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翻譯一篇女兒的文章
送交者: benznj 2010年12月22日19:26:09 於 [新 大 陸] 發送悄悄話

“拉巴契尼的女兒”里的科學理性主義和聲譽


在18世紀,啟蒙運動和科學理性主義在整個西方世界繁榮。他們的經驗證據和實驗的重點是為慶祝離開前幾個世紀的不切實際,未經證實的神話:人類現在可以了解世界的真實面目。然而,很快有批評者認為,啟蒙思想家開發的思想系統實際上是在毀滅人類。浪漫主義運動的支持者爭辯說,重要應該是放在本質而不是存在,因為有的知識不能僅僅從觀察中收集。他們譴責這種毫無意義的,忽略人類內在價值的, 且將人類置於科學之下的知識追求。霍桑(Nathaniel Hawthorne),是19世

紀超驗主義者,是啟蒙運動一個強烈反對者。霍桑在他的短篇小說<拉巴契尼的女兒>“Rappaccini's

Daughter”里對啟蒙運動進行了批評,通過拉巴契尼的故事隱喻科學理性主義沒有解脫現代人,反而是給他戴上鐵鏈,鎖在追求聲譽的欲望上,並因此引起世界的恐怖。


由於社會人被鐐銬在聲譽上,他無法真正高興,因為他總是辛苦勞作以此希望被視為最優秀的。由於強調觀察與經驗的結果,現代社會是基於存在,而不是本質:一個人表現出在別人眼裡他(她)應該表現的樣子。因此,在社會中的人與人的相互對待是基於聲譽,而不是人的本質。這不可避免地要求對個人的首要目標是保持或是得到更好的聲譽,以使他們能夠改善他們的社會位置。盧梭在他的<論不平等>一書中探討了這種思維。如盧梭辯論,“...這種廣布的對名譽,榮耀和晉升的願望...吞噬我們所有的人”。人仍是痴迷於維持他的社會地位。然而,現代人是從不滿足於他們的命運:“文明人...總是四處奔波,緊張出汗,坐立不安,折磨自己去尋找更勞苦的職業”(盧梭136)。將這句話應用此他們的成就上,他們將不斷努力以得到更多的尊重,不計任何代價,擠身進文明社會。


現代人可比作柏拉圖<理想國>一書裡洞穴寓言中的哲學家國王,他認為自己是被啟智的,且從野蠻的枷鎖中解放出來。經過科學理性主義的發展,人們認為,知識只能通過實驗而得到。一旦人類獲取知識的世界,“他便開始認為這是他帶來了四季,年份,是所有可見的世界的監護人,並在一定程度上是這個可見世界產生的原因“(<理想國>)。現代社會的人們,就像哲學家國王,自信他們已揭開宇宙的複雜性,因此他們都優於自然人,他們已經從無知中解脫出來。正如柏拉圖解釋說,“當他想起他的老居住,他的同牢囚犯及他們那點井蛙智慧...他會為自己的改變而慶幸,並可憐他們”。社會中開明的成員不僅可憐無知者,而且還看不起他們。那些對世界運作知道更多的人比那些知道得少的人得到更多的尊重;那些被社會認為是正確的人受到崇敬,而被認為是錯誤人便受到蔑視。前者是開明的,把自己從洞穴里解脫出來的人,而後者是仍然困在黑暗中不登大雅之堂野蠻人。因此每個人的志向是,希望自己被視為最有知識的人。


“拉巴契尼的女兒”里的拉巴契尼,就是一個被鎖鏈鎖在自己願望上的人,他願望是成為一個植物學研究領域裡公認的權威,什麼都不能阻止他實現這一目標。像他的同事,拉帕奇尼也總是希望被看作比他的同行先進。為使願望成真,他必須始終同行競爭並保持比他們做得更好。他不斷地將試驗推向植物學研究的前沿,根本不管其研究帶來的不良副作用。正如霍桑指出,“拉帕奇尼,他對科學的無限關心超過了人類...為了科學,他會犧牲他人的生命,他最親愛的人,包括他自己,..。”。在整個短篇小說,他罔顧實驗給他女兒,比阿特麗斯,和她的情人,喬萬尼,帶來有害影響,直到最終比阿特麗斯死去。拉帕奇尼為他的研究付出最終代價。比阿特麗斯是拉帕奇尼除了他的科學之外的唯一所愛的,為數據而犧牲她,拉帕奇尼摧毀他自己的世界。以這種方式,霍桑表現了,人,在離開山洞後,遠遠沒有被解放,而實際上由於被鎖在對聲譽追求的鐵鏈上,迫使他無視別人的痛苦,以維護自己的聲譽。


