Chapter 11 One O Altruism

I remember the German philosopher Kant once said in "Critique of Practical Reason": "There are two things, the more we think about it, the more we feel awe, the starry sky in the sky and the moral law in our hearts." Awe, my understanding, is Because such a thing could exist, it is really unexpected.The moral law is a strangely coercive force as opposed to nature.It is natural to think about food when you are hungry; but Boyi Shuqi refused to eat, so he starved to death. The power to force him not to eat comes from the moral law.It is natural to think about clothes when the cold is cold; but the goat's horn mourns and looses clothes with friends, so that they freeze to death, and the power to force them not to wear also comes from the moral law.According to Song Confucianism's method of dividing heavenly principles and human desires into opposites, the moral law belongs to heavenly principles, and it should be opposed to human desires.Why is there a law of heaven?We analyze now that it is a kind of metaphysical belief, which is established by respecting morality in real life and hoping that respect is not only natural, but also justified, and used as a dream.But the morality from which it is derived is substantial, and it often manifests its power in the check of human desires.The main manifestation of this situation is to seek the satisfaction of desires, and when you find that it will affect others, you will restrain yourself so that others will not be affected.To put it another way, when self-interest and altruism cannot be coordinated, the moral law often requires reluctance and "altruism".why?

Such questions are generally not asked.This is the path taken by common sense, content with knowing altruism as a matter of course, without asking why.This was the case with early Confucianism.Confucius talked about standing in the world and advocated "benevolence" as the highest criterion of behavior.What is the meaning of ren?Say: "The benevolent loves others." This can be seen as a definition.The book also talks about how to do it. The positive aspect is "to build up others if you want to be established, and to achieve others if you want to achieve yourself"; the negative aspect is "do not do to others what you don't want yourself to do to yourself".As for why this is so, Confucius didn't ask, so naturally he didn't answer.Mencius seemed to want to go a step further and asked why he was here.The answer is: "Everyone has the heart of not being able to bear others." "Compassion is the heart of benevolence."Or use the saying at the beginning of "The Doctrine of the Mean": "The destiny is called nature, and the will is called Tao." The meaning is more clear.In any case, the analysis of why is outside the scope of philosophy, and the answer of deriving destiny seems insufficient.One is what exactly the destiny refers to and whether it exists. This is also a matter of metaphysical beliefs, and it is rare to prove it.The second is more serious. Even if there is, why do you have to obey?Because self-interest is even more natural, why shouldn't it be obedient?In short, taking this path to find a basis for altruism, the result is rarely satisfactory.

There is another way, which is to take a step further from "everyone has a heart that cannot bear others", such as Zhuangzi, who said: "Heaven and earth live side by side with me, and all things are one with me." One body." "The people are my compatriots, and things are my own." Because people are connected with each other, they cannot "can" and have compassion, and do not "be" have compassion.The question here is obviously whether all things in heaven and earth are one.More obviously, such a question is difficult to clarify.Being together can be understood as one; but people are indeed different, especially when interests conflict.In addition, Song Confucianism refers to "the benevolent", not everyone. It can be seen that this is still a kind of moral belief, and belief is rarely used as the backing of belief itself.

"Heaven's mandate is called nature", "the benevolent is one with heaven, earth and all things", it is from the aspect of "heaven" to find a basis for altruism.This road is difficult, so we have to start from the "human" side.People, throughout the ages, from east to west, from north to south, are innumerable.But one of them has a special status, that of "self".The French philosopher Descartes wanted to establish a philosophical system through doubts. After many twists and turns in his thinking, he finally admitted: "I think, therefore I am." This is the most real proof of oneself from the philosophical aspect.Toothache is not a disease, but it can kill you. Only you can feel this pain, and you know it best.It's pro-everything that justifies itself most in terms of common sense.Therefore, when we talk about life and society, we have to start from ourselves, or even center ourselves.This self is most prominently expressed as "perception": I perceive happiness, so I welcome it; I perceive suffering, so I don't welcome it.In ancient Greece, there was a school of so-called hedonism, which judged whether behaviors and measures were good or not, based on their own perception.Here it doesn't matter whether this way of handling can work or not, just say that even if it works, as a basis for altruism, it must not be done.Because of perception, only oneself is kind and true, as for others, it is deduced by the method of "being able to draw an analogy". Why should we take it into consideration?In short, if we take our own suffering and happiness as the criterion of behavior, we can only find the basis for self-interest, but not the basis for altruism.

