Anger is a complicated emotion.

愤怒是一种复杂的情绪。

It can feel reasonable and righteous or impulsive and uncontrollable.

它可能感觉合理、正义，也可能感觉冲动、无法控制。

But is it ever morally right to be angry?

但愤怒在道德上正确吗？

And if so, when?

如果是这样，什么时候？

One of the most foundational understandings of anger comes from the Greek philosopher Aristotle who proposed an idea called "the doctrine of the mean." In this model,

对愤怒最基本的理解之一来自希腊哲学家亚里斯多德，他提出了一个名为“中庸”的观点。“在这个模型中，

there's a sweet spot for our actions and emotional reactions,

我们的行为和情感反应有一个最佳点，

and it's up to you to develop practical wisdom about when you should feel what and how strongly to feel it.

你有责任培养实用智慧，了解何时应该感受到什么以及感受到的程度。

For example, let's say you're going to sleep early because you have an important meeting tomorrow and your neighbor just started blasting music.

例如，假设您要早点睡觉，因为您明天有一个重要会议，而您的邻居刚刚开始播放音乐。

If you can't sleep, you might botch your meeting, so feeling angry is definitely understandable.

如果你睡不着，你可能会搞砸你的会议，所以感到生气是可以理解的。

But how much anger should you feel?

但你应该感到多大的愤怒呢？

And what actions, if any, should you take?

如果有的话，您应该采取哪些行动？

To answer these questions, Aristotle would need to know more details.

为了回答这些问题，亚里斯多德需要了解更多细节。

Have you previously talked to your neighbor about this issue?

您以前是否与邻居讨论过这个问题？

Is it a reasonable time to be playing music?

现在是播放音乐的合理时间吗？

Is your neighbor trying to antagonize you, or are they just enjoying their evening?

你的邻居是想激怒你，还是他们只是在享受这个夜晚？

Relying on practical wisdom in Aristotle's case-by-case approach makes a lot of sense for navigating interpersonal conflicts.

依靠亚里斯多德的逐案分析法中的实践智慧对于解决人际冲突非常有意义。

But what about when there's no one to blame for your anger?

但当没有人可以为你的愤怒负责时怎么办？

Imagine a tornado completely destroys your house while your neighbor's home is untouched.

想象一下，龙卷风彻底摧毁了你的房子，而你邻居的家却完好无损。

No amount of anger can undo the disaster, and there isn't really a suitable target for your frustration.

再多的愤怒也无法消除这场灾难，而且也没有真正适合你的挫败感的目标。

Yet for the ancient Stoics, the tornado and the noisy neighbor are basically identical.

然而对于古代斯多葛学派来说，龙卷风和吵闹的邻居基本上是相同的。

The Stoics believed life is like an  uncontrollable cart we're all tied to,

斯多葛学派相信生活就像一辆无法控制的马车，我们都被绑在一起，

and we can either learn to go with the flow or hurt ourselves fighting its momentum.

我们要么学会随波逐流，要么伤害自己与其势头作斗争。

In their logic, we all live at the whims of fate,

在他们的逻辑中，我们都生活在命运的变幻之中，

and our actions can never actually change things— whether it's a natural disaster or how others act towards us.

我们的行为永远无法真正改变事情--无论是自然灾害还是其他人对我们的行为。

So Stoics believe anger is always wrong, since it causes pain and is ultimately futile.

因此，斯多葛学派认为愤怒总是错误的，因为它会导致痛苦，并且最终是徒劳的。

The 8th century Indian Buddhist philosopher Santideva also questioned our free will and the value of anger,

八世纪印度佛教哲学家佛陀也质疑我们的自由意志和愤怒的价值，

arguing that because people often lack rational control over their emotions, we should endeavor not to let their anger and cruelty spread to us.

认为由于人们往往缺乏对自己的情绪的理性控制，我们应该努力不让他们的愤怒和残酷蔓延到我们身上。

But even if it's hard for us to control our anger, there might be something we can learn from it.

但即使我们很难控制自己的愤怒，我们也许可以从中学到一些东西。

Philosopher PF Strawson's theory of reactive attitudes suggests that experiencing anger is a natural part of human psychology that helps us communicate blame and hold each other accountable.

哲学家PF Strawson的反应态度理论表明，经历愤怒是人类心理的自然组成部分，可以帮助我们传达责任并让彼此承担责任。

In this model, anger can be an important part of letting us know when something immoral is happening,

在这个模型中，愤怒可能是让我们知道何时发生不道德的事情的重要组成部分，

so removing it would impair our social lives and moral communities.

因此，删除它会损害我们的社会生活和道德社区。

But finding the right response to those psychological alarm bells can be tricky.

但找到对这些心理警钟的正确反应可能很棘手。

For instance, if you were supervising cruel, disrespectful young children, it might be natural to feel anger,

例如，如果你正在监督残酷、不尊重人的孩子，感到愤怒可能是很自然的，

but it would be wrong to treat their moral mistakes like those of fully formed adults.

但像对待完全成熟的成年人那样对待他们的道德错误是错误的。

So when should you act on anger?

那么什么时候应该对愤怒采取行动呢？

And can it ever help change things for the better?

它能帮助事情变得更好吗？

Let's imagine your community is experiencing serious health issues because a nearby factory is illegally polluting the water supply.

让我们想象一下，由于附近的一家工厂非法污染供水，您的社区正在经历严重的健康问题。

A long tradition in political philosophy argues that the righteous anger often invoked by witnessing this kind of injustice can be invaluable for fueling change and motivating community action.

政治哲学的悠久传统认为，目睹这种不公正现象经常引发的正义愤怒对于推动变革和激励社区行动来说是无价的。

In unjust situations like this, it could be a moral mistake to suppress your anger, instead of channeling it into positive action.

在这样的不公正情况下，压抑自己的愤怒而不是将其转化为积极的行动可能是一个道德错误。

But other philosophers argue that anger has an inherent negative element that limits its transformative power.

但其他哲学家认为，愤怒具有固有的负面因素，限制了其变革力量。

Philosopher Martha Nussbaum pointed out that famous civil rights activists such as Gandhi, Nelson Mandela,

哲学家玛莎·努斯鲍姆指出，甘地、纳尔逊·曼德拉、

and Martin Luther King Jr warned that giving yourself over to even the most righteous anger can lead one to become bitter, vengeful,

马丁·路德·金警告说，即使是最正义的愤怒也会导致一个人变得痛苦、复仇，

or hateful of others.

或者仇恨他人。

They cautioned that we should carefully calibrate our emotional responses to ensure that we see others not as enemies but as community members with whom we must learn to coexist,

他们警告说，我们应该仔细调整我们的情绪反应，以确保我们将他人视为敌人，而不是我们必须学会与之共存的社区成员，

regardless of our ever-changing emotions.

无论我们的情绪怎样变化。