Wan Junren: The Challenge and Ease of Ethics

【Scholar Profile】Wan Junren, the first batch of senior professors of liberal arts at Tsinghua University, is a distinguished professor of "Yangtze River Scholars" of the Ministry of Education. His areas of expertise are ethics and political philosophy. He has served as the head of the Department of Philosophy, the dean of the School of Humanities, and the president of the Chinese Ethics Society. He is the author of more than 20 kinds of "History of Modern Western Ethics" (upper and lower volumes), and more than 20 kinds of translations such as "Political Liberalism".

Unity is restored, and everything in Vientiane is renewed. The Spring Festival bells of 2022 are about to ring, and like all those who are ready to leave the old and welcome the new, Chinese ethicists are about to start a new round of Spring and Autumn strokes. Looking back on the year that is about to pass, ethics has not lacked good deeds in China or the world, but many have not been caught. Her words seem to be rare and difficult to enter – let alone incorporate – such as the "metaverse", network information, gene editing, AI intelligent people... In the discussion of scientific and technological ethics and the mainstream discourse of cutting-edge applied ethics such as ecological ethics and population ethics, her theories and theoretical methods do not seem to show the ideological power that should be , more difficult to say — in terms of ideological power , such as the national "precision poverty alleviation", "common prosperity" and the Chinese nation's "Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Dream" and the international Afghanistan "armistice", "withdrawal", Sino-US tense conflict, and world "human rights" controversy.

It is not embarrassing to acknowledge the embarrassment of ethical reality, and moreover, this embarrassment does not belong only to ethics or to a person. In the face of the current era and world of frequent "emergencies" and even crises, it is difficult for people, including scholars, to achieve "chaotic clouds and flying calmly", and more is embarrassment and panic. Embarrassment stems from one's own internal abilities that are difficult to cope with external challenges, while calmness comes from a mindset based on firm self-confidence. Calmness is a relatively rare spiritual and psychological resource of our time. Because it is rare, it is precious. Looking at 2022 or more, the ethical issues of the times we face will not only not reduce or reduce the difficulty of challenges, but will continue to multiply, more complex and sharp, requiring us to face, think and explore solutions and solutions with stronger mental strength. The answer is not necessarily the ultimate truth, nor is there any ultimate truth or ultimate answer, and the theoretical methods, theoretical paths, and feasible solutions that can explain and solve new problems are open.

There are many causes of our embarrassment, the most important two are: first, our ethics, like all humanities and social sciences, stems from our general thinking and reasoning about the normality of the world of human moral life, and in the face of an abnormal state or emergency, it is inevitable that we will panic and be unable to cope with the actual sudden urgent needs or special calls; second, in an open contemporary world and era that has achieved economic globalization to a fairly profound and extensive extent, any ethical thinking about China must be in the " Unfold in the context of "China and the World" – or "China and the World"— otherwise, it is inevitable to lose one-sidedness, lacking universal and effective theoretical explanatory power and practical credibility.

Based on the above considerations, we believe that for Chinese ethicists and their future research, the most important thing is to grasp the following keys: (1) scientific understanding and accurate diagnosis of the ethical reality of our time and the world, moral and cultural symptoms, and their variable speed rhythms, in order to truly grasp the moral and ethical issues of the new era as the spirit and spiritual temperament of the times, which is the prerequisite for facing contemporary moral challenges and solving urgent moral problems. (2) To step out of a single established ethical knowledge system or theoretical framework, borrow from other humanities, social sciences and sciences, especially their latest research results, and achieve intrinsic rather than formal interdisciplinary alliances to improve ethics itself, including updating and improving ethical research methods, enriching ethical ideological and theoretical resources, and even improving traditional ethical working methods, which is not enough to adapt to the new challenges of the new era. For example, to expand and improve our applied ethics research, especially the specialization of scientific and technological ethics. (3) On the basis of the first two, boldly try the theoretical innovation of ethics, and even the innovation of theoretical paradigm and academic paradigm, only in this way can our ethics calmly cope with the moral and ethical challenges under various normal and abnormal states in the new era, and improve and perfect the theoretical equipment and technical conditions of ethics itself in the process. This is the sufficient condition for contemporary Chinese ethics to truly display its civilizational and cultural characteristics and to base itself on the forest of civilization and culture of contemporary and future nationalities.

Therefore, in the face of the future, Chinese ethics should first have the cultural values and moral ideals of the spiritual temperament of the times (that is, the "spiritual temperament" of the era in the original sense of the so-called "ethos" of ancient Greek philosophical ethics), which can not only fully and effectively deal with the various normal moral and ethical issues of us and the world in which we live, but also be able to cope with various abnormal moral emergencies and exceptional ethical challenges. For example, in the face of a sudden wave such as "SARS", "new crown", "anti-globalization" or even "anti-globalization", Chinese ethics can make a clear and loud voice, put forward ethical theories and practical solutions with their own "knowledge copyright" and "theoretical originality", and can show sufficient openness and publicity. Secondly, Chinese ethics toward the future should also be continuous self-improvement, which is not only reflected in the organic combination of its own theory and practice, but also in the cross-cutting and mutual support between friendly humanities and social sciences and cutting-edge science and technology. In other words, she must and should represent a new theory, a new morality and a new hope for the new era. Finally, future-oriented Chinese ethics not only belongs to China, but also belongs to the world, and it must serve the practice of socialist modernization with Chinese characteristics, but also learn to serve human moral affairs, as a spiritual and cultural bond and basic value orientation for building a community with a shared future for mankind, and express the ideals, beliefs, values, and hopes of the future world and mankind. If this argument is true, it is natural to draw an important conclusion: the ability to understand and grasp the value spirit and moral ideals of the times, the ability to learn and apply knowledge of multidisciplinary intersection and modern new technologies, and the ability to respond to all new topics and new technologies will become the key to whether and how likely ethics is in the future. Therefore, in addition to the necessary courage in theoretical innovation and profound academic accumulation, learning and innovation are likely to be the two most urgent academic undertakings that Chinese ethicists must commit to.

Edit: Qi Zeyao