“好德如好色”:孔子对当代美德伦理学的贡献

“Loving Virtue as One Loves Sex”:Multiple Contributions Made by Confucius to Contemporary Virtue Ethics

孔子的"好德如好色"表明,儒家的最高境界不是行善,而是乐于行善。这样一种观点对于当代美德伦理学具有多重的贡献。第一,它对西方哲学自柏拉图开始就困扰着大家的"为什么要有道德"的问题作出了一个恰当的回答:通过有道德才能成为一个健康而没有缺陷的人;第二,它对认为具有美德的人根本上是自我中心主义者的观点做了有力回应:虽然具有美德的人是为了自己成为一个健康而没有缺陷的人,一个人之所以健康而没有缺陷恰恰是因为他关心他人的利益;第三,它对所谓美德的悖论(美德之所以值得赞扬是因为它要求我们做的是困难的事情,但具有美德的人做这些事情时却轻而易举)提供了一个很好的说明:要成为一个具有美德的人,即成为一个能够轻而易举地做美德的事情的人,需要做长期而艰苦的自我修养功夫,而一个人之所以在做这样的美德的事情时非常困难,恰恰是因为他没有下功夫成为一个具有美德的人,因此美德和具有美德的人还是最值得赞扬的。

Confucius＇ ＂loving virtue as one loves sex＂makes it clear that the highest realm for Confucius is not merely to do moral things but to take delight in doing them. This view makes multiple contributions to contemporary virtue ethics. First,it provides a plausible answer to the question＂why be moral＂,a question that has troubled Western philosophers ever since Plato：only by being moral can one become a healthy or non-defective human being; second,it offers a convincing response to the objection to virtue ethics as fundamentally self-centered： while a virtuous person is concerned with being a healthy and non-defective human being himself or herself,the very term＂a healthy or non-defective human being＂is defined as one who is concerned with the well-being of others; third,it proffers a better solution to the paradox of virtue（virtue is about things difficult for human beings,and yet a virtuous person can do these things effortlessly）： virtuous persons are at ease doing virtuous things precisely because they have made great efforts to become a virtuous person,while non-virtuous persons can do virtuous things only with a great effort precisely because they fail to make any effort to become virtuous persons. Thus,Virtue and rirtuous persons are worthy of praise.