Do you want to-live or die? !
King Oedipus by Sophocles, a great ancient Greek tragedian who once fascinated the philosopher Aristotle, has endless implications, especially the "sphinx mystery" he mentioned, which has always attracted, tested and forged the wisdom of countless thinkers such as philosophy, linguistics, psychology, literature and aesthetics. For thousands of years, people's interpretation of it has formed a beautiful landscape of human self-cognition and cognition. However, it has not attracted enough attention from the current ideological circles. The author believes that modern philosophy and linguistics may make their own new and in-depth explanation of this eternal mystery of life. Our modern philosophy of life has accomplished this task brilliantly.
"The Sphinx" and "Real Society" also!
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The riddle of the Sphinx is well known: an animal has four legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three legs at night; I am most incompetent when I have the most legs. For thousands of years, people have long recognized and agreed that this "mystery" was answered by Oedipus: "man".
Our in-depth interpretation of the riddle of the Sphinx will show that Oedipus' answer to the riddle of the Sphinx is superficial and animal, in other words, he has not really solved the riddle of the Sphinx. For us today, the words "know yourself" engraved on the stone tablet in front of Delphi Temple is still a mystery, and it is still a serious topic in front of contemporary human beings.
Sophocles, in the famous King Oedipus, showed us a terrible personal tragedy unprecedented in human history:
The ears of wheat withered in the field, cattle and sheep died of plague in the pasture, women miscarried and mourned everywhere; The god of plague brought fire to this city-state-Tebai. The Oracle makes it very clear that the way to eliminate the disaster is to catch the murderer of the former king and make him confess. So everyone's eyes were drawn to the question of who is the murderer.
Then, the script makes Oedipus appear in flashbacks:
The childless King Leos of Taibai once kidnapped Clyde Sipos, the youngest son of King Pelops of Pisa, and caused him to commit suicide. Pelops prayed to Zeus, the Lord God, for disaster to befall Lauiz. When Leo prayed to God for a son, God granted his request and predicted that his son would kill his father and marry his mother. In order to escape the implementation of the Oracle, Mr. and Mrs. Laos nailed his first-class son's foot when he was born, and sent servants to throw him into the valley. However, the kind servant gave Oedipus to the shepherd of Krones, so that Oedipus was adopted by the childless King of Krones. Oedipus, who grew up, accidentally learned at a banquet that he was not the real son of King Corinth, so he asked the Oracle and learned that he was going to kill his father and marry his mother. In order to avoid bad luck, I left the Karen and came to the border of Tebai. At a fork in the road, he argued with an old man for directions. In a rage, he killed the old man with a cane. Oedipus didn't know that the old man was his father. He was going to Delphi Temple to solve the problem of saving the sphinx. Because at this time, the city of Tebai is suffering from the disaster of the Sphinx, a monster with wings of the Sphinx. Oedipus came to the sphinx and answered the mystery of the sphinx without hesitation, so the sphinx plunged into the sea. Oedipus was embraced by the Tebai people as the new king and married the queen. At this point, the Oracle of "killing father and marrying mother" was completely realized.
The tragic event of Oedipus killing his father and marrying his mother was once interpreted by Freud as a universal congenital Oedipus complex, which was widely known. "Oedipus complex" constitutes the basis of Freud's theory.
We can see that the fate of Oedipus is "doomed" by the Oracle: the more Oedipus tries to escape the implementation of the Oracle, the more he falls into the trap of the Oracle. -This is the "self-realization function of prophecy". The true meaning of this story has long been revealed by the "Oedipus effect" of the British thinker Popper: most of the empirical facts are in line with the theoretical foresight, and only under the guidance of the theory can we observe the object, and even all kinds of "accidental discoveries" are actually relative to the failure of foresight. A person who discovers by accident does not pursue accident at first, but is bent on completing an experiment that can prove the foresight of a theory. The author also said in the proposition of "naming is creation" that prophecy has the function of self-realization.
Generally speaking, a person who really knows himself should have the ability to cut off the "tragic" fate and control his own destiny. The tragedy of Oedipus killing his father and marrying his mother shows that Oedipus, who is physically in his youth, is not mature psychologically (intellectually or rationally), and he does not really "know himself". -There's a paradox. Because, the script clearly tells us that Oedipus had such a "detail" before he was hailed as the king of Tebai people: he solved the "Sphinx mystery" and relieved the disaster in Tebai city. Since Oedipus correctly answered the puzzle of the Sphinx, what reason do we have to say that he is immature and doesn't really "know himself"? -That's the problem.
