论康德反对“道德圣贤”——从“绝对命令”到“道德完善”

Kant Opposes the Moral Saints: From the Categorical Imperative to the Moral Perfection

苏珊·沃尔夫认为,康德的伦理学以严格主义的形式,支持建立一种"道德圣贤"概念,它是不完善的行动者所应该达到的完善状态。然而,沃尔夫却指出,这一论调在理论上是偏激的,而在实践中,对于一般人而言又是不现实的。站在一种直觉主义立场上,沃尔夫反对以康德主义以及功利主义为代表的伦理学将普遍规则作为行为的主要衡量标准。对此,本文指出,康德的伦理学并未建立一种"道德圣贤"理论,更未要求人们成为"圣贤";恰恰相反,康德极其反对这种"完善主义"论调。康德的义务论提供的是一种最基本的道德描述,而他此后所提出的"德性论"又是对其义务论的延伸与补充。尤其是在其"德性论"中,康德以"完全义务∕不完全义务"之分,表明了人们必须遵守的道德法则属于"完全义务",而"不完全义务"是指人们除此之外,可以根据自身品格与情况需要而有选择性地遵守的义务。就后者而言,违背它并不必然是受到谴责的,然而如果履行它则是值得被赞扬的。只有在这一意义上,康德认为人们才会追求所谓的"道德完善"。总之,康德伦理学中既包含了"道德圣贤"的理念,又未将其作为一个必要的道德标准。更多时候,他是在一种否定性意义上来使用它的。

Susan Wolf believes that Kant＇s ethics support the concept of ＂Moral Saints＂in a form of rigorism. The Moral Saints are state of moral perfection by the imperfect agents. However,in Wolf＇s view,the concept goes to extremes in theory and is not practical in action. From a point of intuitionalism,Wolf opposes the use of general rules as the main criteria for proper actions advocated by Kant＇s ethics and utilitarianism. This paper argues that Kant didn＇t build up a theory on the＂Moral Saints.＂On the contrary,Kant completely opposes this kind of Perfectionism. Kant＇s deontology provides a kind of elementary moral explanation,and later on his Virtue Theory is supplementary to his deontology. In the Virtue Theory,Kant puts forward the distinction between the＂Perfect and imperfect duty.＂＂Perfect Duty＂refers to moral rules that agents must comply with,whereas the ＂imperfect duty＂is optional based on agents＇ own characters and needs. The violation of the latter is not to be blamed accordingly,while the implementation of it is worthy of high praise. Only in this sense,Kant believes that people will pursue the ＂Moral Perfection.＂In sum,the concept of the ＂Moral Saints＂is included in Kant＇s ethics,but it is not considered as moral criteria that people must comply with. Most of the time,Kant makes use of it in a negative sense.