西方世界观的悲剧——施韦泽的西方伦理史研究

The Tragedy of the Western World Outlook:Schweitzer's Study on Western Ethical History

施韦泽强调,文化进步和重建的关键在于要有一种伦理地肯定世界和生命的世界观。欧洲哲学—伦理学的优点在于,它已经要求了伦理地肯定世界和生命的世界观;但它的弱点则是,在还没有弄清楚对其论证困难的情况下,却以为自己已经在不断地论证它了。因此,在18世纪理性主义世界观开辟了人类文化史上的最伟大时代之后,直至第一次世界大战爆发,西方文化就逐渐走向了衰落。面对当时的西方文化危机,施韦泽认为自己的使命是,以深刻的思想追求真实的、富有价值的世界观,从而复兴西方的文化和伦理。为此,他系统地研究了西方伦理思想史,从基本原则和论证方法两个方面总结了西方自古希腊至20世纪初探寻伦理地肯定世界和生命的世界观及其失败的经验教训,不仅为自己敬畏生命的理论和实践突破奠定了深刻的思想史基础,而且为中国伦理学界了解和研究西方伦理学史以及形成新时代合理的伦理道德也提供了有益的借鉴。

Albert Schweitzer believes that the key to cultural progress and reconstruction lies in possessing a world outlook which emphasizes the ethical aspect of the world and reveres the life in it. The strength of European philosophy is that it has al- ready paid much attention to this, and its weakness is that while it is not aware of the difficuhiy in proof, it takes it for granted. Just because of this weakness, after the brilliant civilization created by those who believed in rationalism in the 18th century, the Western culture kept declining until World War I. In face of this cuhural crisis, Schweitzer undertook the reconstruction of West- ern culture as his mission. So he made a systematic study on Western ethical history and summerized the methods and principles of Western ethical investigations on the idea of life, which founded his own claim about reverence of life. We may learn a great deal from Schweitzer＇ s study on Western ethical history, especially when we endeavor to construct our own ethics today.