自我的科技 03

Technologies of the Self 自我的科技 03

Michel Foucault 傅柯

Summary 結語

In traditional political life, oral culture was largely dominant, and therefore rhetoric was important. But the development of the administrative structures and the bureaucracy of the imperial period increased the amount and role of writing in the political sphere. In Plato’s writings, dialogue gave way to the literary pseudo-dialogue. But by the Hellenistic age, writing prevailed, and real dialectic passed to correspondence. Taking care of oneself became linked to a constant writing activity. The self is something to write about, a theme or object (subject) of writing activity. That is not a modern trait born of the Reformation or of romanticism; it is one of the most ancient Western traditions. It was well established and deeply rooted when Augustine started writing his Confessions.

在傳統的政治生活，言談的文化非常佔優勢，因此雄辯術非常重要。但是帝國時期行政結構跟官僚的發展，增加了寫作在政治圈的數量跟份量。在柏拉圖的作品裡，對話被文學的偽對話所取代。但是在希臘時代以前，寫作盛行，真正的雄辯由信件進行。照顧自己跟不斷的寫作活動密不可分。自我是要寫作出來，是寫作活動的主題或客體（或主體）。這不是誕生於宗教改革或浪漫時期，而是西方傳統古已有之。在奧古斯丁開始寫懺悔錄時，這種風氣早行之有年，根深柢固。

The new concern with self involved a new experience of self. The new form of the experience of the self is to be seen in the first and second century when introspection becomes more and more detailed. A relation developed between writing and vigilance. Attention was paid to nuances of life, mood, and reading, and the experience of oneself was intensified and widened by virtue of this act of writing. A whole field of experience opened which earlier was absent.

對於自我新的關懷牽涉到自我新的經驗。這種自我新的經驗形式在以後的第一及第二世紀甚為顯著，當內省的內容越來越詳細。寫作與自我惕厲彼此相關。注意力集中於生活的細微末節、心情、跟閱讀。憑藉這個寫作的活動，自我的經驗被強調跟擴展。整個經驗的領域於焉展開，這是早期所未曾有的。

One can compare Cicero to the later Seneca or Marcu Aurelius. We see, for example, Seneca’s and Marcus’s meticulous concern with the details of daily life, with the movements of the spirit, with self-analysis. Everything in the imperial period is present in Marcus Aurelius’s letter of 144-45 A.D. to Fronto:

我們可比較西塞祿跟晚期的西尼卡或馬苦士。例如，西尼卡跟馬苦士鉅細糜餘地關懷到日常生活細節、精神的活動及自我分析。帝國時期的每件事出現在紀元前144到45年馬苦士給佛朗圖的信件。

Hail, my sweetest of masters.

敬愛的閣下，

We are well. I slept somewhat late owing to my slight cold, which seems now to have subsided. So from five A.M. till 9, I spent the time partly reading some of Cato’s Agriculture, partly in writing not quite such wretched stuff, by heavens, as yesterday. Then, after paying my respects to my father, I relieved my throat, I will not say by gargling – though the word gargarisso is, I believe, found in Novius and elsewhere – but by swallowing honey water as far as the gullet and ejecting it again. After easing my throat I went off to my father and attended him at a sacrifice. Then we went to luncheon. What do you think we ate? A wee bit of bread, though I saw others devouring beans, onions, and herrings full of roe. We then worked hard at grape-gathering, and had a good sweat, and were merry and, as the poet says, “still left some clusters hanging high as gleanings of the vintage.” After six-o’clock we came home.

我身體安好。雖然我有曾略受風寒而晏起，風寒現已消退。所以，從早上五點到九點，我花部份時間閱讀凱圖的農業，部份時間寫作如昨天所述鬱悶之事，宏觀來看，卻也不足掛懷。然後，跟父親請安後，我清爽喉嚨，不是以藥漱口，雖然我確信在諾比思及其它地方都曾提到此漱洗藥物，而是吞嚥蜂蜜到食道，再傾吐出來。使喉嚨舒爽後，我前去參見父親，盡人子之道服侍他。然後我們前去午餐？你猜我們吃些什麼？我只吃一小片麵包，雖然我看到他人狼吞虎嚥豆子、洋蔥、輫魚跟纍纍魚卵。

I did but little work and that to no purpose. Then I had a long chat with my little mother as she sat on the bed. My talk was this: “What do you think my Fronto is now doing?” Then she: “And what do you think my Gratia is doing?” Then : “And what do you think our little sparrow, the wee Gratia, is doing?” Whilst we were chattering in this way and disputing which of us loved the one or other of you two the better, the gong sounded, an intimation that my father had gone to his bath. So we had supper after we had bathed in the oil-press room; I do not mean bathed in the oil-press room, but when we had bathed, had supper there, and we enjoyed hearing the yokels chaffing one another. After coming back, before I turn over and snore, I get my task done and give my dearest of masters an account of the day’s doings, and if I could miss him more, I would not grudge wasting away a little more. Farewell, my Fronto, wherever you are, most honeysweet, my love, my delight. How is it between you and me? I love you and you are away.

