?Ethics as a Method and the Meanings of Ideal II. Overcoming the Shortcomings of Mead?s Moral Philosophy?

VIALE, CLAUDIO MARCELO

COGNITIO

EDUC PUC-SP

Lugar: San Pablo; Año: 2009 vol. 12 p. 309 - 321

1518-7187

 This work is the second part of my research on Mead?s philosophy. While the heart of the first article was a descriptive reconstruction of Mead?s theses on moral philosophy, my current goal is to point out and criticize some shortcomings I have found in them. The core of my criticism is that a tension within Mead?s moral philosophy exists and I try to show how this tension works. Particularly, I think there is a necessary but unrecognized tension between the Meadean conceptions of ethics as a method and of an ideal world. The lack of acknowledgment of this tension, caused mainly by Mead?s shortcomings regarding his conception of ideal, entails a contradiction within Mead?s practical philosophy: sometimes, Mead?s methodological dictum seems to require a democratic background in order to work; sometimes, Mead conceives his methodological dictum working in any kind of normative background. To carry out this task I will present two lines of argument: that Mead?s conceptions of ethics as a method and ideal world imply different kinds of theoretical commitments; on the other hand, that Mead?s conception of ideal world cannot coherently arise from his conception of method as he argues.