尼采與儒家倫理中「憤」的問題

The Question of Resentment in Nietzsche and Confucian Ethics

本文檢視中國與歐洲倫理思想對「憤」的體驗，尤其是早期儒家倫理中的「憤」與尼采對「憤」的系列討論。《論語》在闡釋認知與「憤」的議題時談到修身。相對於歐洲對認知與「憤」的討論，《論語》的編輯者已經意識到「憤」在特定社會條件下的普遍性，以及自我在內心之中及在與他者互動時與「憤」對抗的倫理需求。早期儒家倫理對「憤」有種種不同層面的理解。就倫理層面而言，克服在自我內心中以及對他者的「憤」是成為真正的模範或聖人的首要條件；相對而言，小人將自己侷限在利己的思維中。當代西方倫理理論通常假設克服「憤」的主要方法是對稱和平等。本文探討在《論語》中，以他者為優先的不對稱認知在克服「憤」時何以有其必要。為提升人性的仁，早期儒家倫理將具細微差別和現實的，「憤」的道德心理學，和將「憤」去除時所需要的，合乎道德的修身加以整合。仁的對象是他者，即便仁是因關心自我和修身而達到的。

I examine in this paper the experience of 'resentment' in Chinese and European ethical thinking, particularly in early Confucian ethics and in Nietzsche's genealogy of ressentiment. Self-cultivation is articulated in the Analects in light of issues of recognition and resentment. In contrast to European discourses of recognition and resentment, the compilers of the Analects recognized the pervasiveness of resentment under certain social conditions and the ethical demand to counter it both within oneself and in relation to others. In early Confucian ethics, resentment is understood in a variety of senses. Overcoming resentment in oneself and in others is a primary element of becoming a genuinely exemplary or noble person in the ethical sense; the ignoble person by contrast is fixated on his or her own limited and self-interested concerns. Whereas contemporary Western ethical theory typically assumes that symmetry and equality are the primary means of overcoming resentment, I examine how the asymmetrical recognition of the priority of the other appears necessary for overcoming resentment in the Analects. Early Confucian ethics integrates a nuanced and realistic moral psychology of resentment and the ethical self-cultivation necessary for dismantling it in promoting a condition of humane benevolence. Benevolence is oriented toward others even as it is achieved in the care of the self and self-cultivation.