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In fact, it is not difficult to understand this paradox reasonably. The key point is that we need to start with the mystery of the Sphinx directly, and we need to explain and elaborate the mystery of the Sphinx in the sense of modern philosophy and linguistics.
The author thinks that we should replace and reverse the riddle and riddle of the riddle of the Sphinx in this way: the riddle should be-what is man? The answer is-this animal has four legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three legs at night; I am most incompetent when I have the most legs. -The replacement and inversion of "riddle" and "riddle" is a key to correctly understand and interpret Oedipus' tragedy.
Through the language replacement and inversion of the riddle of the Sphinx, we find that Oedipus only tells the appearance or illusion of man and the animality of man. This fully proves that Oedipus didn't really "know himself", because the so-called "know yourself" should at least be like what Marx said: "the essence of man" is the sum of all social relations in reality. Furthermore, people must realize that it is necessary to take a socialized road of "people-obedience-crowd" before taking a personalized road of "crowd-obedience-crowd". In fact, Oedipus did not know his own facts, which ancient thinkers had long realized. Socrates, a thinker, said a wise saying after interviewing a wise man who thought he was smart: I know I am "ignorant". Aristotle said this in his famous Poetics: Oedipus was "unlucky, not because he did evil, but because he made mistakes"; The "making mistakes" here refers to people's "ignorance", not "moral defects".
As long as people don't know themselves, they are doomed to be teased and dominated by "fate"-just as the tragedy of Oedipus killing his father and marrying his mother shows us; In the face of huge reality, people are often powerless and have to "turn a blind eye" and "accept fate"-just like Oedipus' mother and wife, who should actually know the truth-when Oedipus insisted on thoroughly tracking down the murderer of the former king, Jocasta, who played the dual role of mother and wife, almost begged Oedipus: "For God's sake, if you care about yourself. -the helplessness of a person who was defeated by fate and "resigned". -The author is saddened to see that in our reality, there are so many people who are willing to obey "fate"!
Oedipus, under the control of terrible "prophecy", staged a series of tragedies that seemed to be doomed. Instead of shrinking back and accepting fate, he bravely picked up his "cross": he stabbed himself in the eye with a gold needle pinned to his mother and wife Jocasta's chest and exiled himself. This is a metaphor of "eye" replacing "naked eye" or exchanging "eye" at the expense of "naked eye", and it is also a metaphor of "atonement" and "redemption" of an individual. It shows that Oedipus's "wisdom" has matured and he "knows himself". Once people know themselves, they can "hold the fate by the throat", cut off the domino-like tragedy and put an end to the terrible "prophecy": Oedipus, who has a pair of "discerning eyes", becomes his own master and will never be manipulated by fate again.
So far, we have made it clear that Oedipus' answer to the riddle of the Sphinx is low-level, superficial and superficial, and it is actually not very difficult. But it is such a "mystery" that stumbles everyone in this city. Why is this?
In fact, the reason is very simple. The secret lies in the Sphinx, a winged monster with the Sphinx. This kind of "image" often makes "men greedy" people confused in the face of angelic beauty temptation; It often makes "women-cowards" lose their minds because of fear in the roar of wild animals.
Illustration: A famous oil painting-Oedipus and the Sphinx (/new/display/76297.html)
Author: [France] Moro, 1864, Gustav? Moro Museum
Readers are invited to enjoy the oil painting Oedipus and the Sphinx by the French painter Morrow. This oil painting not only vividly depicts the irresistible and fascinating side of the Sphinx, but also depicts the terrible side that makes people extremely frightened. It reveals something more profound than the familiar Egyptian Sphinx.
