《莊子‧內篇》的情感論

Abstract

「情感」是人生命的重要特質，無論是人與人、人與物之間，凡有互動與關係者，必定會牽涉到情感；甚至，人的情感對於自身的信念、觀點，亦有著重要的影響。情感議題屢見於《莊子》，究竟《莊子》對其的態度為何，因其而衍生的人我關係課題又該如何處理，以及此議題在《莊子》思想中之重要性如何，學界已有所討論；不過，似乎仍有進一步討論的空間，特別是情感與倫理的關係。因此，本文希望集中《莊子‧內篇》做整體的闡釋，以釐析情感在《莊子》的地位。 本文由《莊子‧齊物論》「吾喪我」為出發意識，探究當人們達至《莊子》之理想境界「吾」時應該如何處理自身的情感。文章分有五個部分：第一章為緒論，說明本文書寫的動機、研究方法與範圍，以及文獻回顧；第二部分以降開始爬梳《莊子‧內篇》中關於「情感」的材料，從三個面向切入析論《莊子‧內篇》中的情感脈絡，此三面向分別為：自然情感、負面情感，以及情感與理想性，並據以為本文第二章、第三章與第四章主要的討論內容；第五章為結論，總結全文並點出文章侷限與未來展望。 本文最終釐清《莊子‧內篇》欲主張的理想情感與人自然而有的自然情感並非是截斷的，《莊子》的理想人格仍舊擁有人生而能有的情感與特質，卻在經過深刻自覺、體悟個體的侷限與負面情感的由來後，遂能達至理想境界。《莊子》所主張的理想情感與倫理向度，應是透過「忘情」而展現出的真實情感，並在關係中展現開放與同理；不僅如此，情感在轉化中更扮演了決定性的角色，可以說，情感便是轉化的動力。 本文期望藉由這樣的探詢，能從《莊子‧內篇》中找到安頓人的情感的妥切方式，並為人如何對待關係、處於世間覓得指引。

The activity of emotions is an important characteristic of human life. Emotions always play an important role in the interaction among people, between people and other creatures. Emotions even impact the way how people think and evaluate. Emotional issues are always found in the Zhuangzi and several important dimensions are worthy to explore. For example, what is the attitude toward emotions in the Zhuangzi and how does it respond to the ethical problems in the text when they are related to the emotions? Furthermore, what kind of role do the emotions play in the ethics in the Zhuangzi? These issues have been often discussed in recent research; however, we still need more discussions about them, especially about the relationship between emotion and ethics in the Zhuangzi. Therefore, this paper will focus on the exploring to the emotions in the inner chapters of the Zhuangzi to disclose the philosophical implications of the emotions in the text. This paper is based on the issue of 'Wu Sang Wo' 吾喪我 in the chapter 'Discussion of the Equality of Things' to explore what the characteristics of those people’s emotions are when their spiritual cultivation has been achieved the ideal state. There are five chapters in the thesis. The first chapter is an introduction, which illustrates the motivation, research methods and scope of this paper, as well as the review of the literature. Except the first chapter and the last chapter, which also summarizes the full thesis and points out the limitations and future prospects of this paper, the other three chapters include three parts to explore the meaning of the emotions in the inner chapters of the Zhuangzi. They are “natural emotions,” “negative emotions” and “ideal emotions.” This paper will argue it in the inner chapters of the Zhuangzi that the ideal emotion of the ideal person, like True Man真人, isn’t separated from the natural emotions. The ideal personality of the Zhuangzi still possesses the emotions and traits that people have; however, ideal person can reach the ideal state after profound self-reflection, understanding the limitations of the individual and the origin of negative emotions. The ideal emotion and ethics advocated by the Zhuangzi should be the true emotions revealed through 'forgetfulness' and can show the openness and empathy to the other. Moreover, emotion plays a decisive role in the transformation and we can say that emotion is the driving force of spiritual transformation. From the inquiry to the meaning of the emotions in the inner chapters of the Zhuangzi, this paper hopes to find out the ideal way to settle the human emotion and to interact with the other properly in the world.