On Certain Stereotypes of Theoretic Ethics

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to show that some well-known concepts are widely used in ethical research, may be qualified as stereotypes, i. e. simplified, standard ideas and approaches are actually taken from common sense and often apprehended by the researchers as self-evident. The stereotypes usually come laden with anachronistic, old-fashioned concepts which prevent the development of ethical thought, and that is why the removal of such obstacles was and is a topical objective of metaethics as a methodological discipline. In that point of view, they are discussed in the Article. Special attention was paid to the most ancient and the most destructive for ethics cognitivistic stereotype, the essence of which is to interpret moral principles and standards, appraisals and imperatives as a special kind of knowledge verified as to truth and false; in that way, the problems of the origin and functioning of the morale are actually substituted by “educating” morale. The subject matter of the critical study also were two stereotypes providing erroneous apprehension of mental mechanisms of moral choice: firstly, popular, accepted by the majority of humanitarians idea of “free will” as the ability of a human to autonomous reliance on certain purposes and committing certain actions, and, secondly, the model of mind and feelings as two different (on their intentions) “subjects” are living in the human “soul” and leading his/her behaviour. All the above ideas have been reasonably criticized in the literature, but not as stereotypes as they are, but as erroneous concepts. The critics, however, is insufficiently effective because the stereotypes don’t stick to rational arguments, but to an intuitive (nonreflexive) assurance of their truth. The comprehension of such fact, according to author’s opinion, can contribute to overcoming thereof.