啱先睇咗劍橋大學哲學家Raymond Geuss嘅半自傳式新書《Not thinking like a liberal》
今年6月新鮮出爐
本書好短,簡單分享幾句
之前都有寫過佢嘅書
https://lih.kg/twHQjqX
Geuss出名嘅地方係佢一直都批評英美主流嘅政治哲學,特別係自由主義(各位都可能聽過相關嘅哲學家,例如JS Mill、John Rawls等等)。佢喺呢本書就講明唔係想做哲學論證幫自己嘅立場辯護,而係從自己嘅成長期間嘅求學經驗出發,講下自己嘅思想受邊啲老師影響,最尾係想描述究竟係點嘅人生經歷,塑造到佢迴異於主流嘅思想,帶出點先可能有所謂嘅對社會嘅另一種想像乃至變革
基本上嚟講
Geuss中學時候讀嘅係間天主教寄宿學校,啲老師好多都係喺蘇聯鎮壓匈牙利布達佩斯起義之後流亡嘅神父。呢班神父固然係好虔誠,對自由主義頗有保留;但Geuss亦都強調學校嘅校風有佢寬容嘅一面,並唔係話唔支持自由主義就自動等於支持威權,啲老師亦都會同學生討論啲深入嘅哲學問題。Geuss覺得就係呢種氛圍,令到佢「先天」對自由主義無感。
然後Geuss上大學之後嘅老師基本上都係批判或者無視自由主義嘅人嚟
佢自己讀博士後研究嘅時候又係睇啲批判理論啊法蘭克福學派嘅書
簡單嚟講,就係佢成個人同自由主義八字不夾
成本書經常會兜返去一個point,就係自我係複雜、難以理解,並唔係話好似自由主義所講噉「自己一定最清楚自己嘅諗法」
我個人感覺係
如果你本身有睇開Geuss嘅書,噉呢本書睇嚟了解下佢嘅學術淵源係ok嘅,但係唔好期望有啲乜嘢好有系統嘅論述,正如佢自己都話:「The intention, then, is descriptive rather than specifically argumentative.」
但係如果你之前無接觸過佢啲著作的話,直接睇呢本就可能覺得平平無奇。
然後本書又係Geuss典型嘅做法:批評完之後,理直氣壯噉樣唔畀任何建議。當然佢噉做有佢嘅堅持同道理,不過anyway我唔慣
同埋Geuss身處西方國家,佢嘅目標係喺已經有一定程度自由民主嘅狀態諗點樣超越佢,然後我就係喺個追求自由主義體制接連挫敗嘅城市睇呢本書,感覺有啲距離,尤其是佢結尾有講一句「Our species is now committing suicide by destroying our natural environment. It seems impossible to imagine how catastrophe could be avoided without significant coercive measures directed against the major actors and institutions of our current economic system」我係唔知佢講嘅coercive係指按照民主程序制定嘅法律,定係某啲更具「強制力」嘅措施,但我係諗起之前有個民調講西方國家唔少人對全球暖化嘅危機感,大到覺得可以凌駕民主體制。
Geuss嗰種對自由主義有批判無建設嘅態度,總係會令我有呢啲聯想
最後copy一段我覺得幾有意思嘅段落:
「A further worry might be that the bi-ocular vision which I proposed earlier, or the lack of an explicit worldview or of some systematic kind of overarching hope for human improvement, might make commitment or action impossible. I don’t see why any of this should be the case. Even without hope, we still can, and should, act.
...
Sometimes in recent philosophic discussion this kind of action is subsumed under the category of “action from an identity”: that is, we are doing this, not because we think it will lead to anything at all, but because we are persons of this kind, or we wish to be persons of this kind.」