Monday, October 11, 2021

〈心跳法〉與 封城令:「護命」硬撼「維權」的話語權之爭

 中國21-22世紀的政治哲學國際使命

      (時事解哲學系列模式)

論文三:

心跳法封城令:護命硬撼維權的話語權

 

                                                     劍昭

本文章沒有版權限制歡迎轉貼轉載引用


美國總統拜登控德克薩斯州心跳法(Texas Heartbeat Act)違憲,106日獲聯邦法庭發出臨時禁止令,但109日上訴庭允許它再次生效。


該項已九月生效的法案明定,當胚胎能通過超聲波檢測得有心跳存在(通常自懷孕六週始) 任何幫助該位懷孕婦女墮胎的人士、組織可被公眾起訴違法並要求賠償至少一萬美元

[Note 1]


法案的正反激烈爭論不僅二戰後主導西方社會與政策的地位維權受到護命」信念的嚴重挑戰;也顯示出傳統道德觀念通過護命、保健等話題重回政治碰巧新冠病毒大流行的限封城措施也引起激辯護命在國際話語成為新趨勢新力量


只要不受法律禁止,我便可為所欲為這類視道德如無物已被認為是過時落後新自由主義(NeoLiberalism)的影響下時尚的思想做就去做如果法律禁止我想要的,那麼就法律改掉!例如吸食大麻合法化(見歐美多個國家)


最新的進展是修改法律、校規讓學生自年僅四在校可以不經父母同意選擇自己喜歡的性別並按此使用學校設施(見蘇格蘭、美國特拉華州)

[Note 2]

 

2002年始,民調機構蓋洛普詢問美國人如何評價國的道德結果發現認為道德水平低下的比例從2003年的35%,惡化2021年的47%;加上勉勉強強的評分,2021年總數達到84%

[Note 3]


除了酗酒、吸毒、濫交、爛賭、嗜糖、酖網、欺凌等問題美國和加拿大正同時面臨一項鴉片類止痛藥成癮的大問題官式名稱是 Opioid Epidemic

[Note 4]


諸種道德淪喪原因一是人們藉各種所謂權利或聲色犬馬、縱慾自殘,或傷害家人、鄰居、同學、陌生人,商業客的身心健康


2003年英、加兩位學者聯合提出生物公民(Biological Citizenship)的概念通過易於看的痴肥為切入點主張人作為社會成員有保持自身健康的道德責任,以減輕公共醫療資源維生福利的沉重負擔。而政府有治理的責任教育規範公民維持健康例如參照身體質量指數(BMI) 作準

[Note 5]


不問可知這種限制消費權利、縮窄選擇自由的倡議所得到的當然是惡評和冷遇開明如刺針雜誌也直到2008年才短短用二百字簡介

[Note 6]


但痴肥現象日趨普遍且惡化的美國和澳洲近年終於有學者認真研究指出如果公眾繼續否定有維護自身健康的責任國家的整體利益會受到這群病態公民(pathological citizens)嚴重威脅(例見Kelly E. Happe 2018)

[Note 7]


痴肥是一個可以遲緩處理的問題如其來新冠病毒則不能拖拖拉拉。

 

從佩戴口罩、閉關封城,到禁足隔離、接種疫苗,關注維權護命之間的道德衝突的討論逐漸增多,而中國的封城抗疫治理更成為一種典範基準


但西方在維權觀念唯我獨尊的長期主導影響下,除了少數醫學專家,大部分公共知識分子在整個 2020 年均小心翼翼地保持中立,所週知的道理後,結論沒有立場(例見 European Sociologist 2020Dec23, Nature Human Behaviour 2020May  Vol.4)

[Note 8]


然而現象顯示維權護命硬撼後,其往昔至高無上的霸氣已略有所失。


今年三月,愛爾蘭學者Vittorio Bufacchi終於提出了這個問題:我們是否有不染(新冠)病的道德義務?文章第一句坦率承認,關於大流行的個人道德討論是個地雷區,但在檢視傳統倫理後,他的結語這樣寫:是的,我們確實有道德義務(moral duty)避免感染這種疾病。

[Note 9]