When talking about heaven and people above, they all want to use "reason" to prove that altruism is a matter of course.There are so many difficulties because we have to reason where it is difficult to reason.In many questions about life, we often have to ask only reality, not reason.alive, and reluctant, why?have no idea.Anyway, it was already like this, so I had to walk along the road.The spirit of the school of hedonism also goes along the road, but takes life too simply, so the road is narrow and difficult to pass in some places.Let’s just talk about happiness, people sometimes, even often, will do it knowing that the result will be suffering.Life is complicated, but it can be summed up in one word.All activities and desires are generally "life".Life is the sum of various desires and actions, among which there is happiness, but not all of it is happiness.This is what people want.Is there any ultimate value?Like no, or don't know.But since he has been born, he is destined to be born smoothly.How can it be smooth?Obviously, only oneself must not realize.Since ancient times, in order to survive, our ancestors have formed the habit of relying on each other and helping each other.When others help me, it is selfish, and when I help others, it is altruistic.As far as I am concerned, helping others is more difficult than helping myself, but in order to survive, I have to do what I can.Difficult to do, is virtue, or Kant's moral law.Altruism, which is the essence of virtue, is just like this, starting from its utility, it ascends to the throne of moral law through sublimation.

The moral law must be obeyed, that is, try to obey it, and when the interests of others cannot be coordinated, one must restrain oneself and be more considerate of the other party.Doing this, what you want, to put it bluntly, is more likely to have a smooth life.If you think such an explanation is close to utilitarianism and not elegant, then it can be said that it is for the improvement of human character and spiritual civilization.The remaining question is: What is the appropriate scope of altruistic "he".Common sense seems to be limited to "human beings", as usual, talking about human rights, not bird rights and animal rights.In this case, eating roast duck is not a violation of the altruistic moral law.But the same common sense always condemns rather than praises unnecessary animal cruelty.Mencius has already said this kind of meaning, which is: "seeing his life can't bear to see his death, and hearing his voice can't bear to eat his meat." Also", rather than not eating.Buddhism has gone a long way, expanding the scope of altruism to "all sentient beings" and making killing the first great precept.How can it be considered appropriate?Obviously hard to tell.According to the method of Buddhism, we can't even let go of mosquitoes and fleas. If we go to the other end, we can't bear it strictly to people, and we can't do anything when we see swans and seals being killed.The way to compromise is to set a consistent principle in terms of reason, and to be able to be calm and calm in terms of action, which may be difficult.The only feasible way seems to be: not only value life, but also respect morality, discuss the matter as it happens, reluctantly do what is difficult, and unfortunately fail to do the best, and be content with the same.

Supplements one by one There is "existence", which is a great mystery; there is "life" in "existence", which is another great mystery. To understand life, we must first know what life is all about.But it's hard to say. For example, when we think about the question of where we come from and what we do, we will feel at a loss. "Doing" refers to the ultimate purpose, which, as the saying goes, only God knows.All we can know are some phenomena of life, or in other words, the general trend of life activities, which in a nutshell is to seek "life", or to seek "continuation of life".The first is the survival of the body; the eternal life of the body is not allowed by the laws of nature, so we seek to pass on the seed.Is there any supreme meaning in surviving, procreation, and continuation of life?Philosophers at all times and in all over the world have imagined many reasons, but these are all behind closed doors, and at best they are nothing more than self-comforting fantasies.

In discussing the way of life, it is advisable to pay less attention to fantasy and more attention to facts.The fact is that when we seek "life", we don't know what we want after life, or we don't want anything. Therefore, it is not wrong for us to say that "life" is our own. "Life" is the goal, how can we seek it?In addition to the activities of the body, it depends on external conditions.The external conditions are very different, but as far as ordinary creatures are concerned, the number does not necessarily need to be large.For example, vegetation requires only limited land, sunlight, water, and fertilizers.Fish and shrimp only need a limited pool of water.Human beings, the so-called spirits of all things, if they just want to "live", the external conditions they need may not be too complicated. For example, primitive people seem to have very poor conditions now, but as far as "live" is concerned, their wishes are still satisfied. .

But after all, human beings are different from ordinary creatures—not that they are particularly noble, but that because the physical activity ability, especially the mental activity ability, far exceeds that of ordinary creatures, they cannot be content with the minimum of being able to survive. That is to say, it is not only necessary to be "born", but also to be born beautifully, richly and more satisfyingly.A more satisfying life depends on various conditions. Generally speaking, it includes social, material, and spiritual aspects. We can collectively call it culture. Human beings are born in a society. Without an organized society and the proper arrangement of human relationships, it is difficult to obtain a good life, or even a minimum survival.This principle is easy to understand and need not be said.The same is true of material conditions. If they are not available, or poor and inferior, their lives will be greatly affected.This truth is easier to understand, and you don't need to say it.Attention should be paid to other conditions, without which life would not seem to be significantly affected, but with which life would be better and richer.Generally speaking, these conditions are more spiritual, and we can call them "supplements".

