苦海无边,“退让”是岸——叔本华悲剧理论述评

Pervasive Suffering and Ascetic Resignation:A Critique of Schopenhauer’s Tragic Theory

叔本华是黑格尔之后又一位影响深远的悲剧理论家。他敏锐地把握住悲剧"表出人生可怕的一面"之文类特征,将其归入"力量崇高"的审美范畴。这进一步发展了从朗吉诺斯到康德关于"崇高"的美学话语。可惜的是,叔本华将审美主体之升华完全等同于"退让",使其在评判悲剧作品之优劣时频频出错。尽管如此,叔本华在拓宽悲剧题材方面所做的贡献不容忽略。虽然他把生活世界描绘得过于灰暗,但他"众生皆苦"的人生哲学迫使他将悲剧的目光投向普通百姓,有助于打破帝王将相和才子佳人对悲剧舞台的垄断。

Arthur Schopenhauer is another influential figure in modern tragic discourse following G.WF.Hegel.He views tragedy as a special genre of art that presents to its audience"the terrible side of life"and thus offers a unique pleasure that is related to our sense of the sublime rather than that of the beautiful.This certainly constitutes a significant contribution to the traditional theory of the sublime that includes such illustrious names as Longinus and Immanuel Kant,but Schopenhauer’s total equation of aesthetic transcendence with ascetic resignation has misguided him in his interpretation of many tragic works.In terms of subject-matter for tragic drama,Schopenhauer’s contribution is particularly notable.His general philosophy of insatiable will in all forms of life enables him to turn his attention to the miseries of ordinary people that were largely neglected by classical dramatists and theorists alike.