相比維權及人際之間複雜的權力關係護命」的道德原則簡單易明。而點至關重要


被稱為「科學史」之父的修昔底德(Thucydides公元前460-400) 在其著作《伯羅奔尼撒戰爭》中,敘述分別以雅典斯巴達作為領導的兩個城邦聯盟之間長達27年的戰爭除了擯除迷信的事實記,修昔底德指出道德淪喪是雅典失敗的主因,並警告這種結合道德墮落和軍事挫折的失敗,會在未來不斷重演


當時實施直接民主的雅典除了部常見的悔約違誓派系仇殺等種劣行,更無視四分一的人口死於持續了3年的瘟疫,打破休戰協議出兵遠征倒是斯巴達的紀律雖然嚴酷但不濫殺雅典最終投降後兩個城邦盟友所有雅典人變成奴隸的建議


修昔底德統稱所有品德的名詞是ευηθες 後世史學家的英譯為 ancient simplicity 我把它中譯成「古樸」;強調重視榮耀、保家衛國的傳統美德

[Note 10]


若以華夏文化闡釋,古樸就是敬祖畏天畏天者,愛己而不傷害他人悦己不浪費資源,富己但不侵損公利敬祖則更單純,扶老攜幼而矣。


為了正二戰後過度消費破壞生態的環保運動正是護命的語言,而且不光是人命還有動植物的命包含攜幼畏天護命的環保論述硬撼消費權利的地位已有多年


突然崛起的抗疫封城護命道德除了扶老傳統外,還很可能會擴展到研究健康生活方式的重要性因為接種疫苗暴露了許多人對自身健康況缺乏信心的醜態


西方社會從血腥殖民到倡議民權,兜兜轉轉了六百年以為已掌握真理,卻突然被廣泛大規模的「黑人的命也是命」抗議所掌摑所謂的憲制權利在槍彈面前只是空談「也是命」根本上是回歸古樸的傳統道德

[Note 11]


儘管成功在權的硬牆上撞開缺口心跳法支持者,一般不認同嚴格的抗疫措施,但他們訴諸宗教作論據本質上也是回歸護命的古樸傳統


而更重要的是,這種然會發生在美國的「護命硬撼維權」現象示物極必反維權的話語霸權已到強弩護命」則通過不同的話題根本的傳統古樸道德帶回政治場


Notes

[Note 1]

2021 Oct 9

Catholic News Agency, “Texas ‘heartbeat’ abortion law temporarily reinstated amid legal fight”,

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/249239/texas-heartbeat-abortion-law-allowed-to-take-effect-again-by-appeals-court-amid-legal-fight-in-court

 

2021 Oct 7

Yahoo News, “Federal Judge temporarily blocks Texas Heartbeat Act”.

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/249239/texas-heartbeat-abortion-law-allowed-to-take-effect-again-by-appeals-court-amid-legal-fight-in-court

 

2021 Oct 1

NPR, “Texas’ abortion law is back in court”

https://www.npr.org/2021/10/01/1041607684/texas-abortion-law-federal-judge

A federal judge is weighing arguments on the Justice Department's emergency request to block Texas' controversial new abortion law.

 

Wiki, Heartbeat Bill

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heartbeat_bill

In 2013, North Dakota became the first state to pass a heartbeat law. In 2015, the law was ruled unconstitutional under the precedent set by the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade. Eleven states have proposed heartbeat bills since 2018; since 2019, such bills have passed including bills in Ohio, Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, Alabama, Kentucky, South Carolina, and Texas, most of which lie either partly or entirely in the Bible Belt. Utah and Arkansas voted to limit the procedure to the middle of the second trimester. As of June 2021,[4] except for the Texas bill, none of the laws are in effect due to court intervention.[5][6] The Guttmacher Institute writes, "state policymakers are testing the limits of what the new U.S. Supreme Court majority might allow and laying the groundwork for a day when federal constitutional protections for abortion are weakened or eliminated entirely."[7] Texas has taken a novel approach in their wording of the legislation; rather than have the government enforce the law, private citizens will be allowed to sue the provider or anyone that helps the woman to get an abortion.

 

 

[Note 2]

Wiki, Legality of Cannabis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_cannabis

 

2021 Aug 15

https://www.kidspot.com.au/parenting/children-as-young-as-four-can-legally-choose-their-own-gender-without-consent/news-story/dc0987d0a6033a8efc336f5b4f2866ba

Children as young as FOUR can legally choose their own gender without consent

Parents in Scotland have no control of their children's genders, and government says students are fully supported by their schools and teachers.

