文学伦理学批评:伦理选择与斯芬克斯因子

Ethical Literary Criticism:Ethical Choice and Sphinx Factor

夏娃和亚当偷吃禁果以及斯芬克斯之谜的破解,是人类继第一次生物性选择之后进行的第二次选择,即伦理选择。伦理选择使人真正脱离了低等生物界,变成了与野兽相区别的、伦理的存在。从伦理意义上而言,人是一种斯芬克斯因子的存在,由人性因子和兽性因子组成。斯芬克斯因子是文学作品伦理表述的核心内容。在《道林·格雷的画像》中,格雷经过伦理选择使自身和画像的身份发生转换,导致自己的悲剧。在《一个分成两半的子爵》中,卡尔维诺描写了由善良的子爵和邪恶的子爵分别代表的理性意志和非理性意志的冲突。而在《西游记》中,孙悟空是自由意志的化身。唐僧通过帽子和咒语对他加以约束,帮助他完成了从兽到人的转变。这些富有隐喻性的文学文本不仅给我们提供了斯芬克斯因子的不同组合与变化,充分显示了人类的伦理选择在社会历史和个性发展中的价值,而且还展示了理性意志、自由意志和非理性意志之间的伦理冲突,带给我们众多伦理思考和启迪。

After the first biological selection of humankind,it is regarded as the second important choice,the ethical one,that Adam and Eve picked and ate the forbidden fruit in Eden and Oedipus solved the riddle of the Sphinx.It is the ethical choice to distinguish humankind from animals and made savagery people to be ethical beings.In ethical sense,Man is Sphinx（an existence of Sphinx factor）,a combination of rational factor and animal factor.Sphinx factor is the core content of ethical statement in literary works.In The Picture of Dorian Gray,Gray makes an ethical choice which is to exchange the identity with his picture that results in his tragedy in the end.Italo Calvino in The Cloven Viscount describes the conflict of rational will and irrational will in the divided viscount,as represented in the kind viscount and the evil one.In classic Chinese novel Journey to the West,Monkey King （Sun Wukong） is the embodiment of natural will.Hsuan Tsang （Tang-monk;Tangseng） his master imposes restraints upon him by means of a hat and a spell to it,and ultimately helps him convert from a monkey to a human being （a Buddhist）.These highly metaphorical literary texts not only provide us examples of different combinations of Sphinx factor and its variations,reveal clearly the value of this ethical choice in the history of social and individuals,but also manifest the ethical conflicts among rational will,natural will and irrational will.In reflecting on these ethical issues we feel greatly enlightened.