Abstract: The debate on essentialism and anti-essentialism in China in the past twenty years indicates that postmodernism has penetrated more deeply into the construction of literary theory. Although the debate has gradually subsided, by shifting the perspective from epistemology to ontology, we can still continue to deepen the discussion. But this is still not enough. “Essentialism” is not the “first philosophy” in literary research, and we should go beyond the “essence of the dispute” and reaffirm the value of literature from the perspective of ethics, which is also in line with the “ethical turn” of literary theory in the world. By introducing Levinas' “humanism for the other” and integrating the intellectual resources of humanism in Chinese modern and contemporary literature studies, we may construct a new literary ethics to respond to the current culture and reality.

Key words: anti-essentialism, literary ethics, Humanitarianism, Levinas, Literature is humanism

摘要： 我国近20年来有关本质主义与反本质主义的讨论,标志着后现代主义更深入地渗入文学知识建构中。相关争议虽已逐渐平息,但通过将视角从知识论转向存在论,可以继续深化相关探讨。但这依旧是不够的,“本质论”并非文学研究中的“第一哲学”,我们更应当超逾“本质之争”而从伦理的视角来重申文学的价值,这也契合于文学理论在世界范围内的“伦理转向”潮流。借助引入列维纳斯“为他者的人道主义”,并融合“文学是人学”等中国现当代文学研究中的“人道主义”思想资源,我们有可能构建一种新的文学伦理学来回应当前的文化和现实。

关键词: 反本质主义, 文学伦理学, 人道主义, 列维纳斯, 文学是人学