哥梯尔的“协议道德”理论评析

On David Gauthier's Morals By Agreement

哥梯尔在《协议道德》一书中,试图完全从个人利益出发推导出道德的原则。具体地讲,哥梯尔极力想证明:第一,有理性的个人在相互交往中,遇到类似"囚徒悖论"情景中的次佳化问题时,愿意接受公正的、不偏不倚的限制性条款(即道德的原则),用以限制个人无止境地追求个人利益,从而避免次佳化问题,并实现共同的利益;第二,一旦达成限制性条款或协议,各方遵守条款或协议是符合理性的,即符合各方的个人利益的。以上两点在"重复性的囚徒悖论"情景中得到了很好的证明,但哥梯尔的"协议道德"理论仍然有其局限性。

In his Morals by Agreement, David Gauthier intends to develop a theory of practical rationality related to each individual's pursuit of his or her own interest or ends but from which moral principles can be derived. The question for Gauthier is: how could rational agents, each concerned with maximizing his or her own interest or ends, agree to cooperate or accept an agreement to constrain their maximizing activities, and comply with the agreement even though each of them could do better by not cooperating or not complying? Gauthier tries to argue that, (1) in interaction, facing the problems exemplified in Prisoner's Dilemma-type situations, rational agents need, and thus accept, impartial constraints on rational agreements on their individual maximizing activities to avoid the suboptimal problem and achieve mutual benefits; (2) it is rational for those agents to comply with those constraints or agreements once made. Gauthier's arguments are more successful in Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma situations than in one time Prisoner's Dilemma situations. However, his theory still has some limitations.