学术资讯｜全球正义工作坊第五十二讲：作为道德风险的家庭情感：印度哲学中的法、债与非占有式关怀

Global Justice Workshop (52nd)

1

Organizer

Department of Philosophy (Zhuhai)

Sun Yat-sen University

2

Topic

Family Feeling as Moral Risk: 

Dharma, Debt, and Non-Possessive Care in Hindu Philosophy 

3

Speaker

Balaganapathi DEVARAKONDA

Professor

Department of Philosophy

University of Delhi

4

Moderator

Joshua MASON

Associate Professor

Department of Philosophy

Loyola Marymount University

5

Time

July 10th，2026

21:00—23:00

6

VOOV

952-493-653

ABSTRACT

This chapter investigates the concept of family in classical Hindu philosophy as a site of moral formation and moral danger. It treats the household as a central arena of dharma in which competing values must be sustained together without slipping into ethical failure. Family life, on this view, is not secured by affection alone, and its moral vulnerability does not depend solely on formal hierarchy. Its characteristic risks arise from the same sources as its goods. Attachment, loyalty, intimacy, and authority can sustain care, yet they can also congeal into possessiveness, coercion, and harm. The guiding question concerns how classical Hindu thought seeks to discipline the moral force of kinship so that care remains distinct from domination. The chapter develops three claims. First, classical texts frame the gṛhastha āśrama as an ethically demanding form of life in which duty, affection, sacrifice, and social continuity are deliberately integrated. The household appears as a structured practice through which agents learn to negotiate competing demands and to cultivate practical moral judgement. Second, the idiom of ṛṇa, or debt, offers a distinctive account of obligation that is asymmetrical and not grounded in contract. It treats care as emerging from inherited dependence and the recognition of what one has received. Because debts can be interpreted, re-specified, and discharged across time, the framework permits ethical revision of relationships while resisting both voluntarist reduction and permanent subordination. Third, the ideal of anāsakti, or non-possessive attachment, functions as an internal discipline for familial life. It reorients kinship toward responsibility without ownership, connection without control, and devotion without coercive entitlement. In doing so, it offers a practical and spiritual approach to sustaining care while minimising the moral distortions to which intimacy is prone. By situating these themes alongside contemporary debates about care, dependency, and non-domination, the chapter brings Hindu philosophical resources into wider conversations about the moral psychology of family feeling. It proposes that the classical household ethic is best understood as a principled ambivalence. Family life remains essential to human flourishing, yet it is persistently vulnerable to moral corruption, and thus demands ongoing practices of restraint, discernment, and ethical reorientation.

全球正义工作坊第（52）讲

1

主办

中山大学哲学系（珠海）

2

主题

作为道德风险的家庭情感：

印度哲学中的法、债与非占有式关怀

3

主讲

Balaganapathi DEVARAKONDA 

德里大学哲学系，教授

4

主持

Joshua MASON 

洛约拉马利蒙特大学哲学系，副教授

5

时间

2026年7月10日

 21: 00—23: 00

6

地点

腾讯会议

952-493-653

摘要

本次讲座旨在考察印度古典哲学中“家庭”的概念。在印度古典哲学中，家庭被理解为道德生成与道德风险并存的场域。作为“法”（dharma）的核心实践领域，相互竞争的价值必须在家庭中得到并持，且不至伦理失范。在这一视角下，家庭生活并非仅凭情感即可得到维系，其道德上的脆弱性也并不仅在于正式的等级结构。家庭生活所特有的风险与其所含有的善同根而生。依附、忠诚、亲密与权威既能够支撑关怀，但也可能演变为占有、强制与伤害。核心问题在于，印度古典思想如何规训亲属关系的道德力量，使关怀能够得以区别于支配。本次讲座提出三点主张。第一，印度古典文本将“居家者阶段”（gṛhastha āśrama）界定为一种在伦理上要求严苛的生活形式，其中义务、情感、牺牲与社会延续被有意识地整合在一起。家庭生活在此呈现为一种结构化的实践，行为主体通过它学习沟通竞争性的需求，并培养实践性的道德判断能力。第二，“债”（ṛṇa）的话语提供了一种独特的义务理解方式，义务于其中被理解为非对称性的，并且不依赖于契约而存在。它将关怀理解为继承性的依赖，以及对自身所受之物的承认。由于债可以被解释、重新界定并随时间推移而得以了结，这一框架允许对关系进行伦理性的修正，同时避免对关系进行任意的简化或导向永久性的从属。第三，“无执”（anāsakti）或非占有式依附的理念在家庭生活中发挥着内在规训的作用。它将亲属关系重整为尽责而非占有，联系而非控制，奉献而非强迫。通过这种方式，它提供了一种兼具实践性与精神性的途径以支持关怀，同时最小化亲密关系所易产生的道德扭曲。通过将这些主题置于当代关于关怀、依赖与非支配的讨论背景中，本次讲座将印度哲学资源引入更广泛的对于家庭情感的道德心理学对话，并表明印度古典家庭伦理应被理解为一种原则上的矛盾性：家庭生活对人类的繁荣至关重要，但却持续面临道德腐败的风险，因此需要不断践行节制、判断和伦理重整。

来源｜哲珠新媒体

文稿｜杜陈

编辑｜黄洪飞

初审｜韩　珩

审核｜卢　毅

审核发布｜屈琼斐