生命与伦理:齐美尔生命哲学基础上的个体法则

以其早年对货币经济下的个体处境及两种个体主义的思考为背景，晚年的齐美尔在生命哲学的基础上集中阐述了有关伦理准则的个体法则。西方的主导伦理思想视伦理为普遍法则对个体行动的约束，普遍法则的合法性建立在一种二元对立的、机械的、理性的、目的论的视角之上。个体法则却以作为应该的个体生命为源泉，打破了以康德为代表的西方伦理思想中的各种视角局限，同时回应了齐美尔早年有关货币经济、文化悲剧和个体主义的思考，提供了一种与功利主义、利己主义等不同的个体主义话语。

Life and Ethics: The Individual Law Based on Simmel's Life Philosophy

For a long time,the ethical significance of Simmel's life philosophy has not received much attention. However,ethical issues are one of the topics that Simmel had devoted his attention to throughout his life,and the individual law is Simmel's ultimate conclusion on ethical questions after he turned to life philosophy. This paper introduces the basic connotation and theoretical resources of the individual law,and its significance to the western dominant ethical thoughts and the modern day human conditions. Simmel wanted to find out the source of ethical choice for modern individuals in the money economy as well as a discourse of individualism that was conducive to the subjective culture development. His early research on the money economy and two types of individualism led him to a new form of individuality. In his view,“ought”“actuality”“art”“religion” and etc. are all categories of equal status and independence. We can apply any of these categories to our understanding of life and in so doing we are able to reach an independent world. When we look at individuality under the category of “ought” in an ethical sense,the individual life as “ought” becomes a law for the life as “actuality”,the individual law is thus formed. Simmel's idea of individual law arises from his long time dialogues with Kant,Schopenhauer,Nietzsche,and Goethe. He challenged the predominant Kant's universal law in the western ethical thoughts and was critical of the mechanical epistemology of science that led to the universal law. Simmel's thoughts represented a form of individualistic discourse that is different from utilitarianism,egoism or any other ideological trends in the West.