Beyond theoretical ethics

bakhtinian anti-theoreticism

Anton Corey

pp. 211-225

in: Human Studies 24 (3), 2001.

Abstract

This manuscript brings the early writings of M.M. Bakhtin to the contemporary concern over pluralist ethics. Generally, I argue that many ethical quandaries which individuals face cannot be ascribed to a plurality of ethics or a social indeterminacy of morals. I maintain that human valuation, as an ethics of action always already in play, refers to existing individuals' struggles to participate in their personally proclaimed and endorsed value systems. Thus, I draw upon Bakhtin to suggest that concrete acts of valuation (ethics in everyday practice) are not reducible to theoretically agreed upon ethical systems, but rather, they are inseparable from the emotional-volitional moments within the total context of my uniquely held existence.