by Elizebath
In a June Philosophy Symposium discussionof Nietzsche’s “On the Genealogy of Morality,” our mentor put forward thequestion of what morality meant to each of us. Some participants held thatmorality was like a limit of people’s behaviors that can serve to prevent peoplefrom doing bad things, such as murdering one another. This answer reallysurprised me, for my own opinion of the meaning of morality was very different.
My father greatly contributed to myunderstanding of personal morality. In my memory, he had never been absent fromhis work without asking for leave under any circumstances. The time when myfather came back from his 7-month training for the national military parade, hewent right back to work the next day, without a single day of rest. At the gate,he told me, “My girl, you should always remember that we’re doing what we aredoing now, whether it is working or studying, because we are the ones who choseit. We should always take charge of our own choices. So there is no reason forme to be away from my job since I am back now.” My father’s full enthusiasm forhis work influenced my belief in personal responsibility. Consequently, I hadalways regarded morality as an inner promotion for people to put efforts intopursuing what they think is important, and into being responsible to others.
But as I was quite surprised to hearmorality defined in the participants’ way, I was no longer that sure about myprevious understanding. Their explanation provided an entirely new perspective,making me hesitant about my previous firm belief.
Frustrated to question myself but eager tobetter understand my peers’ thinking, I started to imagine how the world wouldbe if filled with people whose senses of morality only serve as mere limits oftheir behaviors. I found that it would be an orderly world, for the advantage.But it might also be slightly negative because people would merely get rid ofcommitting bad actions instead of offering to do good things. On the otherhand, where morality functions in the way I supposed may be a more positivesociety, with people following their sense of morality to devote themselves tothe world.
Just like I felt like I was doing a prettygreat thing every time I volunteered at the welfare house, the action would notbring me any tangible benefits at all. But according to my sense of moralityor, let’s say, personal responsibility, I can gain lots of satisfaction bytaking care of the lonely elder, patiently listening to their stories andbringing them warmth, which I think are meaningful things. The satisfaction Igained from this experience was absolutely similar to the one my father hopedme to learn to cultivate toward my future job - a promotion beyond any kind ofcompulsive regulations that teaches us how to be responsible to both ourselvesand others and will therefore turn us into better selves.
At the end of this discussion, we of coursehadn’t got a unanimous opinion of what morality means, but I enjoyed thediscussion greatly. I realized how exciting and beneficial it would be todiscuss an idea with people who had such drastically different opinions from me- in the process of listening to others’ opinions, I got to know many ideas Ihad never approached before. In this way, I finally cultivated a strongerbelief in my personal understanding of morality after thinking carefully aboutthe differences between various ideas. In the meantime, I opened my eyes to howmuch opinions can vary on such a fundamental question. I have grown morereceptive and tolerant to different opinions, and will continue to learn fromdiverse voices.
在六月的一场哲学会饮沙龙讨论会（一种由柏拉图的《会印篇》引申出来的圆桌会议讨论形式）上，我们讨论的主题是尼采所著《论道德的谱系》。
导师向我们提出了一个问题，对我们来说道德意味着什么。
有的与会者认为道德实质上是一种对人们行为的约束，可以阻止人们做坏事——比如谋杀。
这个回答让我感到惊讶，因为对我来说道德的意义远远不止于此。
我的父亲对我关于个人道德的认知的形成影响很大。
在我的记忆中，他从未在没有专门请假的情况下脱离岗位。参加完九三阅兵的长达七个月的高强度训练之后，他在回家后的第二天就立刻返回了工作岗位，没有给自己放哪怕一天的假。
在家门口，他是这样跟我说的：“女儿，你要永远记着，我们在完成我们正在做的事，不论是工作还是学习，只因为做出这个选择的人是我们自己。所以，既然我现在已经回来了，我就没有理由不继续投入我在这里的工作。”
爸爸对于他的工作全心的热情深深地影响了我对于个人责任的体会。因此，我一直认为个人的道德是一种人们内心的驱动力，驱动人们努力追求他们所认为重要的东西，也驱动人们对他人负责。
然而，当我第一次听到道德在别的与会者口中被定义成他们的认知，我的内心受到了很大的震撼。我不再像我原来那样对自己的看法感到如此确信了。他们的解释为我提供了一个全新的视角，也让我对原本深信不疑的想法感到犹疑。
要对一个自己已经坚持了很久的、根深蒂固的概念提出质疑无疑是很令人沮丧的，但想要更好的理解我的伙伴的想法却更为强烈。
我开始思考这样的一个世界会是怎么样的：它被一些道德对其只是约束行为的工具的人填满。
我发现那大概会是一个有秩序的世界——如果我们要从它的优点来看。
但是，它也很可能是一个有点消极的世界。
因为人们可能会避免犯错、避免做坏事，而不是努力去做好事。另一方面，一个道德以我所认可的形式影响人们的社会会是一个更加积极的社会，在那里人们会跟从道德的指引向世界奉献自己。
正如我每次在福利院当志愿者的时候，都会觉得自己是在做一件很棒的事情。这个行为可能并不会给我带来任何看得见、摸得着的实质性利益。但是根据我的个人道德对我来说的意义，或者让我们说，个人责任感，我可以从我在福利院做的事情中收获巨大的满足感。
照顾那些孤单的老人，耐心地倾听他们的故事，带给他们温暖，这些都是在我看来非常有意义的事情。我从这些经历中获取的满足感，与我父亲希望我能够对未来的工作与生活培养的热情是非常相似的——这就是一种超越任何强制性制度的，能够教会我们如何对我们自己以及身边的其他人负责任、并因此能够将我们变成更好的人的，内心的驱动力。
在这场讨论会的最后，我们当然没能就道德到底是什么来得出一个一致通过的答案，但我非常享受这次讨论。
我认识到了跟那些与我持有完全不同意见的人讨论是一件多么令人激动、并使人获益匪浅的事情——在倾听他们的观点时，我得以了解一些我以前从未接触过的想法。以此种方式，在经过认真比较不同观点的区别后，我最终对于道德——这样一个宏观的、笼统的概念——的个人理解到达了更深的层次，也更加坚信自己始终坚持的看法。
同时，对于如此基础的问题的不同回答之间的区别之大也让我大开眼界。
在这样一场精彩的讨论会中，我变得对于不同看法的接受能力更强、也更有包容心了。从今以后，我也会继续努力地从不同的声音中学习、成长。
作者简介：
Elizebath：敏儿故事的女儿，2016年被美国八所名校录取，现就读于美国某校。此文写于作者17岁，当时就读国内高中。
