全球语境下的王国维悲剧理论

王国维是首位融入全球悲剧话语的中国学者，其美学视角主要源于19世纪德国的唯意志论。虽然在细节阐述上稍有出入，但他对悲剧的价值、功用、文类特征等重大问题的看法与叔本华基本一致。首先，王国维遵循叔本华的悲剧成因三分法，把艺术评论的焦点转向道德上普普通通的人群。其次，他反对“诗的正义”，认为这有悖于众生皆苦的人生真谛。再次，他把苦中有乐的特殊审美体验纳入“壮美”范畴，对应于叔本华提出的“崇高”概念。最后，王国维和叔本华把人间苦难都归咎于盲目扩张、永不满足的生存意志，这一审美立场虽然不分青红皂白，但在客观上仍然对社会权贵过度贪婪起到批判作用。这表明，提倡“出世”或“退让”在特殊的语境下不失为一种积极的道德存在。

Wang Guowei was the first Chinese scholar to substantially participate in the global discourse on tragedy and his main theorical source is the voluntarist philosophy of the 19th century Germany. Despite their minor differences in exposition, Wang Guowei and Schopenhauer agree on many important issues such as the value, function and generic features of tragedy. Firstly, both Wang Guowei and Schopenhauer emphasize what they call the third kind of tragedy which results from everyday interpersonal conflicts. Secondly, Wang Guowei is opposed to the practice of “poetic justice”, viewing it as contradictory to the real nature of life. Thirdly, Wang Guowei classifies tragic pleasure as belonging to the category of the sublime even though the terminology he uses is slightly different from that of Schopenhauer. Finally, both Wang Guowei and Schopenhauer attribute all human suffering to the blind and insatiable Will and as such, their theories do not sufficiently differentiate between good and bad. Nevertheless, their philosophical attitude of saying no to life can be read as a positive moral alternative to blatant egoism that can be found in all historical periods of mankind.