ABSTRACT

This article critiques conspicuous displays of morality within public discourse, recently framed as ‘moral grandstanding’, from the perspective of an intersubjective Critical Realist theory of ethics. Drawing on Honneth’s recognition theory as the basis of a ‘qualified explanatory critique’, I argue that these practices are not mere aberrations within moral discourse, but a necessary consequence of the neoliberal imperative to turn all aspects of the self into market assets. Neoliberal commodity fetishism also and especially involves the commodification of moral character as a means of economic competition, as exemplified in recent discussions of ‘ethical capital’. This objectification categorically precludes intersubjectivity as the basis of ethical life, and produces a cognitive structure resembling narcissistic pathology, characterized by the pervasive objectification of self and other. Critical Realists should therefore reject moral grandstanding not only for its detrimental effects on public discourse, but because in subordinating morality to the market, it is fundamentally anti-ethical.

摘要

本文从主体间的批判现实主义伦理学理论的角度批评公共话语中明显的道德表现，最近被框定为“道德哗众取宠”。借鉴霍尼斯的承认理论作为“有条件的解释性批判”的基础，我认为这些做法不仅仅是道德话语中的偏差，而是新自由主义将自我的所有方面转变为市场资产的必然结果。新自由主义商品拜物教还特别涉及将道德品格商品化作为经济竞争的手段，最近对“道德资本”的讨论就是例证。这种客观化断然排除了作为伦理生活基础的主体间性，并产生了一种类似于自恋病态的认知结构，以自我和他人的普遍客观化为特征。因此，批判现实主义者应该拒绝道德哗众取宠，不仅因为它对公共话语的有害影响，而且因为在使道德从属于市场的过程中，它从根本上是反伦理的。