《紅樓夢評論》中王國維對叔本華學說之接受與疏

Abstract

Wang Kuo-wei’s〈A Critique of Dream of the Red Chamber〉set out to use German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer’s ascetic vision to analyze and evaluate the Chinese classic《Dream of the Red Chamber》. Wang intended to use Chinese classical literature to reveal the essence of Schopenhauer's original insights. However, Wang did not, in fact, fully agree with Schopenhauer's conclusions. This paper examined the limits of Wang’s acceptance, as well as his divergence from Schopenhauer. Schopenhauer's comment that “life is full of suffering” found great favor with Wang. He quoted 〈Lao zi〉and 〈Zhuang zi〉to show the similarities of Chinese philosophy with this gloomy viewpoint. Regarding the relationship between men and women, Wang focused on the harm rather than the benefits of this eternal relationship. Schopenhauer insisted on its vital importance to propagate the race. Because Schopenhauer's view could not sustain Wang’s, the latter deliberately omitted it from his paper, and devised his own proposition. Schopenhauer investigated the question of “Liberation(해탈)” through Buddhist and Christian theology. Wang, on the other hand, was not religious. He could not accept Schopenhauer's position, and, furthermore, doubted people could even gain true “Liberation”. Wang aspired to elucidate Schopenhauer for the traditional Chinese literati. His paper, however, displayed certain misunderstandings of some of Schopenhauer's ideas. I attributed these misinterpretations to cultural variances between Chinese and Western literature.