公民德性与伦理德性:关怀伦理学的一种启示

Civic Virtues and Ethical Virtues:A Hint from the Ethics of Caring

公民德性与伦理德性之间的紧张是"古今之争"在现代西方政治生活中的一个重要体现。对这个问题的争论,自由主义与其批评者已陷入僵局。自由主义捍卫个人自主,它主张在公共生活中公民德性应该独立于伦理德性。而自由主义的批评者认为,从德性之构成上看,公民德性是建基在伦理德性之上的,它不能独立存在;并且从实践层面讲,公民德性的维持依赖于伦理德性的增援,是公民德性得以在现实中付诸实践的知性源泉。自由主义的困难在于,它难以回应公民德性如何在行为者的心灵中以一种区分于伦理德性的方式被践行。而自由主义的批评者的困难在于,它难以回应在多元现状下特殊的伦理德性如何被辩护,以及这种伦理德性如何不会蜕变为强制。关怀伦理学有望呈现这样一种公民关系,它的要求比自由主义的公民德性更强,但比彻底将公民生活建基于某种伦理德性的主张更弱。这或许有助于克服自由主义及其批评者的理论困境,在实践上使现代西方公共生活更加葆有生机。

The tension between civic virtues and ethical virtues is an expression of "the Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns" in modern political life. Liberalism and its critics came to a deadlock on this issue. Liberalism argues that civic virtues should be freestanding from ethical virtues in public life, with a firm belief in autonomy. While its critics argue that civic virtues should not be freestanding from ethical virtues, because the former is conceptually based on the latter, and the latter is the intellectual source for the former in practice. The difficulty for liberalism is that it is hard for people to put civic virtues into practice apart from ethical virtues, while the difficulty for liberalism’s critics lies in the justification of certain ethical virtues in a pluralistic world. By reviewing relevant discussions, this essay argues that there is a hint from the ethics of caring. A citizenship supported by the ethics of caring is stronger than the kind solely based on civic virtues, but weaker than the kind based on ethical virtues working as the foundation for the whole civic life.