论柏拉图晚期思想中的混合型幸福观——一个基于《菲丽布》的探究

On Plato's Late Conception of Mixed Happiness: A Study of the Philebus

如何理解柏拉图的幸福观、快乐观以及二者之间的关系,这在柏拉图思想研究领域中历来是非常重要且极具争议的难题。区别于以往常见的概论式介绍,本文通过对柏拉图晚期对话录《菲丽布》这一文本及相关对话录的文本分析和研究,试图证明柏拉图晚年在幸福与快乐问题上提出了新见解、新观点。他不再像前期大多数作品中那样一概认定快乐是一种干扰、诱惑、必要的恶,而是认为快乐本质上是对人性状态之匮乏的填补,是对和谐或平衡的恢复,因而好的生活应该包含一些快乐,尤其是伴随美德而产生的快乐和由纯粹的对象所引起的快乐。尽管晚年柏拉图对于幸福及其构成要素快乐的理解仍旧带有强烈的精英主义与理智主义色彩,但他对于幸福的总体看法较之前更切合实际,更接近大众,因此也更容易引起大多普通人的共鸣。

How to understand Plato's concept of happiness,of pleasure,and the relationship between these two concepts,have long been considered very important and controversial issues in the platonic studies.In this paper,based on a study of Plato's Philebus and other relevant dialogues,I argue that Plato,in his old age,has a new understanding of happiness and pleasure:pleasure in general is no longer perceived as an interference,a temptation or a necessary evil,but rather as a kind of reward for people's achievements or something to motivate people to move forward,which,in its essence,is a kind of“filling of a lack”of human nature or a restoration of a harmonious state.My claim is that,although Plato's views of happiness in his later dialogues still have very strong elitism and intellectualism,his concept of happiness,in his old age,tends to be more democratic than before,and also more likely to be accessible to most ordinary people.