《中國21-22世紀的政治哲學國際使命》
(時事解說哲學系列模式)
論文三:
〈心跳法〉與 封城令:「護命」硬撼「維權」的話語權之爭
許劍昭
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美國總統拜登狀控德克薩斯州《心跳法》(Texas Heartbeat Act)違憲，10月6日獲聯邦法庭發出臨時禁止令，但10月9日上訴庭允許它再次生效。
該項已於九月生效的法案明定，當胚胎能通過超聲波檢查，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]
此法案的正反激烈爭論，不僅揭示了二戰後主導西方社會與政策的地位的「維權」理念，正受到「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權、封城措施也引起激辯，「護命」在國際話語間已成為新趨勢、新力量。
「只要不受法律禁止，我便可為所欲為。」這類視道德如無物的說法，已被認為是過時、落後。在「新自由主義」(NeoLiberalism)的影響下，時尚的思潮是「想做就去做」，如果法律禁止我想要的，那麼就把法律改掉!例如把吸食大麻合法化(見歐美多個國家) 。
而最新的進展是修改法律、校規，讓學生自年僅四歲起，在校內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]
自2002年始，民調機構蓋洛普詢問美國人如何評價國內的道德狀況。結果發現，認為道德水平「低下」的比例從2003年的35%，惡化到2021年的47%;若加上「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…等問題愈來愈糟，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]
諸種道德淪喪的原因之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，商業客戶的身心健康。
2003年英、加兩位學者聯合提出「生物公民」(Biological
Citizenship)的概念，通過易於查看的「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及維生福利的沉重負擔。而政府則有治理的責任，教育及規範公民維持健康，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]
若說痴肥是一個可以遲緩處理的問題，突如其來的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，關注維權與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，說些眾所週知的道理後，結論沒有立場(例見 European Sociologist 2020Dec23, Nature
Human Behaviour
2020May Vol.4)。
[Note 8]
然而此現象顯示「維權」給「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」涉及人際之間複雜的權力關係，「護命」的道德原則簡單易明。而此點至關重要。
被稱為「科學歷史」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錄，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，除了內部常見的悔約違誓、派系仇殺等諸種劣行，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，並於雅典最終投降後，拒絕兩個城邦盟友把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，悦己卻不浪費資源，富己但不侵損公利。敬祖則更單純，扶老攜幼而矣。
為了纠正二戰後過度消費、破壞生態的環保運動，正是說着護命的語言，而且不光是人命，還有動、植物的命。此等包含攜幼、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論，除了着重扶老傳統外，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狀況缺乏信心的醜態。
西方社會從血腥殖民到倡議民權，兜兜轉轉了六百年，以為已掌握到真理，卻突然被廣泛且大規模的「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」根本上就是回歸古樸的傳統道德。
[Note 11]
儘管成功在維權的硬牆上撞開缺口的《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，這種竟然會發生在美國的「護命硬撼維權」現象，揭示物極必反，「維權」的話語霸權已到了強弩之末。「護命」則通過不同的話題，把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”,
2021
Oct 7
Yahoo
News, “Federal Judge temporarily blocks Texas Heartbeat Act”.
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
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
…
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.
“ … at worst, they are seen as ‘pathological citizens’ who threaten the national body.”
[Note 8]
… 保持中立，說些眾所週知的道理後，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
[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
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