Ethical Relationship in Amy Tan’s The Hundred Secret Senses

This thesis aims to investigate Amy Tan’s The Hundred Secret Senses in terms of Emmanuel Levinas’s ethical philosophy, Michel Foucault’s discursive theory and Edward Said’s observations about Orientalism. Through the use of juxtaposition of two narratives, the novel depicts the relationship between two half sisters, Chinese-born Kwan Li and Chinese American Olivia Yee, and a fascinating journey through time and space. By telling this amazing story, Tan expresses her serious concern for ethical issue of the Other. Western philosophy and epistemology have a tradition of totalizing thought. Plato regarded the “I think” thought as the dialogue of the soul with itself; truth was said to inhabit the soul. In western philosophical tradition, the Other is viewed as something that is temporarily separate from the Same (the Self) but is ultimately reconcilable with the Same. In other words, the otherness of the Other is assimilated and oppressed within the totality of the Same. Hence western philosophy is a knowledge about the narcissistic Same, rather than about genuine Other. The Hundred Secret Senses explores the discursive violence of totality in various knowledges such as psychology, medicine, and history. Likewise, the novel also depicts the violence of totality in intercultural relationships. The westerners in the novel tend to view non-westerners and their culture in an Orientalist way, in which a series of constructed opposites are adopted—West/Orient; Civilized/Barbaric; We/They. Against this violent and unjust tradition in western philosophy, Levinas advocates an ethical philosophy, in which the Other is affirmed in his otherness. In the Levinasian ethical relationship, the Self and the Other are viewed as separate but connected terms; neither is assimilated into or confused with the other. Ethical relationship is the coexistence of Totality and Infinity (otherness). Subjectivity of the Self is awakened by the presence of the Other; hence its essence is for the Other. In ethical relationship the Self has responsibility for the Other. Through the perspectives of Levinas, Foucault and Said, the thesis will also scrutinize the ethical meaning of interpersonal relations and cultural exchanges in The Hundred Secret Senses.本篇論文試圖以列維納斯之倫理哲學、傅科和薩依德的觀點來分析、討論譚恩美的小說《百種神秘感》。小說透過兩種敘述的並置，描繪同父異母兩姊妹—中國出生的李關與美國長大的葉奧莉薇—之間的關係，以及一趟迷人的穿越時空之旅。譚恩美藉由這故事傳達她對倫理議題中「他者」的關懷。由於西方哲學及認識論傳統自柏拉圖以降便將「我思」的想法視為靈魂與自我的對話，認為一切真理皆在自身之中。在這樣的思想體系架構下，「他者」被視為暫時脫離但最終將被「同一」（「自我」）給同化的客體。易言之，「他者」的「他性」（或「無限性」）在「同一」的「整體」之中是可被壓制、吸納。大體而言，西方哲學其實是一門有關自戀的「同一」、而非有關真正「他者」的知識。 正是在這樣的哲學背景之下，《百種神秘感》探索許多知識所蘊含有關「整體」的論述暴力，比如心理學、西方醫藥論述及歷史學。同樣地，小說也批判了許多跨文化關係當中所表現出的「整體」暴力。在小說中，西方人透過東方主義式的觀點看待非西方人及他者的文化，並建構出一系列簡化的二元對立概念—西方與東方、文明與野蠻、自我與他者等。列維納斯反對這種不公平且充滿暴力的西方哲學傳統，是以他提出了肯定「他者」之「他性」的倫理哲學。在倫理關係中「自我」與「他者」兩者和平共存；兩者之間有關係但各自獨立。「自我」的主體性因「他者」的存在而建立，因而是為「他者」服務的。在倫理關係中「自我」對「他者」負有責任。藉由列維納斯、傅科和薩依德的觀點，本論文將探討《百種神秘感》中人際關係與文化交流間的他者倫理意涵