The theorists of "Western Marxism" have not left us with systematic and unique ethics consistent with their philosophical views, but it is an indisputable fact that they are widely involved in the field of ethics. Moreover, many of their ethical views had a great influence in the 20th century, and even influenced the course of human history in a certain sense. When people sort out the achievements in ethics in the 20 th century, they can't get around it anyway.
Among the various ethical viewpoints of western Marxist theorists, the most prominent ones are Fromm, Marcuse and Reich's views on love and sex, namely Fromm's ethics of love, Marcuse's ethics of love and Reich's ethics of sexual desire. Here, we will mainly comment on these ethical views.
First, Fromm's "Love Ethics"
Nbsp fromm studied love and founded "Love Ethics". He touted his "love ethics" as knowledge that human beings must master. People are most interested in his Love Ethics, which is also widely spread in the following three aspects:
First of all, he elaborated on what love really is.
He asked people such a question: Is love an art? If so, then you must have some knowledge and make some efforts to get love. Perhaps, love is just a pleasant feeling, and it is only a matter of chance to experience this feeling. Who is lucky enough to "fall in"? He himself replied that today, most people agree with the latter statement, while he himself is based on the former statement. He insists that love is an art, and his famous saying is: "Love is an art." [ 1](P 1)
Because he thinks love is an art, he thinks love needs to be learned. He complained that people prayed and longed for love, but put almost everything else above love, success, fame, money and power-people spent all their energy on learning how to achieve these goals instead of delving into the knowledge of love. He said: "We don't need to learn how to give love, which leads to the fallacy of this hypothesis, that is, we can't tell' falling in love' from' loving for a long time'" (1) (P4), and "any theory about love must start with a theory about people and their existence" [1](P8).
He thinks that the important feature of love is initiative. When we love someone, we are actively and constantly caring about the person we love, not just being with the person we love. He said: "Love means going deep into others, and the combination achieved by going deep has calmed my thirst for knowledge", "Love is action and the embodiment of human ability" [1](PP24-25), "Love is the only way to learn" [1](PP35-36). I give love, I show myself, I blend in with others, and I find myself and myself. In his view, since the important feature of love is initiative, love cannot be replaced by others, and love must be experienced by oneself. He said: "Love is a purely personal experience. No matter who it is, you can only experience it yourself. " [ 1](PP 122- 123)
He pointed out that love is to enthusiastically affirm the essence of others, actively establish relationships with others, and combine with each other on the basis of maintaining independence and integrity. Although love breaks down the wall that separates people and makes people blend harmoniously, love still makes people become themselves and stand on its integrity. He said, "Love is there."
While maintaining the separation and integrity of self, be one with people or things other than yourself. ”[2](PP 166- 167)
He believes that love is an end in itself, not a means. He said: "The only importance of love lies in itself", "Love is the self-expression of human beings and the way to give full play to human strength" [3](PP 143- 144). He distinguished naive love from mature love and thought that only mature love was true love. He said: "The principle of childlike love is:' Because I am loved, I love'; The principle of mature love is:' Because I love, I am loved', and the love proposition of naive love is:' Because I need you, I love you'; Mature love thinks:' Because I love you, I need you'. [1] (pp45-46) From here, he further draws the conclusion that mature love, that is, true love, is first of all giving. He put forward such a famous proposition: "Love is essentially giving, not getting. "[ 1](P25)
In his view, loving someone is actually love for human nature. He also pointed out that only through love can people understand others and the whole world. He said: "People understand the world spiritually and emotionally through love and reason." [2](P 165) He specifically explained that man's rational power enables him to grasp the essence of things through dynamic contact with objects, and "the power of man's love enables him to break the wall separating him from others and understand others" [2](P 165).
Second, his analysis of all kinds of love.
On brotherly love. Fromm is a pan-lover. He advocates loving everything in the world. In his view, if a person only loves a specific object and is indifferent to others, then his love is false, and it is only an attachment born of * * *, or an inflated egoism. He said: "To love one person sincerely means to love all people, the world and life." [1](P53) He believes that brotherly love expresses the universality of this love. He said: "all kinds of love originated from the most primitive love, that is, brotherly love." [1] (p53) Brotherly love means that people realize that they should be responsible for everyone.
