Abstract
Etienne de Villiers as ethicist of responsibility. The paper considered six ways to describe Etienne de Villiers as ethicist of responsibility. They broadly corresponded with chronological phases in his academic career. The first was the way in which he initially took responsibility to teach theological ethics in a methodologically reflective way. The second was the way in which he increasingly found answers to these methodological concerns in responsibility ethics as an approach. The third was the way in which he spent much time analysing the work of responsibility ethicists. This critical engagement led to a fourth phase, still ongoing, developing his own approach. Against this background, the paper argued that he had always been an ethicist of responsibility in the fifth sense that he addressed urgent moral challenges. Developing this, a final section claims that he was an ethicist of responsibility according to Weber�s description of science as vocation. The paper was read as key note presentation at the University of Pretoria on 09 November 2011, when D.E. (Etienne) de Villiers was honoured on the occasion of his retirement. On the specific request of the organisers, the speech was held in Afrikaans and the original oral form was retained here, including the personal rethorical style of the introduction and conclusion.
Highlights
Dit is ’n fassinerende tema wat aan my gegee is
Self wil ek daarop reageer deur te probeer aantoon dat hy ’n etikus van verantwoordelikheid is in ses verskillende betekenisse van die woord, nou verwant dog tog onderskeibaar
Etienne de Villiers is eerstens ’n etikus van verantwoordelikheid in dié sin dat hy hom van die begin af besig hou met vrae na die grondslae van etiek
Summary
The paper considered six ways to describe Etienne de Villiers as ethicist of responsibility. They broadly corresponded with chronological phases in his academic career. The third was the way in which he spent much time analysing the work of responsibility ethicists This critical engagement led to a fourth phase, still ongoing, developing his own approach. Etienne de Villiers is eerstens ’n etikus van verantwoordelikheid in dié sin dat hy hom van die begin af besig hou met vrae na die grondslae van etiek. Ek onthou met vreugde talle gesprekke uit dié tyd, hulle vroeë Wellingtonse jare, oor normatiwiteit in die etiek, oor wat gelowiges bedoel met die wil van God, oor hoe die Skrif eties funksioneer – tot by die vraag na handboeke vir sy eerste kursusse in etiek. Ek onthou vele besoeke saam aan wonderlike boekwinkels, waar hy uiteindelik huis toe stap met stapels vol boeke, maar meestal filosofie en later sosiale teorie en politieke wetenskap – alles deel van sy begeerte om openbare verantwoording te doen van waarmee hy besig was as etikus in die Christelike tradisie
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