贡献与挑战:在当代哲学语境中再思阿佩尔先验语用学

Contribution and Challenge:Rethinking Apel's Transcendental Pragmatics in Contemporary Philosophical Context

先验语用学是阿佩尔哲学思想的核心,是其对话伦理学思想的基础。阿佩尔秉持先验哲学的自我反思方法和理性主义的精神,同时吸收了体现于伽达默尔的诠释学、维特根斯坦的语言游戏理论、皮尔士的符号学和认识论,以及奥斯汀和塞尔的言谈行动理论之中的语用学思想,最终建构了一门富有特色的先验语用学。先验语用学的宗旨在于,基于交往共同体之先天性的发现和先验语用学自我反思的方法,为包含于理想交往共同体之可能性条件之中的对话理性辩护,并进而为一种作为普遍伦理的对话伦理学奠基。这也就是阿佩尔所谓先验语用学的终极奠基,由此确立的对话伦理学不同于哈贝马斯的对话伦理学,它不仅确立了一个程序性的原则,同时也证成了平等权利和共同责任等有实质内涵的基本道德规范。在这个相对主义思想盛行的时代,先验语用学终极奠基的努力被指有基础主义之嫌,阿佩尔对此给出了有力的回应。但哈贝马斯对有关对话前提的知识的确定性问题的质疑,给阿佩尔带来了一定的挑战和调整理论表述的压力。

Transcendental pragmatics is the core of Apel's philosophical thought and the basis of his discourse ethics.Apel constructs the characteristic transcendental pragmatics through his program of“transformation of philosophy,”which is based-on one side-on the method of self-reflection and the rationalistic ideas of transcendental philosophy,and-on the other side-on the pragmatic dimension of modern philosophy which is embodied in Gadamer's hermeneutics,Wittgenstein's theory of language games,Peirce's semiotics and epistemology,and Austin's and Searle's theories of speech action.The purpose of transcendental pragmatics is to argue for a universal discursive reason(Diskursvernunft)and to establish a discourse ethics as a universal ethics by transcendental pragmatic self-reflection on the conditions of the possibility of the a priori ideal communicative community.This is also Apels'effort of ultimate grounding.His discourse ethics of transcendental pragmatic approach differs thus from that of Habermas in that it not only establishes a procedural principle,but also justifies some substantial basic moral norms,such as equal rights and co-responsibilities(Mitverantwortung).In an era when relativistic thought is prevalent,the effort of ultimate grounding of the transcendental pragmatics is met with criticism of fundamentalism,to which Apel can well self-defend.But Habermas'questioning of the certainty of the knowledge concerning the presuppositions of discourse poses certain challenges and pressures on Apel to adjust his theoretical formulation.