Derrida's Hyper-Ethics: Supererogation as Absolute Responsibility
Date of Award
12-2020
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy
Department
Philosophy
First Advisor
Dr. Jesus Deogracias Z. Principe
Abstract
This work takes up as its main task a general reconstruction of the concept of supererogation via Derrida’s hyper-ethics of absolute responsibility. In response to the ongoing debate on J. O. Urmson’s notion of ‘saintly’ and ‘heroic’ action, I argue that interpreting supererogatory action as absolute responsibility for the other may open up new ways of understanding what it means when certain individuals go far beyond the limits of duty for others.
The Derridean reconstruction of the concept of supererogation will be accomplished in two stages. First, I propose reinscribing Urmson’s definition of ‘saintly’ and ‘heroic’ actions as acts that go far beyond what may be demanded from anyone to accomplish into Derrida’s notion of a hyper-ethics based on a ‘duty beyond debt’. Reconceiving duty other than as a payment for what we owe others like a debt may, the work claims, interrupt and suspend the imposition of conceptual boundaries that clearly distinguish between actions which are considered ethical duties and actions that are no longer obligatory due to the costs and risks such actions may already involve for the agent.
Second, I shall reconsider Urmson’s dismissal of the point of view of the supererogatory agent and argue that an agent’s subjective experience of an ethical situation may assist us in understanding supererogation. Building on Levinas’s notions of alterity, face, and responsibility, I contend through Derrida that the experience of being called to be absolutely responsible for the other may compel and lead an individual to make unconditional self-sacrificial acts that are not ethical duties for him to perform. If costly and risky supererogatory actions are done, it might be that they are done not only in answer to the call of duty but also in response to the call of the other.
Alongside the determination of the concept of supererogation as absolute responsibility, the work will investigate two types of human actions or gestures which possibly make such a concept manifest in everyday experience. By turning to Derrida’s writings on hospitality and forgiveness, I suggest that we ourselves, without having to be ‘saints’ and ‘heroes’, may in various ways and degrees, discern and answer a call for us to go beyond our basic duties and obligations for the sake of others.
Recommended Citation
Aurelio, Michael Stephen, (2020). Derrida's Hyper-Ethics: Supererogation as Absolute Responsibility. Archīum.ATENEO.
https://archium.ateneo.edu/theses-dissertations/541
