In Huckleberry Finn, a thirteen‐year old white boy in antebellum Missouri escapes from his abusive father and befriends a runaway slave named Jim. On a familiar reading of the novel, both Huck and Jim are, in their own ways, morally impressive, transcending the unjust circumstances in which they find themselves in to treat each other as equals. Huck saves Jim's life from two men looking for runaway slaves, and later Jim risks his chance at freedom to save Huck's friend Tom. I want to complicate the idea that Huck and Jim are morally commendable for what they do. More generally, I want to explore how oppression undermines the moral agency of the oppressed, and to some degree, the oppressor. In §1 I take a careful look at Jim's choice, arguing that his enslavement compromises his moral agency. In §2 I show how Jim's oppression also shapes the extent to which Huck can be praiseworthy for his action. In §3, I consider the consequences for thinking about the moral agency of the oppressed, and in §4 I explore the limitations of the concept of moral worth for theorizing in cases of oppression.

中文翻译：

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压迫下的道德能动性


在《哈克贝利·费恩》中，南北战争前密苏里州的一个 13 岁白人男孩逃离了虐待他的父亲，并与一个名叫吉姆的逃亡奴隶成为朋友。在熟悉的小说阅读中，哈克和吉姆都以他们自己的方式在道德上令人印象深刻，超越了他们发现自己所处的不公正环境，平等地对待彼此。哈克从两个寻找逃跑奴隶的男人手中救了吉姆的命，后来吉姆冒着重获自由的机会拯救了哈克的朋友汤姆。我想让 Huck 和 Jim 的所作所为在道德上值得称赞的想法复杂化。更广泛地说，我想探讨压迫如何破坏被压迫者的道德能动性，在某种程度上，也破坏了压迫者的道德能动性。在§1中，我仔细研究了吉姆的选择，认为他的奴役损害了他的道德能动性。在第 2 节中，我展示了吉姆的压迫如何塑造了哈克的行为在多大程度上值得称赞。在 §3 中，我考虑了思考被压迫者的道德能动性的后果，在 §4 中，我探讨了道德价值概念在压迫情况下进行理论化的局限性。