Research On Onora O’neill’s Constructivism Ethical Thoughts

Onora Sylvia O’Neill’s Kantian constructivism ethical thoughts came from criticizing and inheriting from her teacher John Rawls’ and Kant’s constructivism theory.Through a kind of moral constructivism,O’Neill enriched the practical principles of justice system and virtue ethics,which not only realized the defense of Kant’s ethics to some extent,but also left enough theoretical space for its application to the areas of public life.It is undeniable that despite the dilemma of this defense,the attempt of moral constructivism interpretation still has great theoretical and practical significance.O’Neill’s views on constructivism practical reasoning are deeply influenced by Kant in What is Enlightenment on the public use of reason.She believes that in Kant,the difference between public and private use of reason lies not in whether reasoning is public or private,nor in the number of listeners,but in whether external restrictions are imposed on reasoning.In terms of practical reasoning,if we want to make the reasons provided by reasoning on related issues such as social justice or moral virtue have a universal and public authority,this reasoning can not accept other external restrictions except obeying the law of practical reason itself.Since the critique of reason is a continuous,gradual and reflexive process,reason presents a history,which is consistent with the practical development of tolerance and mutual recognition.Such practice establishes the authority of reason.This “developmental” view on practical reason and its self-discipline explains historical changes and progress.O’Neill believes that practical reasoning is necessary because human beings are pluralistic,finite and interdependent beings,and the actions and exchanges of these agents are not predetermined(such as instinct,God’s will,etc.).The principle of reason is not revealed to us through intuition or introspection: we must use our reason to find out what these principles are,and the norm of reasoning must be universal,that is,it should be followable in thought and action by all agents in all relevant fields.Universality and followability set the minimum constraints on the reasoning process.Through reasoning,no one can follow the principles designed to destroy or damage the agents’ ability to act.Therefore,practical reasoning has proved that it is legitimate to prohibit injury,coercion and deception,but it does not mean that all problems can be solved and all obligations can be fully determined by rejecting observable requirements.O’Neill believes that only reason itself can verify its own claims.The process of rational principle is circular,and the process of verification is reflexive,involving the process of reason criticizing itself.The critique of reason reveals the basic principle of reasoning:we should only rely on those principles that can be shared by other rational agents.Contemporary scholars who advocate rights theory position their theoretical perspective on the perspective of the receiver of rights and exclude virtue from their own theory.These scholars should comprehensively explain why they can’t or shouldn’t care about virtue.Because the failure to cultivate and practice virtue and the failure to recognize those obligations that are not reflected in rights will eventually destroy freedom and rights.O’Neill discusses the scope of obligation from the perspective of agents,who act from their own “good will”.Obligation includes not only the obligation with rights,but also the obligation without rights.In the field of ethics,O’Neill,like Thomas Pogge,Charles Beitz,is committed to the conception and shaping of the field of global justice.In her view,the change of today’s world pattern is a sign of the trend of cosmopolitanism sweeping the world.Therefore,when applying the theory of justice from the field of speculation to reality,we should take universal and holistic cosmopolitanism as the core.However,similar to Pogge and Beitz,O’Neill’s views on justice still failed to surpass the boundaries of her teacher,although she tried to get rid of the prison of Rawls’ thoughts.Her “time improvement” of Rawls’ justice theory still follows the path of Kantian constructivism.Her goal is to find a universal ethical “criterion” in the universal characteristics of “rational pluralism” in modern society,and take it as the “starting point” of defining the framework of social justice system.However,this constructivism lacks reflection on the capitalist society.Instead,it takes the free value and democratic appeal of the capitalist society as the starting point and foothold of its logical approach,which also leads to the fact that the “just society” constructed by O’Neill is still the kind of society with “desert justice” as the core “expected” by capitalism,Logical transcendence in the field of speculation can not bridge the practical dilemma in real life.However,her Kantian constructivism still has practical significance,which is embodied in that the application scope of constructivist practical reasoning goes beyond the subject category of individual choice,but also extends to the huge scope of social community,and takes public reason as the core,trying to provide an interpretation rich in the connotation of the times for the “public will” of the people.This attempt undoubtedly provides a reference for achieving public-discipline and self-discipline from the perspective of publicity.O’Neill switches the perspective of ethics to obligation,taking agents as the center who acting from agents’ “good will”,which implies the cultivation of one’s own virtue and character in the process of human practice.At the same time,it will deepen the basic role of virtue and realize the unity of justice and virtue under the framework of the great justice system.