 

2018 Feb 20

https://www.foxnews.com/us/delaware-may-let-students-choose-their-race-gender-without-parental-consent

… schools would be required to provide access to facilities and activities that are consistent with a student's gender identity—regardless of the child's sex at birth. That includes bathrooms, locker rooms, team sports and adhering to the child's preferred name. Under the proposal, students could also choose their own race.

 

[Note 3]

2021June 16    Gallup

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Americans overall see U.S. moral values in mostly negative terms

Record-high 66% of Republicans now rate moral values as "poor"

Record-high 46% of Democrats say moral values are improving

https://news.gallup.com/poll/351140/stable-moral-ratings-obscure-big-partisan-shifts.aspx

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Continuing a long-term trend, Americans are discouraged about the state of moral values in the U.S., with 84% calling them "only fair" or "poor" and two-thirds believing they are getting worse rather than better. These negative evaluations differ little from what Gallup has found each year since it began measuring perceptions of the nation's values in 2002 as part of its Values and Beliefs survey, conducted annually.

 

[Note 4]

U.S. Department of Health

https://www.hhs.gov/opioids/about-the-epidemic/index.html

In 2017 HHS declared a public health emergency and announced a 5-Point Strategy To Combat the Opioid Crisis

 

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

https://www.cdc.gov/opioids/basics/epidemic.html

Understanding the Epidemic

The number of drug overdose deaths increased by nearly 5% from 2018 to 2019 and has quadrupled since 19991.  Over 70% of the 70,630 deaths in 2019 involved an opioid. From 2018 to 2019, there were significant changes in opioid-involved death rates:

Opioid-involved death rates increased by over 6%.

Prescription opioid-involved death rates decreased by nearly 7%.

Heroin-involved death rates decreased by over 6%.

Synthetic opioid-involved death rates (excluding methadone) increased by over 15%.

 

[Note 5]

Nikolas Rose and  Carlos Novas, “Biological Citizenship”, in Aihwa Ong and Stephen Collier (eds.) (2003), ‘Global Anthropology’, Blackwell.

file:///C:/Users/kimch/Downloads/RoseandNovasBiologicalCitizenship2002.pdf

 

[Note 6]

2008 Nov 15

The Lancet, “Biocitizenship”, ny Roger Cooter

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(08)61719-5/fulltext

For Nikolas Rose and Carlos Novas in their essay on “Biological Citizenship” (Global Assemblages, 2005) this term described new connections being made between biology and self-identity. They argued that contemporary biotechnology makes possible new ideas of what it means to be a human being. They present the human body as a fragmented, biotechnologically exploitable consumer object that can be physically reshaped by “enhancement technologies” or the consumption of new psychopharmaceuticals.

 

Moreover, this biological consumerism largely takes place in a global marketplace that is increasingly disconnected from national politics. It is in this supra-national space that people are now “made up”—not as citizens with rights and duties bound to nation states, but as biological consumers.

 

[Note 7]

Kelly E. Happe, Jenell Johnson, and Marina Levina (2018), Biocitizenship: The Politics of Bodies, Governance, and Power, NY: New York University Press.

https://nyu.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.18574/nyu/9781479845194.001.0001/upso-9781479845194

 

“ … at worst, they are seen as ‘pathological citizens’ who threaten the national body.”

 

[Note 8]

保持中立,所週知的道理後,結論沒有立場

例見

2020 Sep Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal

“The Ethics of Lockdown: Communication, Consequences, and the Separateness of Persons”, by Stephen John.

https://kiej.georgetown.edu/ethics-of-lockdown-special-issue/

 

2020 Dec 23  The European Sociologist

“Theorising — Praise of Biopolitics?  The Covid-19 Pandemic and the Will for Self-Preservation”, by Jörn Ahrens

https://www.europeansociology.org/issue-45-pandemic-impossibilities-vol-1/theorising-praise-biopolitics-covid-19-pandemic-and-will

 

[Note 9]

2021 March 16   The Conversation

“Do we have a moral duty not to get sick?”, by Vittorio Bufacchi

https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-do-we-have-a-moral-duty-not-to-get-sick-148837

 

[Note 10]

Mary Frances Williams (1998), “Ethics in Thucydides: The Ancient Simplicity”, Lanham, New York, Oxford: University Press of America Inc.

 

[Note 11]

Wiki, Black Lives Matter

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Lives_Matter