ABSTRACT

This is a personal reflection on what I have learnt as an academic, researching, teaching and participating in the public square in Bioethics for over four decades. I describe a helix metaphor for understanding the evolution of values and the current “culture wars” between “progressive” and “conservative” values adherents, the uncertainty people’s “mixed values packages” engender, and disagreement in prioritizing individual rights and the “common good”. I propose, as a way forward, that individual and collective experiences of “amazement, wonder and awe” have the power to enrich our lives, help us to find meaning and sometimes to bridge the secular/religious divide and experience a shared moral universe. They can change our worldview, our decisions regarding values and ethics, and whether we live our lives mainly as just an individual – a “me” – or also as a member of a larger community – a “We”. I summarize in an equation – “The Wonder Equation” – what is necessary to reduce or resolve some current hostile values conflicts in order to facilitate such a transition. It will require revisiting and reaffirming the traditional values we still need as both individuals and societies and accommodating them with certain contemporary “progressive„ values.

摘要

这是我作为学术、研究、教学和参与生命伦理学公共广场四十多年来所学到的个人反思。我描述了一个螺旋隐喻来理解价值观的演变和当前“进步”和“保守”价值观拥护者之间的“文化战争”，人们的“混合价值观包”产生的不确定性，以及在优先考虑个人权利和“共同利益”方面的分歧”。我建议，作为一种前进的方式，“惊奇、惊奇和敬畏”的个人和集体体验有能力丰富我们的生活，帮助我们找到意义，有时还能弥合世俗/宗教的鸿沟，体验一个共同的道德世界。他们可以改变我们的世界观，我们关于价值观和道德的决定，以及我们是否主要以个人的身份——“我”——还是作为更大社区的成员——“我们”来生活。我总结了一个方程式——“奇迹方程式”——为了促进这种转变，减少或解决一些当前的敌对价值观冲突是必要的。这将需要重新审视和重申我们作为个人和社会仍然需要的传统价值观，并以某些当代“进步”价值观来适应它们。