Purpose: The present article pertains to recent advances in social systems theoretical analyses of moral communication. Design/methodology/approach: An introduction to basic concepts and requirements for systems-theoretical approaches to morality and communication is provided, as is an introduction to 14 contributions to a pertinent special issue of Kybernetes. Findings: The review of these 14 cases suggests that social systems theory enables researchers to study moral communication without necessarily performing it. Originality/value: This article reappraises and challenges Niklas Luhmann's occasionally distanced attitude to morality, which has occasionally been understood as a form of moral communication itself.