对话存在主义:文学伦理学批评视阈中的自由选择与伦理责任

Free Choice and Ethical Responsibility:A Dialogue Between Ethical Literary Criticism and Sartrean Existentialism

萨特存在主义哲学从一开始就有一种伦理的向度,它和文学伦理学批评一样关心文学和社会中的道德问题,因此两者之间存在对话的可能。由于萨特把自我想象成一种绝对孤独的存在,这导致他把自我的本真性而非伦理责任视为自我选择的道德依据,并把人在选择前的伦理考量视为逃避自由的自欺。而文学伦理学批评认为,自由不是一种纯粹的主观价值,因为自我只有意识到其他道德主体的需求,才最能感受到自由的价值。伦理选择的核心问题就是自我与他人的关系问题,这种关系不仅意味着相互的责任,也意味着对彼此的理解、同情和包容。文学伦理学批评并不把人的伦理身份和责任看作对自由的限制,这是对人的真实存在条件的深刻把握,并把人的自由内涵提升到一个新高度。

Since Sartrean existentialism has always been as much concerned about moral issues in literature and social life as ethical literary criticism do,it is practicable to make a dialogue between the two schools of criticism.For Sartre,the self is conjectured as an absolutely solitary being,which results in his preference for the authenticity of the self,rather than ethical responsibility,as the moral standard of decision-making,and his misunderstanding of hesitation before moral choice as bad faith.From the perspective of ethical literary criticism,however,freedom cannot be purely a subjective value,for it can only be felt and cherished when the self is conscious of the needs of other moral subjects.The essence of ethical choice is the relationship between the self and others,which means not only ethical responsibility for each other,but also mutual understanding,sympathy,and forgivingness.For ethical literary criticism,ethical identity and responsibility are not viewed as restrictions on freedom,which is a profound understanding of the essential being,and enriches the meaning of freedom in a new dimension.