Και πάλι μόνοι: η ηθική μετά τη βεβαιότητα

by Zygmunt Bauman, Ρίκα Μπενβενίστε (Translator), Κώστας Χατζηκυριάκου (Editor)

Pensare eticamente, dotarsi di una morale condivisa e condivisibile, è ancora possibile? Con il crollo delle vecchie ideologie e con la conseguente perdita di valori e certezze, su cosa si può fondare, oggi, un'etica? In questo breve e appassionante saggio il celebre filosofo polacco offre la sua convincente risposta. Da una parte dimostra quanto sia ormai vano il tentativo di rivitalizzare le vecchie basi dell'etica - famiglia, comunità, tradizione - e quanto inattuabile quello di esacerbare le antinomie tra un'etica prettamente politica e una economica, tra una morale collettiva e una individuale. Dall'altra, azzarda una soluzione. Viviamo in tempi incerti e mutevoli, caratterizzati da una sorta di privatizzazione globale che spinge a coltivare i propri ristretti interessi nel disinteresse di quelli comuni. Per affrontarli, è necessario riscoprire le connessioni profonde tra gli interessi della comunità e quella dei singoli individui, tra la prosperità delle istituzioni che si occupano del bene comune e quella di milioni di esseri umani sempre più soli e spaesati.

62 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Zygmunt Bauman was a world-renowned Polish sociologist and philosopher, and Emeritus Professor of Sociology at the University of Leeds. He was one of the world's most eminent social theorists, writing on issues as diverse as modernity and the Holocaust, postmodern consumerism and liquid modernity and one of the creators of the concept of “postmodernism”.

Reviews

[Anastasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

ο Zygmunt Bauman θέτει και αναλύει αρκετά περίπλοκα ζητήματα της σύγχρονης ζωής χρησιμοποιώντας όμως κατανοητό λεξιλόγιο και λιτή γραφή. Συμπληρώνει τις προσεγγίσεις του με αρκετές αναφορές σε φαινομενολόγους, κοινωνιολόγους και φιλοσόφους παρουσιάζοντας μια πολύ σφαιρική εικόνα του θέματος. Η σύγχρονη ηθική, οι φραγμοί της, οι μεταβολές που έχουν υποστεί οι έννοιες αυτές με το πέρασμα των αιώνων, καθώς και ο ρόλος τους στην εσωτερική διαμόρφωση κοινοτήτων και συλλογικοτήτων είναι ορισμένα από τα κύρια αντικείμενα που δομούν το συγκεκριμένο δοκίμιο.

[Mrunalini Vengurlekar · Rating 3 out of 5]

some things he said were so smart but it got so random in the end

[Michael Palkowski · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Neither modern organization nor modern business promotes morality; if anything, they make the life of a stubbornly moral person tough and unrewarding" (10)

Uncharacteristically Bauman's definition of "organization" is very specific here contrary to the amorphous but kind of "social fact" interpretation taken in a variety of contexts which states that organizations are everywhere and embedded within your personal life as well as the workplace. It also doesn't recognize the new ways in which organizations are using approval and affectionate humanitarian dialog to gain a greater sense of employment satisfaction. Capitalism has changed it's workings and thus a new analysis is required, which is way more complex than the sketchy ethical reservations oddly put here. It is true that states of "agentic state" can arise whereby individuals commit acts which are truly despicable within a group/organizational setting. It would be good to analyze this sort of point through the now all to prevalent lens of what i will coin as "anti capitalist capitalism", those working within an organization like Starbucks making coffee whilst at the same time feeling as though their efforts have some externalized effort which helps third world farmers and coffee growing practices all around the world to maintain an ethical base, when really their efforts help to monopolize growing practices, cut out competition, slash diversity etc.

He gives a very basic reading of his thesis in liquid lives (and other "liquid" titles) of a society breaking apart defined only by three key words: fragmentation, discontinuity, and inconsequentiality. Which is like a cosmic casino whereby everything is churning for maximum impact but on the flip-side instant obsolescence (Steiner). I recommend his larger (un-pamphlet like) and more prolific texts to get at the true nuances of this consideration which has flaws despite in my opinion it's subjective consistency. [Without pondering too long, his insistence that modernity caused the Holocaust seems to be inconsistent with him lamenting the end of solidified structures]

It may seem like a novel thesis but I also believe that a focus on individuality doesn't necessitate alone, disintegrated and fragmented communities. Even drawing on the work of writers like Foucault we find communication (discourse) at the center of his thesis, other writers stress the individuality that emerges in collectivized networked societies, basically maintaining the solidified relationship but experiencing it in new ways which seems a truism with the proliferation of digitalized media which gives us new opportunities to explore, meet new people and engage in digitalized love and communication. It could even be argued that people have a much greater degree of networks to work with and thus more opportunities to engage with different cultures and disparate assumptions, which is reflected as something truly worrying in "consuming life" but i don't think it necessarily situates us in a world of homogenization, we see heterogeneity in the very organizational culture which Bauman lamented was utterly incapable of moral agency. I think the real problem which was missed out like I mentioned is that moral agency is being used to perpetuate and conceive of disaster. It's the very ethical and moral discourse which leads us to stop fighting and think the fight has finished. Should we value the pursuits of a mega corporation in fighting world hunger for example?, Sure. However we need to look at the ways in which this morality is being used in practice. A critical point, lost here.

Another critical point is that in using Hirchman's didactic of "voice" and "exit", Bauman doesn't connect the dots as much as he ought to. Disaffection or "exit" is a methodology of resistance and aetiological antipathy, distaste and in some cases apathy against the organization. Bauman realizes these points in later works, mainly his sociological account of the riots, disaffected consumerism as a protest against the current fragmentary existence of British society. However it's not just distaste, we get spaces of resistance opening up in Holloway's work and mobilizing new forms of activism using the internet or using the moral humanitarian relapse of big corporations like Starbucks to basically fight and help citizens in local causes.

This is a blueprint for his later works, a pamphlet sketching his precocious ideas but it's interesting to note that they haven't really changed in nearly twenty years and that the fundamental critique remains very similar, despite the differences that our world now faces and the challenges presented to us.

(See my reviews of other Bauman work for more analysis of these issues from my point of view)

[Παύλος · Rating 3 out of 5]

Στο σύντομο βιβλίο του πρόσφατα αποβιώσαντος Z.Bauman τίθεται η διττή φύση της ηθικής. Κατά πόσο η ηθική έχει ξεπεραστεί αλλά και κατά πόσο χρειάζονται οι ηθικοί φραγμοί. Ένα μικρό και περιεκτικό απόσπασμα:

"...με άλλα λόγια, ο κόσμος στον οποίο ζούμε (και στη δημιουργία του οποίου συνεισφέρουμε με όσα επιδιώκουμε στη ζωή μας) φαίνεται να χαρακτηρίζεται από την αποσπασματικότητα, την ασυνέχεια και το ανακόλουθο.

(readathon 2017 11/90)