我工作進展不大，而且無所為而為。然後，我去跟我的母親長談，她坐在床上。我的談話是「你認為佛朗圖現在正在做什麼？」她的問話是「你認為我的格拉達正在做什麼？」然後是「你認為我的小麻雀，小格拉達正在做什麼？」我們一邊言不及義地漫談，爭辯我們誰更加愛你們，銅鑼聲傳來訊息，父親已經去澡堂。我們也跟到澡堂淋浴後，就在那裡吃晚餐。我並不是指在澡堂浸泡，但是我們淋浴後，在那裡吃晚餐，我們很高興聽到那些小市民互相戲弄玩笑。回來後，在就寢酣睡之前，我先做完工作，跟我敬愛的師長描述我一天的行程。我對你思念之情倍增，實在不願再蹉跎時光。珍重再見，佛朗圖，無論你身在何處，你都是我的摯愛，我的愉悅。你我是怎麼一回事？我愛你，而你卻不在。

This letter presents a description of everyday life. All the details of taking care of oneself are here, all the unimportant things he has done. Cicero tells only important things, but in Aurelius’s letter these details are important because they are you – what you thought, what you felt.

這封信描寫日常生活。所有的照顧自己的細節一覽無餘，所有他所做的細微末節。西塞祿只談重要大事，但是在馬苦士的信件，這些細微末節很重要，因為那就是你，你的所思所感

The relation between the body and the soul is interesting too. For the Stoics, the body was not so important, but Marcus Aurelius speaks of himself, his health, what he has eaten, his sore throat. This is quite characteristic of the ambiguity about the body in this cultivation of the self. Theoretically, the culture is soul-orientated, but all the concerns of the body take on a huge importance. In Pliny and Seneca there is great hypochondria. They retreat to the countryside. They have intellectual activities but rural activities as well. They eat and engage in the activity of peasants. The importance of the rural retreat in this letter is that nature helps put one in contact with oneself.

身體跟靈魂的關係也是很有趣。對於禁欲學派，身體沒那麼重要，但是馬苦士提到自己、他的健康、他所吃的、他的喉嚨痛。在自我培養方面，這是很曖昧的特性。理論上，文化是以靈魂為導向，但是所有身體的關懷卻具有重大意義。普里尼跟西尼卡都提到憂鬱症。他們隱退到鄉間。他們有知性的活動，也有鄉間的活動。他們從事農夫的活動。在這封信中，鄉間隱退的重要性是，大自然使我們跟自己保持連繫。

There is also a love relationship with Aurelius and Fronto, one between a twenty-four and a forty-year old man. Ars erotica is the theme of discussion. Homosexual love was important in this period and carried over into Christian monasticism.

馬苦士跟佛朗圖也有相愛的關係，二十四歲跟四十歲老年的相愛關係。歡愉的藝術是討論的主題。同性戀的愛在這個時期很重要，一直延伸到基督教的一神論。

Finally, in the last lines, there is an allusion to the examination of conscience at the end of the day. Aurelius goes to bed and looks in the notebook to see what he was going to do and how it corresponds to what he did. The letter is the transcription of that examination of conscience. It stresses what you did, not what you thought. That is the difference between practice in the Hellenistic and imperial periods and later monastic practice. In Seneca too there are only deeds, not thoughts. But it does prefigure Christian confession.

最後，在最後幾行，提到一天結束時良心的省察。馬苦士就寢時，先翻看剳記，看看他將要做什麼及如何言行一致。這封信描述了良心的省察，強調你的行為，未必是你的思想。那就是希臘及帝國時期，跟後來的修道院做法不同的地方。西尼卡也是只談行為，不談思想。但是他確實也預言到後來基督教的告解懺罪模式。

This genre of epistles shows a side apart from the philosophy of the era. The examination of conscience begins with this letter writing. Diary writing comes later. It dates from the Christian Era and focuses on the notion of the struggle of the soul.

