读书碎片 | 美洲原住民对“自由”的定义:不挨饿的自由、不被命令的自由
书籍:The Dawn of Everything
作者:David Graeber/David Wengrow
章节:第2章:Wicked Liberty: The indigenous critique and the myth of progress
读书碎片 #001
以下内容来自阅读中的随手记录,思想在这里被暂时放下。
很多我们以为源自欧洲启蒙运动的思想(如自由、平等、反权威),其实源于美洲原住民对欧洲社会的尖锐批评。
Kandiaronk是美洲原住民温达特族(Wendat)政治家,不是虚构的“高贵野蛮人(Noble Savage)”,而是一个真实的、极具智慧的辩论家。
他去过欧洲,观察过法国社会,然后回到了美洲。他提出的批评被称为“原住民批判(Indigenous Critique)”。
通常我们认为启蒙运动(The Enlightenment)发源于欧洲,伏尔泰、卢梭等思想家是坐在书房里凭空想出了“自由平等”。
这些思想家其实是在阅读了大量关于美洲原住民的旅行游记后,受到了极大的震撼。他们是把原住民的观点(比如“为什么你们欧洲人要服从国王?”、“为什么你们有穷人?”)转化为了欧洲的哲学语言。
美洲原住民对“自由”的定义非常有意思。对他们来说,自由不是写在纸上的法律,而是实实在在的生活状态:不挨饿的自由、不被命令的自由。
欧洲人以为自己自由,但在原住民看来,法国人完全是奴隶——他们服从国王的命令,服从金钱的驱使,甚至如果在街上看到穷人快饿死了也不去帮助(缺乏基本的互助就是不自由,因为这意味着那个穷人的生存权被剥夺了)。
耶稣会传教士对原住民的评价是“邪恶的自由(wicked liberty)”。传教士们发现原住民居然不服从任何命令(除非他们自己同意),这让习惯了等级制度的欧洲人感到恐惧,认为这种绝对的自由是“邪恶”的,是导致原住民不信上帝、放纵的原因。
原住民的理论是——一个没有人挨饿、没有人有权命令他人的社会,才是真正文明的社会。这直接打脸了当时认为“等级制=文明”的欧洲人。
To Americans like Kandiaronk, there was no contradiction between individual liberty and communism – that’s to say, communism in the sense we’ve been using it here, as a certain presumption of sharing, that people who aren’t actual enemies can be expected to respond to one another’s needs. In the American view, the freedom of the individual was assumed to be premised on a certain level of ‘baseline communism’, since, after all, people who are starving or lack adequate clothes or shelter in a snowstorm are not really free to do much of anything, other than whatever it takes to stay alive.
在像Kandiaronk这样的美洲原住民眼中,个人自由与共产主义之间毫无矛盾。当然,这里的“共产主义”是指我们前文界定的那层含义,即一种关于分享的默契:预设了只要双方不是死敌,就理应响应彼此的需求。
在美洲原住民看来,个人自由正是建立在某种程度的“基线共产主义”之上的。毕竟,一个在暴风雪中忍饥挨饿、缺衣少食、无处栖身的人,其实谈不上拥有什么真正的自由;他所能做的,无非是竭尽全力让自己活下去罢了
The European conception of individual freedom was, by contrast, tied ineluctably to notions of private property. Legally, this association traces back above all to the power of the male household head in ancient Rome, who could do whatever he liked with his chattels and possessions, including his children and slaves.51 In this view, freedom was always defined – at least potentially – as something exercised to the cost of others. What’s more, there was a strong emphasis in ancient Roman (and modern European) law on the self-sufficiency of households; hence, true freedom meant autonomy in the radical sense, not just autonomy of the will, but being in no way dependent on other human beings (except those under one’s direct control).”
相比之下,欧洲人的个人自由观念不可避免地与私有财产概念捆绑在一起。从法律渊源来看,这种关联主要追溯至古罗马男性家长的权力:他可以随意处置自己的动产和财物,甚至包括他的子女和奴隶。在这种视角下,自由总是被定义为——至少在潜意识里——以牺牲他人为代价来行使的权力。此外,古罗马法(以及现代欧洲法律)极其强调家庭的自给自足;因此,真正的自由意味着一种极端的自主——不仅仅是意志的自主,更是不依赖任何其他人(除了那些受自己直接控制的人)而生存的状态。
To Americans like Kandiaronk, there was no contradiction between individual liberty and communism – that’s to say, communism in the sense we’ve been using it here, as a certain presumption of sharing, that people who aren’t actual enemies can be expected to respond to one another’s needs. In the American view, the freedom of the individual was assumed to be premised on a certain level of ‘baseline communism’, since, after all, people who are starving or lack adequate clothes or shelter in a snowstorm are not really free to do much of anything, other than whatever it takes to stay alive.
在像Kandiaronk这样的美洲原住民眼中,个人自由与共产主义之间毫无矛盾。当然,这里的“共产主义”是指我们前文界定的那层含义,即一种关于分享的默契:预设了只要双方不是死敌,就理应响应彼此的需求。
在美洲原住民看来,个人自由正是建立在某种程度的“基线共产主义”之上的。毕竟,一个在暴风雪中忍饥挨饿、缺衣少食、无处栖身的人,其实谈不上拥有什么真正的自由;他所能做的,无非是竭尽全力让自己活下去罢了
The European conception of individual freedom was, by contrast, tied ineluctably to notions of private property. Legally, this association traces back above all to the power of the male household head in ancient Rome, who could do whatever he liked with his chattels and possessions, including his children and slaves.51 In this view, freedom was always defined – at least potentially – as something exercised to the cost of others. What’s more, there was a strong emphasis in ancient Roman (and modern European) law on the self-sufficiency of households; hence, true freedom meant autonomy in the radical sense, not just autonomy of the will, but being in no way dependent on other human beings (except those under one’s direct control).”
相比之下,欧洲人的个人自由观念不可避免地与私有财产概念捆绑在一起。从法律渊源来看,这种关联主要追溯至古罗马男性家长的权力:他可以随意处置自己的动产和财物,甚至包括他的子女和奴隶。在这种视角下,自由总是被定义为——至少在潜意识里——以牺牲他人为代价来行使的权力。此外,古罗马法(以及现代欧洲法律)极其强调家庭的自给自足;因此,真正的自由意味着一种极端的自主——不仅仅是意志的自主,更是不依赖任何其他人(除了那些受自己直接控制的人)而生存的状态。