Supplementation occupies a very important position in human life, not only for a long time, but also pervasive.It was said in Shakespeare's plays that even a beggar has a few useless things on him.Useless, of course, is for simple survival; if there is really no other function, beggars will of course abandon it long ago.Supplementary use is another use other than the minimum needs of life. Do you think it is not important?Not quite. Clothing seems to be just for keeping warm, but red clothes, blue skirts, various patterns, various forms, competing for beauty, all pictures are for supplementary purposes.The same is true for the living room, which is enough to shelter from the wind and rain, but as long as the conditions permit, it is necessary to carve beams and painted buildings, Zhuhuqi windows, and artificial mountains, flowing water, flowers, trees, bamboo and stones around it.Another example is as small as daily chores, how to arrange the tables and chairs, how to trim the hair, shopping in the store, and the details of button hairpins, you also need to choose the color style.We are not afraid of this kind of thing, but call it an aesthetic point of view, or the beautification of life.

They have already been able to survive, and then seek convenience, wealth, beautification, etc. Why is this? An explanation can be called phenomenal, common sense.Human beings are born with desires, but they are only able to sustain life at a minimum, and they cannot satisfy their desires more fully and appropriately.To give the most simple example, when you are hungry and ask for food, it is not that you can't satisfy your hunger, but it can't satisfy your desire more fully and appropriately, so you go to ask for meat.External conditions seek convenience, wealth, and beautification, all of which aim to obtain more adequate and appropriate satisfaction. One kind of explanation, a deeper level, can be called essential and philosophical.Life is taken naturally, maybe as Lao Tzu said, "the heaven and the earth are not benevolent"?Likely, or not necessarily.But in any case, life is defined as "I", and "I" exists in the world for only a moment, which is an immutable fact.How to deal with it?If you have a broom at home, you can enjoy a lot of money, let alone "a lifetime"! Therefore, at least as far as ordinary people are concerned, they should make good use of it.The so-called good self-use, a general spirit, is to use human power to conquer nature, that is to say, although nature is indifferent, we must use human power to make up for it. The short is long, the thin is thick, the ugly is beautiful, and the humble Elegant (of course, within the scope allowed by the laws of nature), in order to live up to this "life", which requires many efforts.Labor, production, fulfilling responsibilities to people and society, these are what we conveniently call duty, social and foreign things, of course they are all important.But only these are not enough.This includes two situations: one is that the outside world is hard to get, and it is not available, and needs to be "represented" and "transformed"; the other is that although the income is not satisfied, it needs to be "supplemented" and "expanded". .This positively means that a spiritual realm is needed, which can be used by the mind to make life better, richer, and more satisfying. The above words may be a bit mysterious, we can change the way, speaking from the example.Some sciences, such as mathematics, astronomy, physics, etc., can make people wander in a state of "knowledge" if they are studied to a certain extent.Although this kind of feeling may not be regarded as the supreme "knowing heaven" as Spinoza said, it is an undeniable fact that it can enrich and expand the realm of life.Or it wasn't obvious enough.Even more obvious are the various forms of art.For example, painting, obviously, can lead people into a kind of environment.Looking at the map of thousands of miles of the Yangtze River in the Song Dynasty, people will feel like they have been through the Three Gorges.Looking at Miller's picture of picking ears, people will feel the simplicity and amiability of farmland production.Just as Zong Shaowen likes to lie down, almost everyone likes painting. The reason is that the creation of painting can expand the realm of life.The same is true for novels and plays, for example.Writing about heroes, writing about rivers and lakes, writing about rise and fall, and writing about separation and separation can all create a living realm. Reading it (or watching rehearsals) can often make people feel and breathe with the characters in the work. The realm of drama is also a kind of fugue.Another example is poetry, we read "The Yellow River is far above the white clouds, an isolated city and thousands of mountains are still in the mountains" is one kind of feeling, and it is another feeling to read "The fragrance of the stalks sells the green leaves, and the west wind worries about the green waves", which is also a kind of feeling. This kind of fugue, although compared with paintings, novels, etc., the realm of poetry seems a little ethereal.In addition, the same is true for sculpture, music, etc. The so-called appreciation is all about wandering in the environment of its creation. Of.This is the supplementary use of art (the admonitional use of reason is not discussed here).The above is about appreciation, but naturally you can go a step further and engage in creation by yourself.This is of course more difficult, but as far as its function is concerned, the principle is the same. There is a limit to life, and the way of life is hard to say.In any case, as one biologist puts it, it is always a pity that you are born only once.This is of course ego.If we are unable or unwilling to take the path of Buddhism and get rid of attachments, then it is best to follow the ordinary path, pay attention to supplementation and live a better, richer and more satisfying life.There was a lot of suffering in the past, but there is everything in the world, so we must work hard in time and make good use of it.