信件的技藝除了那時期的哲學外，另有一面。良心的省察開始於這種信件寫作。日記隨之而來。他起源於基督教時期，專注於靈魂奮鬥的觀念。

III

In my discussion of Plato’s Alcibiades, I have isolated three major themes: first, the relation between care for oneself and care for the political life; second, the relation between taking care of the self and defective education; and third, the relation between taking care of oneself and knowing oneself. Whereas we saw in the Alcibiades the close relation between “Take care of yourself” and “Know yourself”, taking care of yourself eventually became absorbed into knowing yourself.

在討論柏拉圖的阿希比底思時，我曾將三個主要的主題孤立出來：首先、關懷自己跟關懷政治生活之間的關係。第二、照顧自己跟教育的不足的關係。第三、照顧自己跟了解自己的關係。雖然我們在阿西比底思中看到「照顧自己」跟「了解自己」有密切關係，照顧自己最後被合併到了解自己。

We can see three themes in Plato, also in the Hellenistic period, and four to five centuries later in Seneca, Plutarch, Epicetus, and the like. If the problems are the same, the solutions and themes are quite different and, in some cases, the opposite of the Platonic meanings.

我們在柏拉圖，在希臘時期，四到五世紀後，在西尼卡，在普拉達奇，在伊匹西達斯，看到這三個主題。即使問題都一樣，主題的解答卻大不相同。有些狀況，甚至是柏拉圖意義的相反。

First, to be concerned with self in the Hellenistic and Roman periods is not exclusively a preparation for political life. Care of the self has become a universal principle. One must leave politics to take better care of the self.

首先，在希臘跟羅馬時期，關懷自己並不是政治生涯的準備。自我的關懷是普及的原則。我們必須離開政治，才較能照顧好自己。

Second, the concern with oneself is not just obligatory for young people concerned with their education; it is a way of living for everybody throughout their lives.

第二、關懷自己對於關懷自身教育的年輕人，不僅僅是義務，也是每一個人終其一生的生活方式。

Third, even if self-knowledge plays an important role in taking care of oneself, it involves other relationships as well.

第三、雖然在照顧自己時，了解自己舉足輕重，但是還牽涉到其它關係。

I want to discuss briefly the first two points: the universality of the care of the self independent of political life, and the care of the self throughout one’s life.

我要簡短地討論前兩點：獨立於政治之外，照顧自己，是普及的做法，以及人要終其一生照顧自己。

1. A medical model was substituted for Plato’s pedagogical model. The care of the self isn’t another kind of pedagogy; it has to become permanent medical care. Permanent medical care is one of the central features of the care of the self. One must become the doctor of oneself.

其一、醫療模式取代柏拉圖。照顧自己不是另外一種教導；它必須成為永久的醫療照顧。永久的醫療照顧是照顧自己的重要特性。我們必須自己成為醫生。

2. Since we have to take care throughout, the objective is no longer to get prepared for adult, or for another life, but to get prepared for a certain complete achievement of life. This achievement is complete at the moment just prior to death – of old age as completion – is an inversion of the traditional Greek values on youth.

其二、因為我們必須終身照顧，目標就不再是為成年，或為另一種生活而準備，而是為某種生活的圓融成就做準備。這種成就在彌留之前的時刻達到圓融。或在老年時刻完滿，顛覆了希臘時代重視青壯的傳統。

3. Lastly, we have the various practices to which cultivation of self has given rise and the relation of self knowledge to these.

其三、最後，我們有培養自我產生的各種法門，以及了解自我跟這些法門的關係。

In Alcibiades, the soul had a mirror relation to itself, which relates to the concept of memory and justifies dialogue as a method of discovering truth in the soul. But, from the time of Plato to the Hellenistic age, the relationship between care of the self and knowledge of the self changed. We may note two perspectives.

在阿西比底思，靈魂跟自己有鏡相關係，這牽涉到記憶的觀念，並證明對話是一種在靈魂中發現實真理的方法。但是，從柏拉圖時代到希臘時代，照顧自己跟了解自己的關係改變了。有兩個觀點值得注意。

In the philosophical movements of Stoicism in the imperial period there is a different conception of truth and memory, and another method of examining the self. First, we see the disappearance of dialogue and the increasing importance of a new pedagogical relationship – a new pedagogical game where the master/teacher speaks and doesn’t ask questions and the disciple doesn’t answer but must listen and keep silent. A culture of silence becomes more and more important. In Pythagorean culture, disciples kept silent for five years as a pedagogical rule. They didn’t ask questions or speak up during the lesson, but they developed the art of listening. This is the positive condition for acquiring truth. The tradition is picked up during the imperial period, where we see the beginning of the culture of silence and the art of listening rather than the cultivation of dialogue as in Plato

