有机哲学视角下的同情观念及其道德哲学价值——一个基于怀特海思想的研究

The Idea of Sympathy and Its Value to Moral Philosophy from the Perspective of Organic Philosophy:A Study Based on the Thought of Whitehead

“同情”与“有机”这两种观念的相伴出现不是偶然,而是由于它们都含有“多融合为一”的思维模式。在怀特海处,这种相似不仅使“同情”成为宇宙之有机性的表现,更使它被泛化地用于解说感受在身体内部的传导,以及相继发生的自我状态之间的同一关系。这意味着,同情的内涵在其有机宇宙论下触及到了个体存有的领域。由此,怀特海提供了一条思路,来摆脱休谟在人性中并置“同情”与“自利”导致的困境。即将自利和利他整合到“同情”之道德光谱的两端,并认为道德评判的标准不是同情存在与否,而是同情范围的大小。

The idea of sympathy and organism having been coupled together was not accidental,but due to the fact that both of them are premised upon"the many becoming one".In Whitehead's thought,this makes"sympathy"not only a typical embodiment of the organic principles of the universe,but also a way to explain both the transmission of feelings within one's body and one's identity among successive states of self.It leads to an extension of the connotation of sympathy to facilitate an understanding of individual existence.In this way,Whitehead provides a way out of the dilemma caused by Hume's juxtaposition of sympathy and self-interest in human nature,in that he regards self-interest and altruism as two poles of a moral spectrum composed by sympathy.It also holds that the standard of moral judgment is not the presence or absence of sympathy,but rather the scope of sympathy.