以尊重代宽容:《庄子》的启发

What’s Wrong with Toleration?:The Zhuangzian Respect as an Alternative

在今天这个全球化、多元化的时代,宽容往往被看成是一个人在面对异民族、异种族、异宗教、异文化、异语言、异地区、异性取向的人及其生活方式时应有的最重要的美德。但这是有问题的,因为宽容的一个核心要素是对其所宽容的对象有异议,而且如果宽容是一种美德,这样的异议必须要有合理的根据而不是出于自己的偏见,而面对上述意义上与我们不同的人,很显然我们不可能也不应该有任何合理的异议。因此在这方面我们今天真正需要培养的美德不是宽容,而是庄子式的尊重。具有这种美德的人,不仅对其尊重的对象没有异议因而不会干涉其生活,而且在有需要时还会帮助他们过其独特的生活。这种庄子式的尊重不同于有时也被看作是宽容的基础的尊重,因为后者往往只尊重作为人的他者,而不尊重其生活方式,特别是当这种生活方式与自己的生活方式很不相同时。而庄子式的尊重不仅尊重作为人的他者,也尊重其生活方式,即使这种方式与自己的十分不同。

In this global and plural age,toleration has often been regarded as the most important virtue one ought to cultivate toward people of different nationalities,ethnicities,religions,cultures,languages,geographical regions,and sexual orientations and their ways of life.This,however,is problematic,because one of the key elements of toleration is the objection to what one tolerates,and if toleration is a virtue,such objections must be based on good reasons instead of personal biases.Yet,clearly,we cannot have any reasonable objections toward people simply because their ways of life are different from ours in the above-mentioned senses.Therefore,the virtue we really need to cultivate is not toleration but the Zhuangzian respect.A person with such a virtue not only has no objection to what they respect and thus would not interfere with them but also,when needed,assist them to live their unique ways of life.This Zhuangzian respect differs from the respect that sometimes also serves as the basis of toleration.While the latter is only directed to others as persons and not to their ways of life,especially when they are very different from one’s own,the former is not only directed to others as persons but also to their ways of life,even if they are very different from one’s own.