在帝國時期禁欲學派的哲學運動，真理和記憶的觀念並不相同，省察自我另有方法。首先，我們看到對話的消失及新的教導關係逐漸重要。這個新的教導遊戲是：老師光教不問，學生並不回答，但必需沉默聆聽。沉默的氣氛變得越來越重要。在畢達哥拉斯的氛圍，學生保持沉默五年，是教導的常規。他們在上課時並不問題或發表意見，而是展示聆聽的藝術。這對於獲得真理，是正面的條件。在帝國時期，這套傳統被延續下來。在此，我們看到沉默氣氛及聆聽藝術的開端，而不是如同在柏拉圖中是培養對話。

To learn the art of listening, we have to read Plutarch’s treatise on the art of listening to lectures (Peri tou akouein). At the beginning of this treatise, Plutarch says that, following schooling, we have to learn to listen to logos throughout our adult life. The art of listening is crucial so you can tell what is true and what is dissimulation, what is rhetorical truth and what is falsehood in the discourse of the rhetoricans. Listening is linked to the fact that you’re not under the control of the masters but you must listen to logos. You keep silent at the lecture. You think about it afterward. This is the art of listening to the voice of the master and the voice of reason in yourself.

為了學習聆聽的藝術，我們必須閱讀普魯達奇對聆聽演說的論文。在這篇論文的開始，普魯達奇說，學校畢業後，我們必須在我們的成年生涯學習聆聽理性。聆聽的藝術對於你是重要的，這樣你才能辨別何者為真實、何者為虛偽、何者是真理在侃侃而談、何者是辯士在天花亂墜。聆聽必須注意的事實是，你並非悉聽老師的掌控，你要聆聽的是理性。你在聽演說時保持沉默。後來你再仔細回想。這就是聆聽老師的聲音跟你內在理性的聲音，你所必須具備的聆聽藝術。

The advice may seem banal, but I think it’s important. In his treatise On the Contemplative Life, Philo of Alexandria describes banquets of silence, not debauched banquets with wine, boys, revelry, and dialogue. There is instead a teacher who gives a monologue on the interpretation of the Bible and a very precise indication of the way people must listen (De Vita Cont. 77). For example, they must always assume the same posture when listening. The morphology of this notion is an interesting theme in monasticism and pedagogy henceforth.

這勸告或許是老生常談，但是我認為很重要。在論沉思的生活時，亞歷山大、菲洛描述沉默的宴饗，不是酒席、男色、狂歡，及對話的宴饗。代替的，有一位老師單獨發表對聖經的詮釋，並且很明確地指明人們必須聆聽的方式。例如，他們聆聽時，必須總是擺出相同的姿態。這個觀念的形態對於以後修道院靈修教導，是個有趣的主題。

In Plato the themes of contemplation of self and care of self are related dialectically through dialogue. Now in the imperial period we have themes of, on one side, the obligation of listening to truth and, on the other side, of looking and listening to the self for the truth within. The difference between the one era and the other is one of the great signs of the disappearance of the dialectical structure.

在柏拉圖，沉思自我跟照顧自己的主題，透過對話而產生論辯的關係。現在在帝國時期，我們一方面有聆聽真理的義務的主題，另一方面，又有聆聽自己，以尋求內在真理的主題。前一時代跟後一時代的不同，從論辯結構的消失的明顯跡象可以看出。

What was an examination of conscience in this culture, and how does one look at oneself? For the Pythagoreans, the examination of conscience had to do with purification. Since sleep was related to death as a kind of encounter with the gods, you had to purify yourself before going to sleep. Remembering the dead was an exercise for the memory. But in the Hellenistic and the early imperial periods, you see this practice acquitting new values and signification. There are several relevant texts: Seneca’s De Ira, and De Tranquilitate and the beginning of Marcus Aurelius’s fourth book of Meditations.

在這樣的文化中，什麼是良心的省察？我們如何看待我們自己？對於畢達哥拉斯而言，良心的省察必須跟淨化有關。因為睡眠跟死亡有關，作為一種跟神祇的相會，你必須在睡眠之前淨化你自己。緬懷死去的人是記憶的一種活動。但是在希臘及早期帝國時期，你看到這種做法得到新的價值跟意義。有好幾個相關的文本：西尼卡的冥想集及馬苦士的沉思錄第四冊。

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