伦理的共相:伦理普遍主义的当代运势

Ethical Universality:the Contemporary Trend of Ethical Universalism

伦理的共相问题就是伦理普遍性的中国式表达,而伦理普遍性就是指伦理作为一种文化现象存在的一般性规定,是对伦理实体、伦理关系与伦理秩序一般本质的规定性。伦理普遍性的获得路径有许多,但从内容上应该是伦理共同体对“共同善”的价值追求,而从形式上无非是来源于人类所具有的“公共理性”。伦理一旦获得普遍性的品格,就具有了无法替代的效应,具体表现为可规范效应、可协调效应、可持续效应。强化伦理共相意味着要凸现伦理的“具相”,即伦理普遍性的具体表现主要为伦理精神、伦理法则与伦理秩序,伦理精神是统领一切的灵魂,伦理法则是协调平衡的标准,伦理秩序是复杂伦理关系的条理化(清晰化),三者虽然不构成伦理共相的全貌,但也可称得上是“主架构”。但随着社会结构的松弛、价值的多元化和社会发展不确定性的增加,伦理普遍主义却遭到了前所未有的挑战,如后现代主义、多元主义、特殊主义的挑战。与此同时,强调伦理普遍主义并不意味着对境遇伦理学的否定,相反,我们可以在实践伦理学或应用伦理学的意义上接受境遇伦理学,并充分吸收其处理具体伦理问题特别是伦理二难问题时的伦理智慧,把规则遵循与具体情境结合起来,把境遇的估计与行动的选择结合起来。

The problem of ethical universality is the Chinese expression of ethical universality,and ethical universality means the general provisions of ethics as a cultural phenomenon and the general nature of ethical entity,ethical relationship and ethical order.There are many paths to ethical universality,but in terms of content,it is the ethical community’s pursuit of the“common good”,and in terms of form,it comes from the“public reason”of human beings.Once ethics is universal,it has an irreplaceable effect,specifically as a normative effect,a harmonizable effect,and a sustainable effect.Reinforcing ethical commonality means highlighting the ethical“specificity”.Ethical universality is manifested in ethical spirit,ethical law and ethical order.Ethical spirit is the soul of all things,ethical law is the standard of coordination and balance,and ethical order is the organization(clarification)of complex ethical relations,which can be called the“main structure”although they do not constitute the whole picture of ethical universal.However,with the loosening of social structures,the plurality of values,and the increasing uncertainty of social development,ethical universalism has been challenged as never before,such as by postmodernism,pluralism,and particularism.At the same time,emphasizing ethical universalism does not mean negating the situation ethics.On the contrary,we can accept situation ethics in the sense of practical ethics or applied ethics and fully absorb its ethical wisdom in dealing with specific ethical problems,especially ethical dilemmas,combining rule-following with specific situations,and combining estimation of situations with choice of actions.