Zwarte Piet (‘Black Pete’), the Oostvaardersplassen, gender issues... social discussions are flaming up everywhere, and every year, positions seem to harden. This is the research field of Frank Hindriks, University of Groningen Professor of Ethics, Social and Political Philosophy. ‘As a philosopher I try to sketch the bigger picture – you might say I study the traffic rules of society’. A philosopher as a social traffic controller – how does that work?