The mythical Sphinx is a "half-beast for half a day", which is an image metaphor of "real society"-"the sum of social relations": the real society is full of temptations-sex, power, money, reputation and so on; Intimidation or terror-life, old age, disease, death, etc. Without special talents and abilities and knowing your mission, it is difficult for ordinary people to overcome. This is the root of almost everyone's defeat in front of the Sphinx (the bony dead body at the foot of the Sphinx in the illustration is a good symbol and metaphor). -As an image metaphor of "real society", the Sphinx challenges individuals in two ways: seduction and intimidation. We should realize that the image of the Sphinx is not all negative. On the contrary, it has a very positive side. Because its existence itself constitutes an individual's "focus" and a "target" that needs to be broken through. It is because of its existence that the life of secular individuals who challenge it will be concrete, substantial, fleshy, valuable and meaningful. A person who really knows himself will pay the most sincere respect to the Sphinx, which has hindered his progress again and again.
Everyone, especially young people, must accept the challenge of the Sphinx and answer two "questions" put forward by the real society: temptation and intimidation. Different answers to these two questions are the objective criteria for judging whether a person can become himself or not.
There is no doubt that Oedipus, who is arrogant by nature, can overcome temptation, but because of his inherent weakness, he can't overcome "intimidation"-he dare not face up to his "fate" and escape the Oracle of "killing his father and marrying his mother", which is actually a manifestation of being dominated by "intimidation". Therefore, although he answered the "difficult problem" that others could not answer, it only showed that Oedipus was higher than his contemporaries at the starting point. But the fact that he was "threatened" shows that his mind is immature. This immaturity of mind will inevitably lead to his stubbornness: Oedipus did not develop and make good use of this advantage. He mocked the prophet Tlesi Yas, gloated and magnified his "intelligence" infinitely, thinking that he was the embodiment of the world's wisdom: "Hey, tell me, when did you prove yourself to be a prophet? Why didn't you speak to save lives when the dog was around? Its riddle can't be solved by any passerby, but it needs the magic of a prophet, and you didn't show this talent with the help of birds or God's revelation. Until my ignorant Oedipus came, I didn't understand bird language, but I solved the riddle and conquered it with wisdom. "
The author thinks that knowing-which can answer the superficial meaning of the riddle of the Sphinx, but ignorance-can't reveal the deep meaning of the riddle of the Sphinx, and realizing the limitation of one's own wisdom is the real cause of Oedipus' tragedy. The fact that Oedipus neither knows himself nor knows himself shows that human rationality is hierarchical: immature rationality-juvenile rationality and mature rationality-middle-aged rationality.
Oedipus's events of "killing his father" and "marrying his mother" imply that his "physiology" has matured, but this physiological maturity does not mean that his "psychology" has also matured. Psychological maturity is a more complicated "process" than physical maturity, which requires life experience, suffering and fearless responsibility for fate. A person who has no responsibility in the face of social responsibility can't be really mature and rational. Psychological immaturity and physical one-sided maturity are not only useless, but harmful. Often it will evolve into "violence" that leads to death (killing father) and "incest" that dehumanizes humanity (marrying mother). "Violence" and "incest" are the signs that individuals are defeated by the Sphinx in real society-escaping from "intimidation" and accepting "temptation". This is the root of individual life failure.
Contemporary human beings have almost reached a * * * understanding of the double-edged sword nature of "enlightenment reason". There is nothing wrong with reason itself. The key is what level and level rationality is. You can't completely deny all rationality just because you choke and see the paradox of enlightenment rationality. In fact, the mature rationality after the enlightenment rationality-the "eyes" that Oedipus bought at the expense of "naked eyes" in his later years is the real rationality, which is enough to lead the future mankind out of the tragic fate.
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The reason why King Oedipus became the swan song in the history of human tragedy lies in its most profound revelation of human individual destiny, not just because of the tragic story that made people cry. King Oedipus, like all great classic texts, is full of metaphor and mystery. Without modern interpretation and elaboration in the linguistic sense, it is difficult for us to really understand it.
In the past, people often regarded Oedipus tragedy as the complete "destruction" of a person. The author thinks this understanding is shallow, because the story clearly tells us that the destruction of Oedipus is inseparable from his redemption-there is no redemption without destruction. In fact, this fairy tale describes Oedipus's "destruction"-facing the blow of fate, assuming its own responsibility, and focusing on enlightening people to embark on the road of "redemption".
The life of Oedipus is not a simple tragedy, but a wonderful and complete life revelation. It enlightens us that the self-fulfilling prophecy is based on people's ignorance of themselves, and once people know themselves-understand the causal chain behind the prophecy, the prophecy will be broken. Enlightenment is the meaning of all great tragedies. As Benjamin said, tragic heroes are the archetypes of philosophers and thinkers. "He made himself stand out from the crowd with a broader vision. In this action, he dispelled the silence of nature and myth." Oedipus is a philosopher. He really solved the mystery of the Sphinx with his brave actions.
