2015年10月14日 星期三

What Freedom Is?

Freedom is man’s capacity to take a hand in his own development. It is our capacity to mold ourselves. Freedom is the other side of consciousness of self; if we were not able to aware of ourselves, we would be pushed along by instinct or the automatic march of history, like bees or mastodons…

Consciousness of self gives us the power to stand outside the rigid chain of stimulus and response, to pause, and by this pause to throw some weight on either side, to cast some decision about what the response will be…

As the person gains more consciousness of self, his range of choice and his freedom proportionately increase. Freedom is cumulative; one choice made with an element of freedom makes greater freedom possible for the next choice. Each exercise of freedom enlarges the circumference of the circle of one’s self…

Freedom is shown in how we relate to the deterministic realities of life…Freedom is involved when we accept the realities not by blind necessity but by choice. This means that the acceptance of limitations need not all be a “giving up,” but can and should be a constructive act of freedom; and it may well be that such a choice will have more creative results for the person than if he had not had to struggle against any limitation whatever. The man who is devoted to freedom does not waste time fighting reality; instead as Kierkegaard remarked, he “extols reality.”

Whether one has tuberculosis or is a slave like the Roman philosopher Epictetus or a prisoner condemned to death, he can still in his freedom choose how he will relate to these facts…Freedom is most dramatically illustrated in the ‘heroic’ actions, like Socrates’ decision to drink the hemlock rather than compromise; but even more significant is the undramatic, steady day-to-day exercise of freedom on the part of any person developing toward psychological and spiritual integration in a distraught society like our own.

Thus freedom is not just the matter of saying “” or “” to a specific decision: it is the power to mold and create ourselves. Freedom is the capacity, to use Nietzsche’s phrase, “to become what we truly are.”

Rollo May, “Man’s Search for Himself”, (New York: Dell Publishing, 1953), p.160-173.

Ideal Society

We simply propose that our social and economic ideal be that society which gives the maximum opportunity for each person in it to realize himself, to develop and use his potentialities and to labor as a human being of dignity giving to and receiving from his fellow men. The good society is, thus, the one which gives the greatest freedom to its people – freedom defined not negatively and defensively, but positively, as the opportunity to realize ever greater human values. It follows that collectivism, as in fascism and communism, is the denial of these values, and must be opposed at all costs. But we shall successfully overcome them only as we are devoted to positive ideals which are better, chiefly the building of society based on a genuine respect for persons and their freedom.


Rollo May, “Man’s Search for Himself”, (New York: Dell Publishing, 1953), p.160.

2015年3月18日 星期三

Global Nonviolent Action Database

About the Database
Why this database?
  1. To provide free access to information about hundreds of cases of nonviolent action for learning and for citizen action. We research campaigns that have reached a point of completion. The cases are drawn from all continents and most countries. People are shown struggling for human rights, economic justice, democracy, national and ethnic identity, environmental sustainability, and peace. To learn more about searching by the issues people are struggling about, go to Issue Clusters.
  2. To make available comparative information that will support researchers and writers to develop strategic knowledge and theory. Each case is presented in two formats: the database file (with searchable fields) and the narrative describing the struggle as an unfolding story. The database supports searches by country, by issue, by action method used, and even by year -- there is a case from ancient Egypt, 12th century BCE! Some cases are part of a “wave” of campaigns, such as the “Arab Awakening” of 2011; by pressing each “wave” button one can find cases.
See the other sections under the About menu for more on the coding, uses, limitations, and building of the Global Nonviolent Action Database.
- George Lakey 12/08/2011
A project of Swarthmore College, including Peace and Conflict Studies, the Peace Collection, and the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility. 
Copyright Swarthmore College.

Source: nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu

2015年1月5日 星期一

我的反抗


當一個人發覺人生是荒謬的時候,代表自我對生命的質疑及否定,這時候就可能出現「我的反抗」。為什麼荒謬會帶來反抗呢?因為所謂荒謬就是指不合理,當你認定一件事情是不合理的,就代表你要反抗它。當你說這是荒謬的,意即你知道什麼是不荒謬的,所以荒謬是一種特別的方式,對荒謬的反面加以肯定。假如,一個人活得好好的,吃飯時忽然噎死了。這太荒謬了,也就是說,你知道什麼是不荒謬的:一個人吃飯時應該很愉快,這才是不荒謬的。你對任何一樣東西的否定,都代表你知道正面是什麼,因此雖然表面上是否定,事實上則是一種肯定。我們現在擴大來談,當你知道人生之中什麼是荒謬的,就代表你知道什麼是不荒謬的。


由此可知,荒謬在本質上是一種反抗,反抗既定的命運,反抗所有造成人與人疏離的東西。所以,反抗就變成一種具有形而上學意義的反抗,也就是說,你的反抗是反抗這種生命的無常變化、缺乏基礎,所以這個反抗就使你要跟生命基礎建立關係,這基礎未必是神或其他類似之物,只是代表你的生命需要基礎。

