Abstract

This essay examines the most common interpretations of the phenomenon of ethical difference, and attempts, by undermining these interpretations, to articulate a post-metaphysical ethical essentialism. My argument will begin with an analysis of the not-so-subtle connotations of our everyday language-games, and will proceed to show that, despite their naivete, these connotations nevertheless have a formative impact on modern academic accounts of moral rationality and ethical deliberation. The thematic focal points of my essay will be intellectualism, the problem of ethnocentrism, the absolutist-relativist dichotomy, and the relevance of human embodiment for conceptions of moral justification. The works of Charles Taylor, Martha Nussbaum, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and Martin Heidegger will play a central role in the articulation of this critical narrative.