Avant-propos - Studia Moralia

244 MARTIN MCKEEVER
not wish to join with those sceptics who celebrate the demise of
any moral vision or value. Those who live in postmodern culture
must simply accept the ambivalence inherent in morality and
acknowledge the consequent impossibility of building a coherent
ethical system, much less of imposing it.
The moral self is constituted by its responsibility for the
Other
Having abandoned most of the categories in which ethics is
traditionally construed (rationality, purpose, judgement, foundations
and universality) Bauman proceeds to elaborate upon
his conception of “morality beyond ethics”. This is based on the
idea of “the moral self” construed in contradistinction to the calculating,
rational, ethical self. The moral self is the unique, personal,
autonomous being who precedes all reasoning, calculation
and regulation and who transcends all roles imposed by heteronomous
authorities. The morality of the moral self is precisely
what remains when all such ethical considerations are
eliminated or what is already there before they arise.
This self is constituted by the spontaneous response to the
Other as Other. To be a moral self is to accept the call of the Other,
to acknowledge the Other as Face and therefore invested with
an irreplaceable authority (75). It is precisely this response to
the command of the Other which makes the moral subject an individual.
The moral self is not just “with” the Other, but “for” the
Other in that it recognises itself as responsible for the Other as
Face, that is as a unique and mysterious presence rather than as
an interchangeable social unit. In order to be true to his own declared
principles, Bauman’s moral self must precede ontology
(72), since ontology already implies reasoning, calculation and
regulation. The moral self is located in a space “better” than being,
in that being for is superior to simply being with. To be moral
just is to be able to hear this command and respond to it (72).
Thus far Bauman’s attempt to articulate his view of morality.
In accordance with the plan outlined above, we will now proceed
to study the very different vision of morality to be gleaned
from Fides et ratio. Having done so it will be possible to revisit