麦克道尔“规范性”思想的理论进路

The Theoretical Approach of McDowell’s “Normative” Thought

本文试图通过麦克道尔对“经验”概念和“自然观”所进行的颠覆性阐释来厘清麦克道尔的“规范性”思想理论进路。麦克道尔通过经验的概念化将经验视为概念性与感受性两种能力的相耦合,当我们获得经验内容时,它就是自发性能力运用其中的认知事件。经验的概念化思想一方面承诺了经验可以为理由空间的自律结构提供一种合理性的制约,从而使得经验知识之间的规范关系可以正常展开,另一方面又展现了心灵与世界的概念实在论图景:心灵直接意向地指向世界,世界也向心灵所敞开。然而,麦克道尔需要为这种同构性结构寻求一种能够提供合理性的论证理由,他选择的路径是对规范性实践维度的阐述,一是通过对“自然”重新“施魅”,提出一种“第二自然”。第二自然属于自然领域,但它是在社会文化共同体的培养下所获得的能力和习惯。并随着这种熏陶时间的延长,它趋于稳定,对人的活动起到类似本能的作用。而是通过“教化”概念保证第二自然能力的正常运作。可以说,我们身处在作为第二自然的现代社会生活中,习得了对语言的运用,我们便已然完成了教化而处在理性空间中了。通过教化形成的第二自然,麦克道尔走向了维特根斯坦式的生活实践。

This paper attempts to clarify John McDowell’s “normative” theory approach through his subversive interpretation of the concept of “experience” and “nature”. McDowell, through the conceptualisation of experience, sees the experience as a coupling of two capacities, conceptual and perceptual, and when we acquire the content of experience, it is the cognitive event to which the spontaneous capacity applies itself. On the one hand, the conceptualization of experience promises that experience can provide a reasonable constraint to the self-discipline structure of the space of reasons, so that the normative relationship between empirical knowledge can be developed normally. On the other hand, it shows the conceptual realism picture of mind and world: the mind directly points to the world intentionally, and the world is also open to the mind. However, McDowell needed to seek a rational justification for this isomorphic structure. The path he chose was to articulate the dimension of normative practice. First, by re-enchanting “nature,” he introduced the concept of a “second nature”. The second nature, belonging to the realm of nature, was acquired through the cultivation of social and cultural communities, and over time tends towards stability, playing a role akin to instinct in human activities. It is through the concept of “Bildung” that the normal functioning of the second natural capacity is ensured. It can be said that in the modern social life shaped by second nature, we have acquired the use of language, thus undergoing edification and inhabiting the space of reason. Through edification-formed second nature, McDowell moved towards a Wittgenstei-style life practice.