道德扩展的合理性及其边界——兼论激进环境主义的困境与出路

On the Rationality and Boundary of Moral Extension: The Dilemma and Future of Radical Environmentalism

现代环境运动的兴起带来的一个哲学上的重要变化,就是原本仅限于人类内部的道德关怀开始突破人类的界限,扩大到非人类的生命世界和无机的自然世界之中,并因为在哲学上诉诸自然的内在价值而被主流哲学视为一种激进的环境伦理主张。事实上,从道德的自主性角度看,道德扩展的合理性并不必然取决于自然的内在价值诉求,而在于这种扩展能否满足人在道德上的自我需要,而且,就人与自然的关系而言,当道德上的某种扩展被我们视为必需并且能够在社会共同体中达成基本的共识时,这种扩展便有了它得以践行的合理性基础。

An important philosophical change brought about by the rise of modern environmental movement is that the moral concern, originally confined to human beings, has begun to break through the boundary and extend its influence to non-human life world and inorganic natural world, regarded as radical environmental ethics by mainstream philosophy because it resorts to the intrinsic value of nature in philosophy. In fact, from the perspective of moral autonomy, the rationality of moral extension does not necessarily depend on the demands of the intrinsic value of nature, but on whether this extension can meet man’s moral self-needs. Moreover, as far as the relationship between man and nature is concerned, when a certain extension in morals is deemed necessary and a basic consensus about it can be reached among the social community, the extension gains a reasonable basis for its implementation.