Abstract:Modern practice calls for new interpretations of moral obligations, and the past interpretations of empiricism, transcendentalism, theism, utilitarianism, and marginal constraint theory all have certain defects. With the help of digging the consensual theory hidden in the history of Western thought, a new interpretation framework is established for reshaping the internal generation mechanism of Western moral obligation. On the basis of tracing Hobbes and Locke's “contract theory”, Kant's “virtue theory” and Rawls's “justice theory”, we find that the moral obligation view from the perspective of consent theory has both contractual rationality and both have the background of responsibility ethics. The hypothesis of “voluntary consent” put forward by Locke, as a confirmation procedure of moral obligation, completes the observation of the individual will, and at the same time guarantees the presence of the collective will based on the regulation of the justice system advocated by Rawls. In the contemporary society where technology exacerbates ethical conflicts, the recovery and improvement of consensual theory has shown certain positive significance for the reshaping of the theory of moral obligation and the construction of ethical order from the perspective of Marxist ethics.

Keywords:Voluntary consent; moral obligation; justice system; technological age

(Translator:Zhou Yan)