Poststructural ethics and the possibility of a general ethical theory

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:This study is concerned with the possibility and characterisation ofpoststructural ethics and the ethics of general theories. It contains a reviewof selected readings on Modernity and provides a snapshot of an ethicalsystem that is essentially rule based and privileges rationality. Some of theproblems with such a system, such as inflexibility, tolerance based onsuperiority and force and the privileging of male gender is explored.It proceeds by perusing some literature on postmodernity as an open ethicalsystem in which values are free floating and lists of rules are constantlyproduced and disregarded in a dizzying ethical free for all in which anythinggoes. No value is considered more worthwhile than personal survival.As a starting point for reading Modernity and postmodernity together, Levinasintroduces a radical perspective on ethics that can be read as acondemnation of postmodern morality. He relates an ethics in which thesurvival of the other is more important than the survival of the self.However, he does not ground the metaphysics of such a privilege inrationality or knowledge and hence does not turn it into an ethical rule, butrather, subtly shifts the responsibility for the other person to an ultimateresponsibility for the Other as God.This radical responsibility is rejected by deconstruction which does not rejecteither postmodernity or Modernity but is an attempt to think through the limitsof rule-orientated rationality, free-play and mystical metaphysics to producean ethical awareness that has a sensitivity for the complexity of context.Through the notion of writing, the peculiarities it displays and the objectionsit attracts, Derrida seeks to establish a uniquely ethical writing that is both astable manifestation of ethics and a dynamic engagement with those subjectto it.With these readings in the background the thesis attempts to provide aframework for poststructural ethics. It is an ethics based in the notion offriendship but does not ground itself in any guarantees. It re-evaluatesrationality in terms of a sublime struggle for meaning and truth. This sublimestruggle offers a unique perspective on political debates that strive towardsresponsible development for multicultural societies and also on a sociologicalapproach to law and the ability to dispense justice without undue prejudice.The main contention of the thesis is that although poststructuralism does notsuppose a grounding metaphysics in either rationality or responsibilitytowards God it cannot be satisfied with the self-indulgent nihilism of ananything goes postmodernism. Thus, it depends on the notion of acomplex system that self-organises and produces limits throughspontaneous connections. Through the working of deconstruction complexsystems can take on a more human manifestation as friendships flourish anddecay through the interaction of faces.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University