荀子与所罗门论对丧亡的美学回应

Xunzi and Solomon on Aesthetic Responses to Loss

人们通常以审美的形式表达并体现与丧亡相关的情感,这些形式包括纪念碑这样的永久性作品以及仪式类的表演。墨子对繁缛葬礼持批评态度,而荀子对墨子的回应则有助于解释审芙上极其精芙的仪式对于丧亡经历者的情感具有怎样的价值。荀子的论述与罗伯特·C.所罗门所考虑极其契合。所罗门提出,哀伤是道德上义务,悲伤是一种功能性的情感,尽管表面看来并非如此。从审芙角度看,仪式的繁缛为人们对死者的怀念提供了一种象征性的满足感,为情感表达提供了确定的形式,有助于限制未亡者的内疚感,并鼓励未亡者走下去,让他们能够看到自己继续生存是在亡者的缺席下对亡者的敬重。

Emotions related to loss are commonly expressed and embodied in aesthetic forms, including both enduring works such as monuments and performances, such as rituals. Xunzi, in his response to Mozi＇s criticism of grandiose funerals, helps to explain the value of aesthetically elaborate rituals for dealing with the emotions experienced by those who survive the death of a loved one. Xunzi＇s account also dovetails nicely with the concerns of Robert C. Solomon, who claims that grief, despite appearances to the contrary, is a functional emotion and that grieving is morally obligatory. Aesthetically elaborate rituals provide symbolic satisfaction of the longing for the deceased to be present, give definite shape to emotional expression, help to limit the guilt feelings of survivors, and encourage survivors as they go forward, enabling them to see their further steps as means of honoring the deceased, even in that person＇s absence.