李昂小說《殺夫》中的倫理與人性關懷－以柏納德•威廉斯的“道德運氣”爲核心的詮釋

Li Ang's the Butcher's Wife and Its Ethical and Humanism Concerns.-A Interpretation Based on Bernard Williams' 'Moral Luck'

薛清江(Ching-Chiang Hsueh)

《漢學研究集刊》 7期 (2008/12) Pp. 197-222

https://doi.org/10.7045/YJCS.200812.0222

摘要

在台灣的女作家中，李昂無疑是相當具有指標性的人物之一。一來，她以台灣社會現狀爲書寫的題材，處理其中女性地位、性與道德的關連，極具爭議性；二來，李昂是最受國際矚目的台灣作家，其作品常被翻譯成多國語言，其重要性可見一斑。
本文主要從倫理學的角度來探討她的小說《殺夫》中的人性關懷。我們將以柏納德•威廉斯的「道德運氣」的觀點為核心來展開說明。威廉斯指出，長久以來就有一派哲學傳統將人生的目的視爲幸福，一種沈思平靜、自足的幸福。至於運氣？則是這種幸福的敵人，是一種不受自我所控制的道德狀態。他以康德的倫理學說爲例來說明，像這樣的倫理學說強調道德價值必須不受運氣所影響，道德價值必須是絕對的，不容許任何任意性。然而，道德價值真的這麽重要？我們的道德實踐真的能將運氣完全排除掉？一位受暴力脅迫、求助無門的女性會選擇殺夫，真的得揹負「不道德」的指控，還是可以從其它的角度來看待之？
本文欲指出，李昂《殺夫》中展現一種人性關懷，亦即，在道德困境之中，一個人該選擇什麼取決於個人對自己生活意義的把握與理解。換句話說，使生活或生命變得有意義的東西比起社會外在的道德義務準則要來得深刻，更能說明當事者當下的行動和抉擇。

關鍵字

李昂 ； 柏納德•威廉斯 ； 道德運氣 ； 殺夫 ； 人性關懷

並列摘要

Li Ang is undoubtedly one of the significant figures among the female writers in Taiwan. First of all, she is good at dealing with controversial issues, especially regarding to the women's social positions and the relation between sex and morality. Besides, Li Ang, whose works are often translated into different languages, is perhaps the most internationally famous Taiwanese writer, and this also proves the importance position that Li Ang takes.
This paper mainly explores the humanism concerns in her fiction, The Butcher's Wife, from the perspective of ethics, and I would develop my argument in terms of Bernard Williams' 'moral luck'. Williams points out that one of the philosophical tradition factions insists the target of life is pursing deep, calm, and self-sufficient happiness, but luck, on the contrary, is the enemy of happiness because it is considered as an uncontrollable moral force. He adopts Kant's theory of ethics to emphasize that the value of morality can by no means being influenced or even determined by luck. Moral values are absolute, rather than arbitrary. However, are moral values as important as we suppose? Could moral practices actually get rid of luck? Under the pressure of domestic violence, a woman, who chooses to kill her husband, is doomed to be accused of the burden of ＜||＞immorality＜||＞? Or can we examine it from other possible perspectives?
In this paper, I would like to argue that Li Ang's The Butcher's Wife reveals a sense of humanism concerns. That is to say, in the moral predicament, an individual’s choices largely depend on how he/she understand the meaning of life for him/herself. In other words, compared with blindly following the extrinsic, fixed moral standards, it is much more urgent to change one's life and make it more meaningful, and I think that it also helps to explain the final action and choice for person concerned.