PROBABLE OPINIONS AND SOLID OUTCOMES: ON THE METHODOLOGY OF ETHICAL EXPERTISE IN THE CULTURAL SPHERE

Authors

  • Alexander I. Brodsky St. Petersburg State University, 7–9, Universitetskaya nab., St.Petersburg, 199034, Russian Federation

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21638/11701/spbu17.2018.301

Abstract

When we attempt to apply the principles of ethical expertise - which originated, after all, in the field of biomedicine - to the sphere of culture, we face the fundamental problem of any expertise: the lack of a methodology that will enable at least the partial elimination of the influence of “subjective factors”, ranging from experts’ ideological and religious preferences to their personal moral qualities and emotional responses. This paper aims to develop such a methodology. To resolve this problem, the author proposes to revisit the forgotten art of casuistry, which was flourishing at the end of the 16th and beginning of the 17th centuries. At that time, the golden rule of casuistry was to regard various ethical principles and norms as more or less plausible opinions ( opinion probabilis ). One could choose one of these opinions only after discussion and evaluation of each opinion and its outcomes in each specific case. Today, the use of casuistry in ethical expertise means that experts can proceed not from their own convictions and principles, but from an assessment of a specific situation, and a comparison between possible consequences resulting from the application of certain moral requirements to that situation. Only those conclusions which satisfy all the experts can be termed “justified”. However, such a consensus will be impossible if the experts base their conclusions not on an analysis of the consequences of a specific decision, but on their own favoured religious or ideological doctrines. Theoretically speaking, the author believes that casuistry as a method of ethical expertise implies not only an assessment of a particular case from the point of view of the general principles of morality but also the evaluation of these principles in light of their applicability to particular cases.

Keywords:

ETHICS, expertise, culture, casuistry, opinions

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.
 

References

Литература / References

Popper K. R. The open society and its enemies, vol. 2 “The spell of Plato”. London, George Routledge & sons, 1945. 268 p.

Aristotle Ethica Nicomachea, trans. by W. D. Ross. The works of Aristotle, trans. into English under the editorship of W. D. Ross, vol. IX. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1925, pp. 350–481.

Gadamer H. G. Truth and method, transl.by J. Weinsheimer and D. G. Marshall. London, New York, Continuum, 2004. 601 p.

Kacenel’son L. I. Middot ili metody tolkovaniia [Middot or methods of interpretation] . Available at: https://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/ЕЭБЕ/Миддот_или_методы_толкования (accessed: 20.03.2018). (In Russian)

Brodsky A. Casus conscientiae. Kazuistika i probabilizm s tochki zreniia sovremennoi etiki [Casus conscientiae. Casuistry and probabilism in terms of modern ethics]. Homo philosophans , Solonin J. N., ed. St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg State University, 2002, pp. 279–294. (In Russian)

Aristotle. Topica and De sophisticis elenchis, trans. by W. A. Pickard-Cambridge. The works of Aristotle, trans. English under the editorship of W. D. Ross, vol. I. Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1928, pp. 20–546.

Busenbaum H. Medulla theologiae moralis. [Coloniae, Freie Reichsstadt, 1694]. 556 p.

Escobar y Mendoza A. Liber theologiae moralis [Parissis, France, 1656]. 854 p.

Arnauld A., Nicole P. La Logique, ou l’art de penser, éd. critique par Dominique Descotes. Paris, Champion, 2011. 427 p. (In French)

Descartes R. Discours de la méthode, ed. A. Robinet. Paris, Larousse, 1969, 140 p. (In French)

MacIntyre A. After Virtue: A Study in Moral Theory. South Bend, University of Notre Dame Press, 1981. 252 p.

Derzhivitskij E. V., Larionov I. Yu., Perov V. Yu. K voprosu ob etike prava [Revisiting the ethics of law]. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University, ser. 17, Philosophy. Conflict studies. Culture studies. Religious studies, 2016, is. 4, pp. 33–45. (In Russian)

Jonsen A. R., Toulmin St. The Abuse of Casuistry: A History of Moral Reasoning. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1988. 420 p.

Brodsky A. On the possibility of constructivist substantiation of ethics. International Multidisciplinary Scientific Conference on Social Sciences and Arts, SGEM 2017, 28–31 March 2017, book 2, vol. 1. Vienna, 2017, pp. 307–314.

Downloads

Published

2018-12-07

How to Cite

Brodsky, A. I. (2018). PROBABLE OPINIONS AND SOLID OUTCOMES: ON THE METHODOLOGY OF ETHICAL EXPERTISE IN THE CULTURAL SPHERE. Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Philosophy and Conflict Studies, 34(3), 324–332. https://doi.org/10.21638/11701/spbu17.2018.301

Issue

Vol. 34 No. 3 (2018): Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Philosophy and Conflict Studies

Section

Philosophy

License

Articles of "Vestnik of Saint Petersburg University. Philosophy and Conflict Studies" are open access distributed under the terms of the License Agreement with Saint Petersburg State University, which permits to the authors unrestricted distribution and self-archiving free of charge.