自我與他者的關聯是倫理學論述的現實基礎。亞里斯多德在《尼各馬可倫理學》中以「朋友作為另一個自我」，且「友誼是從如何待己推廣到如何待人」，如此「自愛」與「愛他人」在德行倫理學裡並無衝突。但另一方面，西方契約論傳統以「理性利己」為人類最優先的行為動機，而道德行為不過是為了達成幸福的一種手段而已。利己與利他的先後之爭最終體現為「亞當斯密難題」：即《國富論》以「利己」為經濟學的人性基礎；但《道德情感論》則視「利他」為道德哲學的人性根源。經濟人與道德人的人性基礎是否相互抵觸？「利他」是否即等同正確的倫理抉擇？本文的主旨，在於考察人我關係這既古典又當代的西方倫理議題：由佛洛姆對利己與利他問題的社會心理沿革考察，延伸至當代現象學反思道德哲學的人性論預設，再由列維納斯對倫理現象的沉思，對照於古典東方儒學經典的智慧，以釐清倫理現象的本質。相較於西方主體哲學的倫理觀點，論語中所謂的「仁」揭示了一種更原初的現象：除卻「利己／利他」的二元相對，自我與他者間猶有其它可能的關聯形式，或許孔子的「愛人」之「仁」更能展現倫理現象的起源。 The relationship between the Self and other is the realistic basis of ethics discourse. Aristotle advocated “friends as another self”in “Nicomachean Ethics”, and “he is related to his friend as to himself”, so there is no conflict between “self-love”and “love of others”in Aristotle's virtue ethics. But on the other hand, the Western tradition of contract theory takes “rationality and self-interest”as the highest priority of human behavior, and moral behavior is but a means to achieve happiness. The conflict between selfishness and altruism is finally reflected in the “Adam Smith problem”: that is, “The Wealth of Nations”takes “self-interest”as the humanity basis of economics; but “The Theory of Moral Sentiments” regards “altruism”as the root of human nature of moral philosophy, so does human economic life and ethical actions necessarily contradict each other? Is “altruism”equivalent to a correct ethical choice? The main purpose of this article is to examine the classical and contemporary ethical issues of self and the other, a classical and contemporary Western ethical issue: from Fromm's investigation of the social psychological evolution of self-interest and altruism, to the phenomenological reflection on the human nature presupposition of contemporary moral philosophy, and then from Levinas' reflection on Western ethics in comparison with the wisdom of classical Eastern Confucianism, to clarify the nature of ethical phenomena. Compared with the ethical point of view of the Western philosophy of subject, the so-called “benevolence”in the Analects reveals a more primitive phenomenon: apart from the duality of “self-interest/altruism”, there are other possible forms of connection between the self and the other, perhaps the “benevolence”of Confucius' “loving people”can better show the origin of the ethical phenomenon.