何以一定要反抗?為什麼不讓人生就如此荒謬下去呢?因為你的反抗是對人生的一種基本肯定,你對人生有這種要求但又遭到阻礙,這個過程本身是荒謬的。卡繆說:「我反抗,所以我們存在。」這句話將問題拉到人的實際生活上,譬如:我自己生活在一個正常的社會,但有少數人在社會裡沒有得到好的待遇,他們的尊嚴受到委屈,因此我要反抗。我的反抗並非為了自己,只要看到任何人受到不公平的待遇,就像是自己也受到不公平的待遇,所以我的反抗是為了沒有任何一個人應該受委屈,因此要說:「我反抗,所以我們存在。」


從「我」到「我們」之間如何建立關係呢?卡繆提到的反抗思想,主要是在第二次世界大戰參加地下抗德運動之後的時期。一九五一年他出版《反抗者》這本書,那時他已經參加過抗德運動,瞭解到他並非為了自己而反抗德軍,也就是說,並非「我反抗,所以我存在。」這跟某些政治上的異議分子整天為反抗而反抗大不相同,因為他們是「我反抗,所以我存在。」,因此哪一天他不反抗,就失去了自我存在的價值了。但是卡繆不一樣,他說:「我反抗,所以我們存在。」這不是為了自己,而是為我們這個群體,不容許任何一個人的尊嚴受到踐踏,這就顯示一種人道主義的情操。

傅佩榮:《西方哲學心靈-3卷:從蘇格拉底到卡繆》(新北巿:立緒文化,2014),頁253-283

無權者的權力 (第四章)



後極權制生命之道兩者的目的之間有一鴻溝:生的本質乃在於多元及多樣的發展、獨特性格情操的建立和我組織管理亦即充分滿足人類發展的自由而後極權制度卻要人們服從、一守規條。生命的特點正是不斷地尋求創新,沒有特定的發展形態,而後極權制度卻設法使生命被約束在最受控的範圍之內。這反映出這制度的主要特點是內聚的,它完全和毫無保留地向着自運轉,影響範圍則不斷向四周漫延。這制度僅僅為人民提供最少的服務,為的確保人們繼續服役於這制度在這以外,即任何讓人們超越他們既定角色的行徑,都被視對制度本身的攻擊。這無疑是正確的:每個越規之舉,確是實實在在地否定這制度。因此我們可以說,後極權制度的核心目標,並驟眼看來當黨派能否維持執掌權力,而在於一種自我維繫的社會現象是否服膺於更高的東西------能使這制度運作、從和發條式的行為(automatism)這制度並不在乎個人在權力金字塔中高低對其自身的意義人只不過如燃料和部件,在於能否維持這發條式制度的運作。因此,個人權力望亦只有在與發條式制度方向一致時,才會被允許。



意識形態以借為材料,這制度和個人之間築造了一座橋樑,跨越制度與生命之道兩者目的之間的鴻溝。它假制度的東西是從維繫生命一樣的東西而來的。它用表象去建構仿如實的世界。



後極權制度穿上用意識形態織造的手套,去個人生活的每一舉止由是在這樣的社會下生活,無處不是充滿虛偽謊言:官僚政府叫作人民擁戴的政府;工人階級正正在工人階級的名義之下被奴役(而不是被解放);個人(權益)的喪失說成是人的最終解放;剝奪人民取得信息的權利被稱為保障人民獲得資訊權勢欺壓人民說成是人民領導的政府;濫權卻說是法治;壓制文化自由就說是文化發展,擴張權勢倒說成是壓迫的百姓給予援助沒有言論自由反說是最自由(時刻)選舉民主;禁獨立思考就說是最科學的世界觀;軍事侵略變成了對手足的支援。由於這政受制於自己的謊言,就不得不把一切是非黑白都顛倒過來。它竄改了過去、扭曲現在、又虛構將它捏造統計數;它假裝不存在一個權力過盛且毫無操守可言的警察機;它裝作尊重人權,從不迫害任何人;它假裝什麼都不怕;它假裝從弄虛作假。



人們毋須(從心底)相信這一切令人分不清真假對錯的東西,但他們必須裝成篤信不疑的樣子,至少對一切保持緘默、忍,又或隨波逐流。這樣,每個人都只能在謊言中求。人們不必去接受謊言,只要他們受在謊言下以此度日,這就夠了。就是這樣,人們確認了這個制度,满足了運作這個制度的要求,製造了這個制度,也就成為這個制度的一分子 (陳汝達 重譯)


參考:

哈維爾著(吴小洲、張婭曾、劉康譯)<無權者的權力>(第四章),載於崔衛平等譯:《哈維爾文集 生活在真實中》(北京:外文出版社,2013),頁48