The fate of Oedipus shows us that the seemingly mature juvenile reason is not enough to overcome the "temptation" and "intimidation" of the "Sphinx" ("real society"), and it will surely direct the tragedy of life; Only a truly mature middle-aged reason can completely overcome "temptation" ("wealth can't be lewd") and "intimidation" ("power can't be bent") and completely cut off the tragedy of life!
The fate of Oedipus also shows us: people should know themselves! People should know themselves! People must know themselves! People can know themselves!
The word "intimidation" here, I originally used "fear", without clearly distinguishing the meaning of fear and intimidation. It was a netizen of blog China-Mr. Qian from the School of Online Education of Peking University Medical College who saw my article and pointed out that "intimidation" should be used instead of "fear", and I suddenly realized that I was too careless! Here, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to Mr. Qian. It can also be seen that modern philosophy of life is the product of "practice" and "communication".
Reference: Sophocles: King Oedipus, People's Literature Publishing House, 2002; h？ Answer? Kuhn: Legends and Myths of Ancient Greece, Joint Publishing Company, 2002.
It can be said that all the theories of Freud, the founder of psychoanalytic psychology, are based on the interpretation and explanation of Oedipus complex of "killing his father and marrying his mother". There is no doubt about Freud's great contribution, but his mistakes are also obvious: he attributed all "psychological" problems to "physiological" problems, instead of further exploring the deeper reasons of human psychology-collective prototype and social structure, like his disciples Jung and Fromm.
Popper's original words about "Oedipus effect" are: "A few years ago, I introduced the word" Oedipus effect "to describe the influence of a theory, expectation or prediction on the events it predicted or described: people will never forget that the causal chain that led Oedipus to kill his father originated from God's prediction of this event. "See the card? Popper: conjecture and refutation-the growth of scientific knowledge, 54 footnotes, Shanghai Translation Publishing House, 1986.
However, we must correct the long-standing traditional view that the fate of Oedipus is completely influenced by "prophecy". Because, the cause of the whole tragedy lies in that the childless worship king Raos "once" abducted and led to the suicide of other people's children, rather than the product of pure "prophecy" without any reason. Here, Apollo's "Oracle" and "prophecy" only enhance the "drama" cover-up, strip off this mystery, and there is a naked "causal chain" behind it.
In Liang Xudong's book Encountering Marginalization: An Alternative Interpretation of Western Literary Classics (page 30, Peking University Publishing House, 2004), the author saw that he noticed a "detail": "I was deeply moved by a detail that was not noticed by people. It is said that in the temple of Delphi, Apollo's famous metaphor' know yourself' is engraved. " It is a pity that Mr Liang Xudong failed to see this "detail" from the mystery of the Sphinx. So his understanding of Oedipus' tragedy is still external.
The Complete Works of Marx and Engels, vol. 1, p. 56, People's Publishing House, p. 1979.
"He concluded:' Only God is wise; God is not talking about Socrates, he just uses my name as an explanation, as if to say: man! Only people like Socrates who know that their wisdom is worthless are the cleverest. See Russell: History of Western Philosophy, Volume I, Page 122, Commercial Press, Page 1963.
Aristotle and Horace: Poetics? Poetry anthology, pages 38 and 39, People's Literature Publishing House, 1962.
Sophocles: King Oedipus, p. 44, People's Literature Publishing House, 2002.
Have you seen H? Answer? Kuhn: Legends and Myths of Ancient Greece, page 45 1-457, Joint Publishing Company, 2002.
Some college students accept a vulgar philosophy of life: people will inevitably become "smooth" in society-"go with the flow". I refute: only those who don't know themselves will become "smooth" in society; People who know themselves will not become "smooth", on the contrary, they will become more and more "sharp" and "sharp-edged" They are the "conscience" and "hope" of society.
Sophocles: King Oedipus, 2 1, People's Literature Publishing House, 2002.
With Cao: On Walter? Benjamin, page 6, Jilin People's Publishing House, 2003.
Oedipus is also a "fire thief". There is no prophet or saint in history.