耶鲁大学开放课程—哲学：死亡.26.Open.Yale.course—Philosophy：Deat

上次我们讲到自杀的道德问题Lasttimeweturnedtoquestionsaboutthemoralityofsuicide,我提到了两个andIstartedwithtwoargumentsthat我称为草率随性的观点Icalledquickanddirtyarguments.我认为公平地讲Isupposeitwouldhavebeenfairertosay它们其实都是神学观点thattheywerereallytheologicalarguments,或者说是某种程度上采用了神学前提的ortheyweremoralargumentsthatused,inpart,道德观点theologicalpremises.我觉得至少这种Isuggestedthat,atleastifwelookatthem草率随意的观点intheirquickanddirtyversions,不足以说明问题theywereinadequate,如果我们想仔细研究andifwe'regoingtomakeamorecarefulargument自杀的道德问题aboutthemoralityofsuicide,我们需要一些更系统化的weneedtoturntoamoresystematicview道德理论aboutthecontentsofmorality.我们需要根据Weneedtolookatsuicide基本的道德准则来评判自杀intermsofthebasicmoralprinciples.这不是我们有机会仔细探讨的事情Now,that'snotsomethingwe'vegotthechancetodoindetail,但我们至少能讲清楚butIthinkwecanatleastsayenough一些基本的道德准则aboutacoupleofbasicapproachestothecontentsofmorality,或是基本的道德尺度orthebasicmoralrules,让我们有个概念知道togetthebeginningsofanunderstandingof更仔细地研究自杀的道德问题whatmightemergeaboutthemoralityofsuicide会得到什么ifweweretodothatmorecarefully.先不谈自杀问题So,holdingoffonsuicideforthemoment,我们先问一下let'saskourselves,是什么决定了一个行为whatisitthatmakesanaction是否符合道德morallyacceptableormorallyforbidden?毋庸置疑Thisis,unsurprisingly,不同道德理论对此存在争议somethingthatdifferentmoraltheoriesdisagreeabout.但至少有一个要素或特征是所有Butthere'satleastonefactororonefeaturethatall,或者说大部分道德理论所接受的oralmostall,moraltheoriesagreeabout.那就是行为造成的后果很关键Andthatisthattheconsequencesofyouractionmatter.我们或许可以或许不可以Thatis,wemightormightnot只把行为的后果当作道德评判的标准thinkthatconsequencesaretheonlythingsthataremorallyrelevant来考察行为是否道德whenwethinkaboutthemoralityofyouraction,但行为造成的后果butsurelyitisonethingthat'smorallyrelevant--肯定是其中一个标准whataretheconsequencesofyouractiongoingtobe.因此下面我们从后果的角度So,let'sthinkaboutthemoralityofsuicide来思考自杀的道德问题withaneyetowardsconsequences,因为我们讨论的是道德问题bearinginmindthatsincewe'retalkingaboutamoralpointofview所以我们要考虑weneedtotakeintoaccount行为的后果对所有人造成的影响theconsequencesastheyaffecteverybody.那么受自杀行为影响最大的人Now,thepersonwho,ofcourse,ismostaffectedbysuicideis,当然就是自杀者自己ofcourse,thepersonwhoiskillingthemselves.似乎我们的第一印象很清楚Andatfirstglanceitmightseemprettyclear自杀对其本人是不好的thattheconsequencesofsuicidearebadforthatperson.毕竟这个人之前活着而现在死了Afterall,thepersonwasaliveandnowthey'redead,我们通常将死亡造成的结果看做坏的andwenormallywouldtakedeathtobeabadresult.假如我告诉你IfIweretotellyou,墙上有个开关Oh,here'saswitchonthewall.只要你按动开关Ifyouweretofliptheswitch,一千个活着的人athousandpeoplewhowouldotherwisebealive就会立即死亡wouldendupdead,一般情况下你一定会同意youwouldnormallytakethattobeaprettycompellingargument不能按开关againstflippingtheswitch.