Name: 你知道嗎，其實「虛榮」是件好事喔！ (Why vanity could be a good thing | BBC Global)
Uploaded: 2024-09-11T21:01:30.000Z
Duration: 5 min 8 s

情態副詞

Are you vain? If you think that you're not, you should probably think again.

你虛榮嗎？如果你認為自己不虛榮，那你也許應該再想一想。

Vanity is one of the most obvious modern vices.

虛榮是現代人最明顯的惡習之一。

程度副詞

We sneer at people who think of themselves too highly, people who care too much about how they appear and what other people think of them.

我們譏笑那些自視過高的人，譏笑那些過於在意自己的外表和別人對自己的看法的人。

But most of us do care about what other people think of us, not just in terms of our physical appearance.

但我們大多數人確實在意別人對我們的看法，而不僅僅是我們的外貌。

Vanity isn't just an aesthetic concern but about how we seem to other people. What does the world think about me?

虛榮心不僅僅是一種審美上的關注，而是我們在別人眼中的形象。這個世界會怎麼看我？

Like Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the 18th-century French philosopher, we only really became modern humans when we became vain.

正如 18 世紀法國哲學家讓-雅克-盧梭所說，只有當我們變得虛榮時，我們才真正成為現代人。

As societies developed, at some point between hunter-gatherers and the Enlightenment, Rousseau says that humans became capable of living only in the opinion of others.

盧梭說，隨著社會的發展，在狩獵採集者和啟蒙運動之間的某個時期，人類變得只能在他人的看法中生活。

And so we get our self-worth solely from the value that others place in us.

所以，我們的自我價值完全來自他人對我們的評價。

Rousseau distinguished between two types of self-love.

L'amour de soi, the natural desire to worry about your own survival. And l'amour propre, the desperate need to shine in the eyes of other people. Or, in other words, vanity.

L'amour de soi，即擔心自己生存的自然慾望。L'amour propre，即迫切希望在他人眼中發光發熱。換句話說，就是虛榮心。

On this view, vanity was a product of living in society.

這種觀點認為，虛榮是社會生活的產物。

Humans had become increasingly vain and incapable of independent self-assessment.

人類變得越來越虛榮，越來越沒有獨立的自我評價能力。

The more they see one another, the less they can do without seeing one another more, Rousseau said.

盧梭說，人與人之間的交往越多，就越不能不多交往。

And you can see this when kids become adults and they go through their teenage years and they suddenly realise that they have a particular position or status within society.

當孩子們長大成人，度過青春期後，他們會突然意識到自己在社會中的特殊地位或身份。

As we became more and more socialised, we started to care more and more about how other people perceived us, until eventually, the mask replaced the face beneath.

隨著我們的社會化程度越來越高，我們開始越來越在意別人對我們的看法，直到最後面具取代了面具下的臉。

Rousseau despaired that everyone began to look at everyone else and to wish to be looked at himself.

盧梭感到絕望的是，每個人都開始關注別人，並希望別人關注自己。

The one who sang or danced best, the handsomest, the strongest, the most skilful or the most eloquent, came to be the most highly regarded.

誰唱得好，誰跳得好，誰最英俊，誰最強壯，誰最嫻熟，誰最能言善辯，誰就最受推崇。

We now value what people think of us, not the skill or the virtue itself.

我們現在看重的是人們對我們的評價，而不是技能或美德本身。

It's not your eloquence or beauty or strength that you care about; it's that others see you as eloquent, beautiful and strong.

你在乎的不是你的口才、美貌或力量。而是別人認為你能言善辯、美麗強壯。

You create an image of yourself that you want others to see.

你希望別人看到的是你自己的形象。

And your self-worth is determined by how other people respond to your mask.

你的自我價值取決於他人對你的面具的反應。

But Rousseau's occasional friend, the Scottish philosopher Adam Smith, saw things a little bit differently.

