【作者】 程海萍；

【导师】 高奋；

【作者基本信息】 浙江大学 ， 外国语言文学， 2006， 硕士

【摘要】 一部富有“道德教育意义”的作品向来是所有严肃的艺术家们的毕生追求。但什么是“道德的”?什么是“不道德的”、“邪恶的”?哲学家们向来对善恶的标准争论不休。亨利·詹姆斯是十九世纪末、二十世纪初的一位多产的美国作家,长期旅居欧洲,他用文学特有的方式,详尽描述了生活和艺术,生活态度和生活经验,经验和知识之间的关系,指出它们之间不仅相互影响、相互促进,而且共同促成了个体道德判断的成熟和自我的构成。《一位女士的画像》是亨利·詹姆斯创作中期的一部杰作。本文将以这部作品为研究对象,从伦理学批评的角度探索詹姆斯的道德观,以及他对道德和经验之间关系的理解。詹姆斯在小说中讽刺了对道德规训的教条化理解以及由此产生的错误的判断,瓦解了理论化的道德教条,并在他的文本世界中表明了这样的道德态度:只有通过生活和感受,才能获得引领我们到达至福生活的智慧,艺术作品道德与否远非正误或善恶的判断。一部好的、具有道德教育意义的作品应该是我们经验生活的延伸,同时也应唤起并鼓励我们对生活的好奇和乐趣的探索。亨利·詹姆斯用文学的方式阐释了当代社会的道德困境,让我们对“道德”有了全新的理解。西方近代以来,人们将道德观、伦理学理解为限制人们做事情的规条,而不是把它视为思考生活的基础,因而使人性处处遭受困扰。人们渴望从伦理学中获得一种通往幸福生活的向导,一种赋予生活以意义的见识。我们对道德的理解只能从经验中去获得。道德不是对我们行为的一系列禁令,而是一种生活态度,它的最终目标是使我们拥有充实快乐的生活和生活的真谛。 本论文分为四个部分来论述。第一部分回顾和介绍了亨利·詹姆斯的研究现状以及《一位女士的画像》的创作背景,阐述了本论文研究视角的可行性和意义。 论文第二部分列举了历史上重要哲学家们对道德的观点以及詹姆斯对道德的思考。柏拉图、康德、以及功利主义者都把道德的标准视为我们行为的准则。这些标准或源于上帝、圣经的旨意或源于父母亲的教导,服从还是违抗这些旨意或教导则是衡量道德尺度的标准。康德伦理学从先天原则出发制定道德的法则和体系,不关心人们的行为将被引至何方,只关注是什么引导着人们的行为。而功利主义是一种目的论伦理学,其评判行为是否道德,只看它是否达到了一定的效果。上述以原则或责任为基础来确定行为的正当与错误的理论,是依据聚焦于行更多还原

【Abstract】 A morally instructive art has been the pursuit of almost all of serious artists. But what is morally good? Or what is morally evil? Philosophers have been debating the criteria ever since the appearance of art. Henry James, a prolific novelist of the 20th century, has interpreted the complex question in his literary works. He makes an elaborate connection between art and life, openness and experience, experience and knowledge, suggesting that these forces continually interanimate each other as they play their roles in an individual’s gradual understanding of self, world and moral judgment. This thesis will study The Portrait of a Lady from the ethical perspective and.explore James’s attitude toward morality and experience. By mocking the failed judgments and dogmatic moral principles, James deconstructs the theoretic moral dogmas and presents a kind of moral phenomenon in his textual world, in which we feel, understand, and become wise and moral. By interpreting the moral dilemma in this literary way, we are informed that what people expect from the ethics is the guide of the right way of living and the insights that confer significance on the life. The morality of art goes beyond the mere judgment of right and wrong, or good and evil. A morally good novel, which is extension of our experiential life, is the one that arouses and encourages our great curiosity about the exploration of life. There is no fixed criterion for the question of morality in art and life. What can be of moral interest is discovered in the experience and in our devotion to life itself. Morality is, instead of a set of prohibitions of our behavior, an attitude toward living which would guarantee our blissful life and acquisition of truth in life.This thesis is divided into four parts: The first part is a critical review of Henry James and the creation background of The Portrait of a Lady. Based on the criticism and specific context, I find the validity of my ethical perspective from which I am to explore James’s increased understanding of complexity and variety of social life and his moral philosophy and illustrate his understanding of morality and experience in the fictional world and the social life as well.The second part of this thesis explores the understanding of morality by HenryJames and other philosophers in the history. The criteria for morality are prescribed as obligations according to Plato, Kant and the utilitarian. The source of obligations or duties to others might be stated as God, or a holy book, or parental instruction. Obeying or defying the prescriptions is the measure when making moral judgments. These behavioral theories prescribe the quality of morality by focusing on the goodness or evil specific actions or responsibilities, but ignoring the executors and agents who possess their different intentions and comply with their principles of "morality." The new science of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species (1859) called seriously into question the reliability of the biblical account of creation and therefore shook the very foundations of religious faith. The whole question of the importance of "authority", including the authority of traditional moral principles, cried out for reexamination and redefinition. Henry James, by putting emphasis on experience and devotion to life, ridicules the dogmatic understanding and invalidity of the traditional moral principles. James deconstructs the theoretic moral dogmas and presents a kind of moral phenomenon in his textual world by making an elaborate connection between art and life, openness and experience, experience and knowledge, suggesting that these forces continually interanimate each other as they play their role in an individual’s developing understanding of self, world and moral sense. In James’s opinions, morality and the moralism of art go beyond the mere judgment of right or wrong, good or evil. It evokes our great curiosity about morality and sympathy and provides attitudes towards a blissful life.The third part of this argument is James’s reflection on morality in The Portrait of a Lady, which focuses on the experience and growth of the heroine, Isabel. Isabel is a socially innocent girl of many theories. Mrs. Touchett, Isabel’s aunt, offers to take her to Europe, to which Isabel eagerly agrees. She wants to see what will become of her in the old world. She lives and acts in accordance, with her textual knowledge and moral prescriptions. Out of her theoretic consideration of lofty ideals, she refused both the proposals of her native suitor, a capable proprietor of well-known cotton-mills in Massachusetts and an aristocratic lord in England, which startled her aunt and otherpeople. With a sum of money she inherited from Mr. Touchett, she fell in the trap of fortune-hunters. Her dogmatic ideals and traditional moral prescriptions are challenged in the complexity of social life. Saturated in the experience of her tragic marriage life, she gradually acquires a new understanding of freedom and independence, of conventional morality, and finally wins the practical wisdom about life and morality.I conclude the thesis in part four by reiterating the importance of proper understanding of morality and hoping that more of James’s works will deserve serious consideration from the ethical point in furtherance of James’s moral philosophy as a whole.更多还原