亚里士多德的“中道学说”辨析

A Study of Aristotle’s Doctrine of Mean

德性在亚里士多德看来就是一种符合中道的品质,因此,理解亚里士多的"中道学说"是理解其德性论的关键所在。亚里士多德的中道并不是一种纯粹数学意义上的过多和过少的中间量,而是一种不同主体根据具体情境通过实践理性而选择的行为的相对正确性。中道的相对性并不会导致道德上的相对主义,因为德性已经决定了中道的正确性和客观性。只有具有实践理性的人才能在具体行为中找准中道。这一学说的创新之处在于对德性的行为培养和分析判断能力的双重强调,体现出了亚里士多德对人的完善所需要的道德关系的深刻自觉。

Virtue is a kind of quality compatible with mean from Aristotle＇s point of view, and thus to understand his doctrine of mean is key to our understanding of his theory of virtue. What Aristotle means by mean is not a kind of purely mathematical middle quantity between excess and deficiency, but a kind of relative behavioral correctness chosen by different subjects according to particular situations through the working of empirical reason. But the relativity of mean does not lead to moral relativism because virtue has determined the correctness and objectivity of mean. Only those with empirical reason can find mean correctly. This doctrine is innovative in its double emphasis on the cultivation of virtuous behavior and on analytical ability, which exhibits Aristotle＇s deep awareness of moral relationships demanded by the perfecting of humans.