叙事、情境与隐喻——《理想国》开篇的写法与读法

Narrative,Situation and Metaphor: How Plato's Republic's Opening Paragraphs Are Written and Read

作为西方思想史上最具奠基性的哲学作品,《理想国》同时也是一个文学文本。柏拉图至死都在反复推敲的该书的开篇,是一扇寓意丰富的"众妙之门"。其叙事结构实际上呈现为"双重叙事",文本中的"我"也被分化为双重自我。开篇中时间的选择、地点的设定、人物的出场顺序与事件的展开逻辑均与全书主题的呈现遥相呼应。对话和叙事体裁避免了哲学陷入形而上学的泥淖,但大量象征性隐喻的存在也使得对文本的解释经常性地成为谜团。对隐喻的审慎阅读和节制阐释更符合柏拉图哲学的整全风格。

Plato＇s Republic is both a philosophical and a literary text. Plato had kept revising the opening of The Republic till the end of his life. The Republic has a structure of dual narrative,with the man called ＂I＂also playing a double role in this book.The time,the place,the order of appearance and the unfolding of the events all correspond to the theme. The genre of dialogue and narrative saves this philosophical text from being trapped too deep into the metaphysical mire,but too many symbolic metaphors make the interpretation of the text an attempt to solve mysteries. Thus,prudential reading and restrained interpretation may more align to the style of Platon＇s philosophy.