment. Do you agree with this view?
A: No. The approach described strikes me as both schizophrenic and dangerous. The primary task of politics is to defend personal freedom, and there should be no utilitarian trade-offs in that field.
Jens Timmermann is a senior lecturer at the University of St Andrews. He is author of “Ethical theory, Ancient Philosophy, Aesthetics; the philosophy of Immanuel Kant”, ""Kant's Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals: A Commentary"", ""Simplicity and Authority, Reflections on Theory and Practice in Kant's Moral Philosophy"", ""Special Issue on Kant's essay on ""Theory and Practice""