普遍道德语法构想及其限度——评米哈伊尔《道德认知的要素》

Universal Moral Grammar and Its Limits:Review of Elements of Moral Cognition

普遍道德语法是一种基于普遍语法理论提出的理论构想。紧跟乔姆斯基和罗尔斯的步伐,米哈伊尔提出了不仅包含元理论层面内容,也包含技术层面内容的普遍道德语法构想,认为一种科学化研究道德哲学的途径是可能的。针对这一模仿语言学研究的道德哲学理论构想,质疑和批评的声音纷至沓来,有的批评认为将道德哲学与语言学进行类推本身就不合理,有的批评认为即使这样的类推研究可行,那么米哈伊尔的工作依然未能实现其理论抱负。但不可否认的一点是,普遍道德语法的构想在澄清道德研究中的语义问题时是有效的,如果对普遍道德语法的研究进行重构,这一设想是可以为未来的道德哲学研究提供一个恰当的视角的。

Universal moral grammar is a theoretical conception based on universal grammar.Following Chomsky and Rawls,Mikhail put forward the idea of universal moral grammar which contains not only metatheoretical content but also technical content.He believes that it is possible to study moral philosophy scientifically.Such linguistic analogy of moral philosophy incurs many criticisms.Some critics claim that such analogy is unreasonable,while some think that even though such analogy is feasible,Mikhail's work still fails to realize his theoretical ambition.However,it is undeniable that the idea of universal moral grammar is effective in clarifying the semantic issues in moral research.If the study of universal moral grammar is reconstructed,this idea can provide an appropriate perspective for the future study of moral philosophy.