洛克论自由与欲望的悬置

Locke on Liberty and Suspension of Desire

洛克在《人类理解论》中讨论自由问题时提出悬置理论,但他并未详释悬置的产生机制,因此,关乎该理论及其与自由观之关系的问题便变得备受争议。根据洛克的教育思想,激发悬置的动因可被解释为对德性的欲望。理想情况下,一个在童年确立起心灵自制的人,只要在成长中建立、维持和加固其心灵对德性的喜好,便能在成年后轻松产生该欲望,并利用它激发悬置当下的欲望以服从自身理性发出的命令的意愿,由此实现自由。

Locke proposed theory of suspension when discussing the problem of liberty in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding.For he did not explain the production mechanism of suspension explicitly,questions concerning this theory and the relation between it and view of liberty become controversial.According to his view of education,the motive of suspension can be explained as the desire for virtue.Ideally,a person who has established spiritual self-control in childhood,and established,maintained,and strengthened his spiritual preference for virtue in his growth,can easily generate this desire in adulthood,and use it to stimulate the will to suspend the present desire to obey the commands of his own reason,and thus achieve freedom.