Moral Philosophy and Ethics: the Demarcation Line

Abstract

The paper proposes an idea that moral philosophy and ethical theory congruent with each other in their subject, but differ in their methods: the first one grasps a human act from the inside in its primary moral genesis, while the second one studies morality in its outward objectified forms. The author bases this view on his own interpretation of Mikhail Bakhtin’s moral philosophy, presented in his early works Toward a Philosophy of the Act and Author and Hero in Aesthetic Activity. The opposite sides of an act, which takes root in the living individual with one side and in culture with another one, acquire the inner character and entirety through the personal moral responsibility.