道德动机的来源——当代休谟主义与康德主义的争论

The Sources of Moral Motivation

当代休谟主义者试图用工具原则说明道德动机的来源,即如果人们有欲望φ,并且相信通过做道德行为Ψ能实现φ,那么就会有做Ψ的动机。康德主义者继承康德的基本主张,反对人们的道德动机是为了满足某种源自自然的欲望,认为服从道德的意志源自对实践理性规定的法则的服从,而对实践法则的服从经科斯嘎德改造之后,最终又是源于对实践生活和道德行为价值的认知。当代神经生理学的研究表明,在解释道德动机来源的时候,休谟主义更加占据优势。不过康德主义者对自己的理论其实亦不断在做出改良,把韦勒曼的自治主义与科斯嘎德的认知性主张相结合或许是一条可行的途径。现实生活的复杂性表明,我们最好放弃在休谟主义和康德主义之间做二选一的选择题,因为前者描述了普通人道德动机的来源,后者则告诉我们理性人的道德动机应该如何产生。

Contemporary Humeans try to use the instrumental principle to explain the source of moral motivation,that is,if people desireφand believe thatφcan be achieved by moral actionψ,then they will have motivation to doψ.The Kantians inherit Kant’s basic claim which opposed the claim that moral motive comes from people’s satisfaction of some natural desires,and believe that obedience to morality stems from obedience to the rules of practical rationality.But following Korsgaard,the obedience to the rules of practice also comes from the cognition of the value of practical life and moral behavior.Contemporary researches of neurophysiology have shown that Humean is more dominant in explaining the source of moral motivation.However,the Kantians have been constantly improving their own theories and combining Velleman’s autonomism with Korsgaard’s cognitive claims would be a feasible approach.The complexity of real life suggests that we’d better give up the multiple choice question between Humean and Kantian,because the former describes the source of the moral motivation of ordinary people,while the latter tells us how the ideal moral motivation of rational people should be generated.