Analysis of sex. He thinks that sex is often selfish, so he opposes attributing such a wide range of love only to sex. He thinks that sex is true love only when it is combined with love. He said: "Pleasant sexual enjoyment is rooted in richness and freedom, and it is a creative expression of sex and emotion." [4](P244) Love between men and women is meaningful only if it transcends sex and becomes a kind of love. He also pointed out that people often fail to see an important factor of sex, that is, will. Loving someone is not only a strong feeling, but also a decision, a judgment and a commitment. "If love is just a feeling, loving each other forever can only be empty talk" [1](P64). Analysis of maternal love. He regards maternal love as a model of human true love. He emphasized that maternal love is unconditional, and the loved one should not pay any price, as long as it is her child. In his view, the value of maternal love lies in that it does not desire to be integrated with the loved one, and it can tolerate being separated from the loved one. Motherly love is kindness, "Love is willing to accept separation and can continue to pour love after separation" [1](P60). It is precisely because of the altruism and selflessness of maternal love that people recognize it as the highest type of love and the most precious emotional bond. But he also explained that, however, it can be said that the mother's love for the baby has not yet reflected maternal love. True maternal love is contained in the mother's concern for mature and independent children. He compared maternal love with sex, and pointed out that the essence of maternal love is the mother's concern for the child's growth, that is, she expects him to be completely independent, which is the essential difference between maternal love and sex. He said: "In sex, lovers become one, but in maternal love, the two sides split into two" [1](P59), "Sex begins with separation and finally becomes one; Motherly love begins with unity and ends with separation "[2](P282).
Analysis of fatherly love. He emphasized that fatherly love is related to social and economic development, "fatherly love is conditional" [1](P48), and the principle of fatherly love is: "Because you have met my expectations, because you have a sense of responsibility, because you are like me, so I love you." [1] (P48) Mother is nature, land and ocean, but father does not have these characteristics. However, although father does not represent nature, he represents the other pole of human existence, that is, the world of thought, science and technology, law and order, discipline, experience and adventure. In his view, a mature and truly caring person should have both maternal love consciousness and fatherly love consciousness. Although these two kinds of love seem to conflict with each other, he said: "If there is only a sense of fatherly love, people will become stiff and inhuman;" If there is only maternal consciousness, people will lose their judgment. " [ 1](P5 1)
An analysis of the love of faith. In his view, God in mature faith and love is no longer an external force. People inject the principles of love and justice into their hearts, so that they can only express God in poetic language and symbols. He said: "The love of faith cannot be separated from the love of parents." [1] (PP 91-92) If you are addicted to the blood love of your mother, family and nation, and if you always rely on your father or other authorities with clear rewards and punishments, it is impossible for people to develop mature love of faith. He said: "The nature of believing in love depends on the proportion of paternal and maternal components in religion." [1](P76) In terms of fatherhood in religion, we should love God as much as we love our father: if we believe our father is just and strict, we will choose me as his beloved son; The maternal aspect of religion requires us to love God like a tolerant mother.
Third, his exposition on how to love.
Fromm regards love as an art, and he thinks that love, as an artistic practice, must have the same requirements as other artistic practices. The first is to receive some training. You can never be love guru just because you are happy for a while. The second is to be single-minded, not as fickle as a fashionable lifestyle. "People who love each other should be single-minded, persistent and learn to be close, but they should not be unconventional" [1] (PP16-165438); The third is to be patient. If you want to achieve even a little success on the road of love, you can't do without patience. The fourth is to go all out. If you don't regard love as a vital thing, you can't learn well, and at most you will stay at the amateur level.
In addition to the above requirements, he also pointed out that there are several elements that must be kept in mind. First of all, pay attention. "Love is that we take the initiative to care about the life and growth of the people we love. Without such care, there would be no love "[1] (pp30-31); Second, responsibility. "The real responsibility is an absolutely voluntary behavior, and it is my positive' response' to the demands of others" [1] (PP 31-32); Third, respect, "respect can only stand on the basis of freedom" (pages 32-33), and respect is meaningless. I want my lover to develop in his own way, not to serve my interests; Finally, knowledge. As an integral part of love, knowledge does not mean superficial general knowledge. It goes deep into the core and touches the inside story. "Care and responsibility without knowledge guidance are blind, and knowledge without care and encouragement is empty" [1](P33). His conclusion is: "Care, responsibility, respect and knowledge are the common elements of all types of love." [ 1](PP30-3 1)
These are the most striking places in Fromm's love ethics. People usually associate Fromm's Ethics of Love with Feuerbach's Religion of Love. They think he wants to spread the holy water of love, like Feuerbach, to reach the state of brotherhood all over the world, and even call him "contemporary Feuerbach", and criticize Fromm by quoting Engels' famous saying of criticizing Feuerbach: In this way, the last revolutionary point in his philosophy disappears, leaving only an old tune: Love each other! Regardless of gender, regardless of rank. .
Reference example:
Light and shadow produce beautiful flowers.
A coin has two sides; Roses have beautiful petals, but they also have s