何谓“人在自然之中存在”?——斯宾诺莎“人是自然的一部分”命题新探

What Is Called “Being in the Nature”?——New Investigation into “Man Is Part of Nature” in the Philosophy of Spinoza

探究人的本性及其在宇宙中的地位乃是斯宾诺莎哲学的核心论题。当许多哲学家以人作为自然的例外、甚至把人视为“王国中的王国”时,斯宾诺莎则鲜明地提出“人只是自然的一部分”。而斯宾诺莎这个命题首先意味着“人在自然之中存在”。只有深入剖析“人在自然之中存在”的含义,我们才能阐明“人作为自然的一部分”所具有的生存论意义。在斯宾诺莎那里,自然并非纯粹由无机的物质所组成并单纯依照机械法则活动,而是一个同时具有内在活力和生机的自然,是一个具有内在生产原则的自然。斯宾诺莎也将其称为神,从而使自然首先呈现为一个形而上学概念。作为自然的一部分,人只是作为无限实体的自然的产物,是一种有限样式。无论是人的理性,还是以往被视为人的主动性和自由之来源的意志,也都在自然之中存在并遵循自然永恒不变的法则。然而,人却可以通过理解而达到“心灵与整个自然相结合的知识”,人生的至善和至福也正在于此。“人是自然的一部分”所具有的生存论意义最终也由此得到体现。正因如此,斯宾诺莎走向了与近代主体主义哲学完全不同的方向,甚至表现出一种反现代性的倾向,“人是自然的一部分”这一命题也因而具有了一种批判的力量。

It is a core theme for Spinoza to inquire into the nature of man and his position in the universe. While many philosophers before him regard man as the exceptional relative to the nature and even as “a kingdom in a kingdom, ” Spinoza explicitly proposes an antithesis that man is part of nature, which first signifies man’s being in the nature. It is only after having analyzed the meaning of man’s being in the nature that we can expose the existential sense of “man is part of nature.” For Spinoza, the nature is not only one that is merely composed of inorganic matter and simply acts according to the mechanical laws, but also that has the inner vitality and the internal principle of production. This nature is also called God, which makes it firstly appear as a metaphysical concept. As part of nature, man is the result of the action of nature as an infinite substance, and he must obey its eternal and immutable laws which cannot be violated by human reason or the will traditionally regarded as the source of human activity and freedom. Nevertheless man, through his understanding, can arrive at “the knowledge of the union that the mind has with the whole of nature” in which consist our highest good and our beatitude. By this is expressed the existential meaning of “man is part of nature.” All above show that Spinoza goes to a direction different from the early modern subjectivism, and even expresses an intense inclination of anti-modernity. Therefore the proposition that man is part of nature implies a kind of force of critique.