超越道德情感的邊界：對亞當・斯密的反思

Abstract

蘇格蘭啟蒙運動哲學家亞當斯密，以其政治經濟學名著《國富論》裡「看不見的手」此一隱喻著稱，而被認為是基於自由主義、資本主義立場推行自由貿易的旗手，後世也多將其置於理性自利的框架下討論。然而，我認為，亞當斯密理論的核心，其實是一套連接人性之中感性和理性官能的一元認識論，因此其實可以將斯密置於美學的脈絡中理解。\n\n斯密倫理學著作《道德情感論》中的核心概念「不偏私的旁觀者」，所指的是個人在觀看他人的行動和反應後，不但形成想像、也生成同情共感，是而能在心裡形成一套行事準則，而社會道德也就在互動經驗之中得到建構。觀看與被觀看揭示了觀者與被觀者之間、以及兩者對於整個道德系統的承認——這是亞當斯密的視覺哲學。因此，我認為斯密的書寫高度美感化，不僅在內涵上經由描繪身體感官而帶出事實，既反目的論、反對效益論、也反對功能論，同時在方法上也運用類比手法來進行說明。而當亞當斯密將道德系統的邊界劃定為現時的政治實體，也就顯示為對國民一概承認。在安全／自由的張力之間，承認更偏向安全，故本研究也將帶出一種和既往理解截然不同的亞當斯密。\n\n也是經由斯密的實然描繪，我們得以認識到應然的理想觀看，也就是規範性之所在，恰在於我們要能夠真正看見別人。在資本主義萌芽的典範轉移之際，亞當斯密的超驗現象學，也讓我們得以反思當代的美感政治：認識他人處境的不可能性，導致民主／民粹的劃分，而政治極化更在視覺文化、社群媒體的互動之中加劇——我們看、卻從未真正看見別人。

Scottish Enlightenment philosopher Adam Smith, who is renowned for his use of the metaphor “the invisible hand” in Wealth of Nations, is known as a liberalist and capitalist who stands for free trade. Hence, Smith is often brought up in the category of reason and self-interest. However, I propose that the core of his theories is epistemology connecting sensations and judgements and that he should be read in the context of aesthetics.\n\nThrough introducing the impartial spectator in his writing of The Theory of Moral Sentiments, Smith illustrates how one’s imaginations form upon one’s seeing of others’ actions and one would thus sympathise with them. Through the process of seeing, imagining and sympathising, general rules of actions are formed within one’s conscience, and social morals are thus built through our experiences of interacting. This is, as Smith himself puts it, the philosophy of vision. I propose, therefore, that Smith’s writings are highly aesthetical as he not only illustrates the facts (rather than the purpose or utility and so on) of human life through focusing on bodily senses and could therefore be interpreted as against teleology, against utilitarianism and against functionalism, but he also uses analogies to make his point, such as showing how a human society could be like an animal body or a watch. Also, Smith sets the boundaries of moral systems to be the current states, and it demonstrates how a person acknowledges, if not recognises, their fellow-citizens. Since acknowledging is linked to security rather than to liberty, my research suggests a different approach to Smith.\n\nIt is also through Smith’s descriptive writings, we could therefore get to know that normativity lies within that we “ideally see”, namely we see other people as they are. Smith’s transcendental phenomenology proposed in times of the rise of capitalism could also lead us to reflect on the politics of the aesthetic of our contemporary world: that we don’t understand others’ situations is what leads to the differentiating of democracy and populism; political polarisation has been growing through our interactions on social media as we never truly see each other.