但盧梭的偶遇好友、蘇格蘭哲學家亞當-斯密的看法卻有些不同。

He thought that Rousseau was probably right, that vanity was the major characteristic of modern humans, but also that it was necessary and the source of our redemption.

他認為盧梭可能是對的，虛榮是現代人的主要特徵，但也是必要的，是我們救贖的源泉。

Smith asks, "What purpose is all the toil and bustle of this world? "

史密斯問：「這個世界上所有的辛勞和喧囂都是為了什麼？」

And answers that it's to be observed, to be attended to, to be taken notice of with sympathy, complacency and approbation.

他回答說，是為了被觀察，被關注，被同情、自滿和讚許。

It is the vanity, not the ease or the pleasure, which interests us. For Rousseau, amour-propre is an inescapable feature of modern humans. It's also the source of social inequality.

我們感興趣的是虛榮，而不是輕鬆或快樂。在盧梭看來，"愛慾 "是現代人不可避免的特徵。它也是社會不平等的根源。

In societies where appearance is more important than reality, seeming to be virtuous replaces being virtuous as our primary motivation.

在外表比現實更重要的社會里，貌似賢德取代了賢德成為我們的主要動機。

And so we pursue wealth and power in order to seem important.

所以，我們追求財富和權力，以顯得自己很重要。

But Smith thought that this supposed vice was the source of our sociability and our morality.

但史密斯認為，這種所謂的惡習正是我們的社會性和道德的源泉。

We are vain, and society makes us so, but it's our vanity that allows society to actually function.

我們虛榮，社會讓我們虛榮，但正是我們的虛榮讓社會得以真正運轉。

We do care about what other people think of us, and so we adjust our behaviour accordingly.

我們確實在乎別人對我們的看法，所以我們會相應地調整自己的行為。

We want to be seen as responsible, so we behave responsibly.

我們希望被視為負責任的人，所以我們的行為負責任。

We want to be seen as generous, and so we give generously.

我們希望被視為慷慨大方，所以我們慷慨解囊。

We want to be seen as kind, and so we act kindly.

我們希望別人覺得我們善良，所以我們表現得和藹可親。

Rousseau thought that vanity leads us to care about status more than morality.

盧梭認為，虛榮心使我們關心地位多於道德。

It makes us worry about the mask, and not the face beneath.

它讓我們只關心面具，而不是面具下的臉。

His vanity leaves us all living in a hall of mirrors.

他的虛榮心讓我們生活在鏡花水月之中。

But by contrast, Smith's story shows that you can't have any society without the mask, because the mask is what makes moral-social interaction possible.

但相比之下，史密斯的故事告訴我們，沒有面具就沒有社會，因為有了面具，道德與社會的互動才成為可能。

Seeing yourself through the eyes of others is to subject yourself to the judgement of humanity. It's our vanity that makes us accountable to other people.

用別人的眼光看自己，就是讓自己接受人類的評判。正是我們的虛榮心讓我們對他人負責。

But vanity for Smith isn't merely a mask. We want, he says, "not only praise, but praiseworthiness."

但對史密斯來說，虛榮不僅僅是一種面具。他說：「我們想要的不僅是讚美，還有值得讚美。」

And so our vanity forces us to earn the praise of others. We need to deserve our social status.

所以，我們的虛榮心迫使我們贏得他人的讚美。我們需要配得上自己的社會地位。

Unlike Rousseau, Smith didn't think that vanity is the result or the cause of moral corruption, because there can be no morality and no society without vanity.

與盧梭不同，斯密並不認為虛榮心是道德敗壞的結果或原因，因為沒有虛榮心就沒有道德和社會。

Well, hopefully you are, because to be social and therefore to be human is to be vain.

希望你是，因為作為社會人，也就是人類，就是虛榮的。

Or as the novelist Kurt Vonnegut put it, "We are what we pretend to be, and so we must be careful about what we pretend to be."

正如小說家庫爾特-馮內古特（Kurt Vonnegut）所說：「我們假裝成什麼，我們就是什麼，所以我們必須小心我們假裝成什麼。」