Plight And The Way Out: Bowman Modern Ethics Construction

Maybe like the metaphor in Zeno's "garden allusion" that all thinkers can not ignore the ethical issues, so as Zygmunt Bauman, a famous British sociologist. Bauman's research in ethical issues, which just an important dimension for him to study the core issue of modernity and post-modernity, it might still be one of "central axis" about his sociology thought. Here, Bauman confirmed the core features of modernity with a post-modern perspective and set a priori typical characteristics of modern society at first, then he revealed the existence of selective affinity between modernity and the Holocaust in the context. In Bauman's opinion, the Holocaust is a moral destruction of modern civilization, which opened a prelude to reflect on ethics.Bauman believes that modern ethical dilemma is that it used "heteronomy" instead of "autonomy", which provides people with certainty and take away their moral self-generating opportunities in the same time. However, the subsequent post-modern ethical situation is not so optimistic, it provides us with freedom of choice and also throws us into a state of uncertainty, we are fallen into a "post-modern ethics crisis" once again. But the crisis is also an opportunity, the end of the era of modern ethics is possible to lead an new era of post-modern morality.Bauman advocate replacing the respected legal model of the modern ethics with "for others" of post-modern ethics, but the two paths to realize the morality of "for others" are impractical, a good society which treat strangers as "brothers" can only be a positive utopia. Bauman placed high hope on the individual, as a result, overemphasizing individual subjectivity lead to their own community which is lack of stability. In order to avoid Bauman's ideal become a pure "illusion", the author think that we should return to the Marxist practical philosophy, constructing a common subject, and the subjectivity of this common subject both combines individual subjectivity and inter-subjectivity, then, we use it to face a common object. In this way, the morality of "for others" may become a real possibility.