A Research On A.N.Whitehead's Ethical Thoughts

Whitehead's metaphysics of process is an endeavour to frame a coherent,logical,necessary system of general ideas in terms of which every element of our experience can be interpreted.So a systematic explanation of human ethical/moral experience is supposed to be implied in it.A theory of human nature,which can be called “ A Beauty Theory of Human Nature”,is suggested by Whitehead's metaphysics,.Its main conclusion is that human being is a living structured personal enduring entity consisted of actual occasions,that human life is a bid for freedom,that human being require the destruction of elaborate societies for its food so as to attain intense experience of satisfaction,and that at the same time it is realizing the Primordial Nature of God,which can also be called the Eros of the Universe.“To realize maximum Beauty” is another expression of this ultimate purpose,and that is the reason why this theory is named as “A Beauty Theory of Human Nature”.The contents of Whitehead's ethical thoughts are as follows: moral order is derived from aesthetical order;moral is grounded in God's primordial nature;“ To realize maximum Beauty”is the end it serves to;its essence is to coordinate various elements involved in a controllable process.Moral coordination can be divided into two types,of which one is called the synchronic coordination between the individual and the whole,and the other the diachronic coordination between the past,the present,and the future.The primary principle which should be obeyed in a coordinating process is to try one's best to maximize importance as much as possible.From this principle derives three secondary principles,which are,(i)to enlarge the scale we concern as far as possible,(ii)to coordinate by the way of persuasion instead of force,and(iii)to be tolerant.Moral is not exclusively a human thing.Animals like dogs exhibit moral qualities.Morals evolve according to the historical and social circumstances,and revelation or intuition,marriage between different classes,moral education,and new technology are four important factorsin virtue of which morals change.Whitehead's justification of “life as robbery” on the question “why the human being may eat living beings”shows his strong teleological world views.Reflections on the “Trolley Problem” is given to illustrate his view that moral is applicable only in a restricted scope and there are cases which are moral irrelevant.Compared with the three main ethical traditions,Whitehead's ethical thought is similar and affiliative to Utilitarianism,and is far away from the deontology;it supports virtue ethics ontologically,but is more flexible to the changing circumstances.It appreciates the Animal Liberation Movement,but its concern is more general,not restricted in animal;it admires the Land Ethic,but is more balanced and practical;its cosmology highly agrees with that of the Deep Ecology,but has a more steady scientific background.Whitehead's ethical thought,which insists on a systematic and thorough understanding of moral experience from the standpoint of ontology and epistemology,is a potential resource to understand,evaluate,and integrate various ethical thinking.However,because of its speculative character,to give definite ethical guidance in practice is one thing which it is not good at.