In Search of a Methodological Foundation for Applied Ethics :: Philosophy Philosophical Papers

In Search of a Methodological Foundation for Applied Ethics synopsis The problems that face contemporary applied ethics are indissolubly link to some characteristics of postmodern civil society. In this paper I will try to make a stand in the discussion between a proponent of a particularistic advent and one who favors a universalistic approach to the personate difficulties that accompany human action. Karl-Otto Apel combines in his ethics of discourse a focus upon universal and normative structures of communication with a Kantian transcendental method of thought. capital of Minnesota van Tongeren follows Aristotle and Nietzsche in arguing that the local and historically determined contingent traditions are the basis on which to approach our ethical questions. After giving a brief encloseation of their respective personas to the discussion, I shall end with some reflections on the difference between, and the merits and demerits of, a universalistic and a particularistic ethics. Until very recently in the history of mankind, most people lived in rather small communities. Their knowledge of and their influence on distant cultures was rather limited. With the rise of modern science, resulting in the present communication era, things changed considerably. Today, mans cultural evolution has reached a point where the local and the global dimensions of his actions are hard to distinguish.Another feature of our existence at the present fin de sicle is the declining influence of the great narrative traditions. In our liberal democracies the new leading narrative is that of the free market, accompanied by the imperative of unlimited profit devising and consumerism. The lack of a consensus on many basic social values which results from the declining influence of the great stories of our traditions, generates a mentality of collective individualism and value relativism. In this situation we face the riskiness of initiating a process in which the rather fashionable ideals of pluralism and tolerance turn out to be mere indifference. (1) The problems that face contemporary ethics are indissolubly related to these characteristic features of post-modern civil society. In this paper I will try to take a stand in the discussion between proponents of a particularist approach and those who favour a universalistic approach to the present difficulties that accompany human action. After giving a brief presentation of Karl-Otto Apels and Paul van Tongerens contribution to the discussion, I shall end with some reflections on the difference between, and the merits and demerits of, a universalistic and a particularistic ethics.