Beyond theoretical ethics: Bakhtinian anti-theoreticism

This manuscript brings the early writings of M.M. Bakhtin to the contempora ry concern over pluralist ethics. Generally, I argue that many ethical quan daries which individuals face cannot be ascribed to a plurality of ethics o r a social indeterminacy of morals. I maintain that human valuation, as an ethics of action always already in play, refers to existing individuals' st ruggles to participate in their personally proclaimed and endorsed value sy stems. Thus, I draw upon Bakhtin to suggest that concrete acts of valuation (ethics in everyday practice) are not reducible to theoretically agreed up on ethical systems, but rather, they are inseparable from the emotional-vol itional moments within the total context of my uniquely held existence.