明暗之间:诺丁斯关怀伦理的他者性意蕴--以列维纳斯他者性观点为坐标的比较与分析

Between the Light and Shade:Otherness in Nel Noddings’ Caring Ethics--Comparison and Analysis Based on Levinas’ Ethics of the Other

诺丁斯曾指出其关怀伦理与列维纳斯的他者伦理之间具有共通之处。细查其关怀伦理,不仅可以窥见其中他者性思想的踪迹,而且可以发现其在关键概念与重要命题上似是而非的他者性特征。于是,诺丁斯关怀伦理中他者性的存在状态则成为一个晦暗不明的问题。以列维纳斯的他者性为思想坐标,从他者、自我与他者-自我三个维度上考察诺丁斯关怀伦理的有关论述,可以发现其中他者性线索时明时暗,并呈现出一种有限度的、隐微的他者性特征,形成了关怀伦理独具风格的他者性意蕴。探微关怀伦理的他者性意蕴,是对作为关怀伦理内核的他者性的发现与重申,不仅有助于深刻理解关怀伦理的内在精神,而且有利于以他者性为视角提出并回应教育中的关怀问题。

Nel Noddings once pointed out that her caring ethics has something in common with Levinas’ ethics of the other.Looking through her caring ethics,it not only appears the traits of otherness,but also shows the specious characteristics of otherness on key concepts and important propositions.Therefore,the existential state of otherness in Noddings’ caring ethics becomes a murky issue.Taking Levinas’ theory as the ideological coordinate,this paper investigates the discussion on Noddings’ caring ethics from the three dimensions of ego,the other and other-ego.It is found that the clues of otherness are turning dim and bright now and then in Noddings’ discourse,showing a limited and vague feature of otherness,forming the unique connotation of otherness in caring ethics.By exploring the otherness of the caring ethics,we can grasp the theory accurately.It is also conducive to ask and answer the questions of caring in education from a perspective of otherness.