从伦理批评到文学伦理学批评:美国伦理批评的困境与出路

From Ethical Criticism to Ethical Literary Criticism: The Dilemma and Way-Out of American Ethical Criticism

美国伦理批评起源于古希腊关于文学与伦理学关系的激烈争论,其最初形式主要是道德批评,经历了文学伦理学研究的繁荣之后,美国伦理批评由于受唯美主义的影响和自身的局限而衰落。衰落后的伦理批评因文学和哲学领域的"伦理转向"又迎来了新的转机,于20世纪80年代得到复兴,并由此演变出了韦恩·布斯(Wayne Booth)以"共导"为基础的伦理批评,玛莎·努斯鲍曼(Martha Nussbauman)以多元性为基础的伦理评价,希利斯·米勒(Hillis Miller)以文本与语言理论为基础的阅读伦理,以及马歇尔·格雷戈里(Marshall Gregory)和彼得·拉宾诺维茨(Peter Rabinowitz)分别提出的以"伦理召唤"和"侧面伦理"为核心术语的批评模式。虽然这些批评家都力图避免重走过去道德批评的老路,但复兴后的美国伦理批评还没有形成系统的批评框架,因而饱受方法论和认知论的困扰。中国文学批评界提出的文学伦理学批评在西方实践经验基础上,构建了伦理批评的方法论,认为文学在其发展之初首先是为了满足伦理表达需求,所以"教诲"是文学的基本功能。随着研究的进一步深入,中国学者不断探索与实践,以伦理选择为核心,构建了相对完善的批评话语体系,从而使文学伦理学批评成为一个更容易掌握的批评方法,同时也为美国伦理批评指明了新的研究空间和发展路径。

American ethical criticism can be traced back to the argument of ancient Greece over the relationship between literature and ethics and takes moral criticism as its main form in the early period which witnesses the flourishing of the studies on ethics of literature and its falling because of the booming of Aestheticism and its innate flaws.With the ethical turn refreshing in studies of literature and philosophy American ethical criticism revives and develops into such new definitions as Wayne Booth’s conduction,Martha Nussbaum’s plural values,Hillis Miller’s ethics of reading,Marshall Gregory’s ethical invitation and Peter Rabinowitz’s Lateral ethics.Though the revived American ethical criticism attempts to develop a new way from the old one,it fails to map its systematic frame in theory and practice,thus falls into dilemma in methodology and epistemology.The ethical literary criticism,initiated by Chinese scholars,perfects American ethical criticism in theoretical system by proving that literature grows out of the ethical demand and the primary function is moral instruction,while in practice by defining a set of critical discourse with ethical selection as its core,thus giving a way-out for American ethical criticism.