Universalism in History and Ethics -in View of Hans Graeves Phenomenological investigation into Realgeschichte or Reale Weltgeschichte-

Abstract

The author of this paper drawing mutatis mutandis and implicitly on Husserls phenomenology and its some important concepts aims at giving an elucidating thematic description of what Hans Graeve, who works from the perspective of moral philosophy and employs a Heideggerian phenomenological method, means oder understands under the concepts not only of universalism and particularism but also of universal ethics and particular ethics in his historical investigation that he had carried out in view of his explicit conceptual distinction between Realgeschichte versus Ideengeschichte and his implicit one between one universal life world versus many particular life worlds. This article intends to bring out the characteristics of Hans Geaeves moral philosophical and phenomenological investigation of history by my taking into consideration the theme and method of his own investigation and by my comparing his investigation with those investigations of Henry Home, Lord Kames, Herder, Weber, Hans Küng, and Myers. It will be attempted to make clear Hans Graeves ground standpoint of moral universalism that can be considered to be based on one universal life world, natural law ethics, and duty ethics that stand in opposition to value psychologism and hedonistic and utilitarian ethical theories by my citing not only such concrete negative examples as war, terror, and holocaust, but also such concrete positive examples as peace and filial piety. The moral universalism that Hans Graeve reveals by starting from a concrete real life world or from the Realgeschichte in distinction from the Ideengeschichte or a particular life world which is imbued with an ideology, needs to be founded on the objective values in the life world and on the universal nature in the human beings.