Etikens ontologiska grund : En analys av Lev Karsavins personalism

Sammanfattning: This study has the following aims: to survey and elucidate the personalistic philosophy found in the work of the Russian philosopher Lev Karsavin (1882-1952); to analyse his ethics and elucidate its relation to ontology and personality theory; and to critically examine Karsavin's ethics. Karsavin's philosophy is considered with respect for its distinctive character, in which ethics is not constructed as an autonomous theory, but rather is integrated with metaphysics and personality theory. An examination of Karsavin's personalism, with its theory of all-temporality as a level within personal being, allows us to argue that the theoretical model found in Karsavin's work can serve to articulate several important moral experiences. These experiences are not usually discussed within the framework of the philosophical paradigm that strictly separates morality from a possible metaphysical foundation. The experiences which lend themselves to expression within the framework of Karsavin's personalism are experiences of the personality's radical unity, which is revealed in, among other things, an individual's perception of his or her own evil when it appears to be integrated in the whole personality and therefore united with the goodness within it.The critical examination of Karsavin's moral philosophy is conducted according to three criteria: experience, relevance and internal consistency. It is argued that Karsavin has a philosophical language that can be used to discuss significant personal moral experiences as we11 as transcontextually relevant questions. At the same time, Karsavin's theoretical model is seen to have several limitations in that it marginalizes experiences that cannot be expressed within the framework of dl-unity philosophy.