为什么呢因为结果是坏的Why?Becausetheresultwouldbebad.为什么呢因为一千个人会死去Why?Becauseathousandpeoplewouldendupdead.也许一个人死亡的坏处Well,onepersonendingupdead并不比一千个人死亡的坏处更大isn'tasbadasathousandpeopleendingupdead,但即便如此butforallthat我们不是仍然可以说结果是坏的吗shouldn'twestillsayit'sabadconsequence?由此我们不是可以说Andasaresultofthat,shouldn'twesaythat无论结果在道德评判中的howeverfarappealtoconsequencesgoes作用有多大intermsofgivingusourmoraltheory,我们难道不应认为从结果来看don'twehavetosayintermsofconsequences,或者说考虑到结果orwithregardtoconsequences,自杀是不道德的suicideisimmoral?但先别急Butnotsoquick!尽管死亡通常是坏事Eventhoughit'struethatnormallydeathisabadthing,但并非总是坏事it'snotalwaysabadthing.我们在讨论死亡的主要坏处时Thisisthesortofthingthatwe'velearnedbythinkingabout学习过这个问题whatdoesthebadnessofdeathconsistin.平常情况下Typicalcasesareonesinwhich死亡剥夺了人们theperson'sdyingrobsthemofachunkoflife本来会有的幸福生活thatwould'vebeengoodforthemoverall,因此死亡对他们来说是坏事andbecauseofthatdyingthenisbadforthem.但在我们后来的例子里Butinthekindsofcasesthatwe'rethinkingabout,有理由自杀的那些例子里caseswheresuicidewouldberationallyacceptable,我们现在讨论那些自杀是否符合道德andwe'renowaskingwhetherornotit'smorallyacceptable--在那些例子里至少在那些inthosesortsofcases,atleastthekindofparadigmexamples我们关注的例子里thatwe'vebeenfocusedon,那些人死了会更好thepersonisbetteroffdead.他们生不如死They'rebetteroffdead,生活给予他们的meaningthatwhatlifenowholdsoutforthem--也许并非一直是坏的althoughperhapsnotnegativethroughandthrough--但总的来说是坏的isnegativeonbalance.总和是负数{\c他们最好不要再活下去they'renotbetteroffcontinuingtolive.最好选择死亡They'rebetteroffdying.也就是说Andthatmeans,ofcourse,死亡对他们来说不是坏事而是好事thatdyingisn'tbadforthem,butrathergoodforthem,因此他们死亡造成的结果不是坏的andsotheirdeathisnotabadconsequence,而是好的butratheragoodconsequence.假设你愿意相信有这种情况Providedthatyou'repreparedtoacceptthepossibilityofcases某些人早死比晚死inwhichsomebodywouldbebetteroffiftheirlifeendedsooner会更好ratherthanlater,我们便可得出结论we'reledtotheconclusionthat--从道德上看fromthemoralpointofview只关注于结果时asfarasfocusingonconsequencesgoes--如果一个人自杀实际上theconsequencesmightactuallybegoodratherthanbad结果可能是好的而不是坏的ifthepersonweretokillthemselves.或许他们能够Theywillfreethemselves,let'ssuppose,从痛苦中得到解脱ofthesufferingtheywouldotherwisehavetoundergo.那么第一印象在说Well,that's--firstglancesaid,从结果看自杀是错的consequencessayssuicide'swrong.第二个印象在说从结果看Secondglancesays,consequencessays,自杀在某些情况下是对的asleastincertaincircumstances,suicide'sright.当然第三印象便是Ofcourse,thirdglancesuggests,我们不能只关注自杀对wecan'tjustfocusonconsequencesfortheperson自杀者本人的影响whoiscontemplatingsuicide.因为从道德的角度出发Becausefromthepointofviewofmorality应该考虑对所有人造成的影响wehavetolookattheconsequencesforeverybody.哪些人会受到Whoelsemightgetaffected这个人自杀的影响bythedeathorsuicideoftheperson?我们最先想到的Well,themostobviou