離開柏拉圖的洞穴後,人類認為自己是自由和才智的典範,因為他已經發現了宇宙的內部運作模式,但在現實中,他又把自己放進另外一個欲望的盒子裡,希望自己成為一個受人推崇的聰明博學的專家。正如盧梭主張,社會是基於聲譽,亦即是基於對外界的表相。人是不斷尋求,通過統計和鐵的事實證明自己的正確。拉帕奇尼,男人的完美形象,痴迷於通過科學的理性主義來獲得人們的敬仰,最後毀滅了他生活的世界。通過對拉帕奇尼作為現代人的刻畫,霍桑的“拉巴契尼的女兒”給予人類一可怕的警告,警惕其專注於以經驗主義為基礎的聲譽

 

原文:

 

 

Scientific Rationalism and Reputation in Hawthorne’s “Rappaccini’s Daughter”

 

During the 18th century, the Enlightenment and scientific rationalism flourished throughout the Western world. Their focus on empirical evidence and experimentation was celebrated as a departure from the impractical and unproven myths of centuries before: humans could now know the world as it truly is. Nevertheless, there were soon detractors who argued that the system of thought developed by Enlightenment thinkers was actually destroying mankind. Proponents of the Romantic Movement contended that importance should be placed on essence rather than existence because there is knowledge that cannot be gleaned from observation alone. They decried this senseless pursuit of knowledge that ignored the intrinsic worth of human beings, placing them below science. Nathaniel Hawthorne, a 19th century transcendentalist, became a strong opponent of the Enlightenment. Hawthorne criticizes the Enlightenment in his short story “Rappaccini’s Daughter” through Rappaccini by suggesting that scientific rationalism did not free modern man but rather chained him to the desire for reputation and in doing so caused the horrors of the world.

Since social man is shackled to reputation, he can never be truly happy because he is always toiling to be viewed as the best. As a consequence of its emphasis on empirics, modern society is based on existence rather than essence: what a person appears to be like is what he or she is seen to be. Thus, the treatment of people in society is based on reputation, and not the true nature of each person.  This inevitably requires that the primary goal of individuals be to either uphold or better their reputation so that they can improve their social standings. Jean-Jacques Rousseau explores this idea in his work, A Discourse on Inequality. As Rousseau contends, “…this universal desire for reputation, honours, and promotions…devours us all” (133). Man is obsessed with maintaining his social status. However, modern human beings are never satisfied with their lot: “Civil man…being always active, sweating and restless, torments himself in search of ever more laborious occupations” (Rousseau 136). Apply this to their achievements, and they will continually strive to become more and more respected, disregarding any cost that would prevent them from advancing in the reputation which puts them in the realm of civilized society.

Modern man is comparable to the philosopher king in Plato’s Parable of the Cave in that he sees himself as enlightened and freed from the chains of savagery. After the development of scientific rationalism, man believes that knowledge is only attainable through experimentation. Once man obtains knowledge of the world, “he will then proceed to argue that this is he who gives the season and the years and is the guardian of all that is in the visible world, and in a certain way the cause of all things which he and his fellows have been accustomed to behold” (Plato 226). The people of modern society, like the philosopher king, believe that because they have unraveled the intricacies of the universe, they are superior to natural man because they have been freed from ignorance. As Plato explains, “when he remembered his old habitation, and the wisdom of the den and his fellow-prisoners… he would felicitate himself on the change, and pity them” (226). Not only does the enlightened member of society pity the ignorant, he looks down upon them. Those who know more about the workings of the world are held in higher esteem than those who know less; those who are right are venerated while those who are wrong are scorned as ignorant. The former are the enlightened who have freed themselves from the cave, and the latter are the unrefined savages who are still trapped in the darkness. It is every person’s aspiration to be deemed the most knowledgeable.

In Hawthorne’s “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” Rappacini is chained to his desire to be seen as an authority in his field of botany, stopping at nothing to achieve this goal. Like his fellow man, Rappaccini desires to be viewed as more advanced than his peers. In order for this to be true, he must always outperform his fellow scientists: “[Giovanni] might have taken Baglioni’s opinions with many grains of allowance had he known that there was a professional warfare of long continuance between him and Dr. Rappaccini, in which the latter was generally thought to have gained the advantage” (Hawthorne 68). Thus, Rappaccini is continually experimenting to be at the forefront of botanical studies, taking no notice of any adverse side-effects of his research. As Hawthorne states, “But as for Rappaccini, it is said of him… that he cares infinitely more for science than for mankind… He would sacrifice human life, his own among the rest, or whatever else was dearest to him….” (68). Throughout the short story, he ignores the detrimental effect his experiments have on his daughter, Beatrice, and her lover, Giovanni, until finally Beatrice dies. At the terminal point in the narrative, Rappaccini pays the ultimate price for his research: “Professor Pietro Baglioni looked forth from the window, and called loudly… to the thunderstricken man of science— ‘Rappaccini! Rappaccini! and is this the upshot of your experiment!’” (Hawthorne 92). Beatrice was the only thing Rappaccini loved besides his science, so by sacrificing her for the sake of data, Rappaccini has destroyed his own world. In this way, Hawthorne shows how man, far from being liberated after leaving the cave, actually runs toward the chains of the reputation which compels him to overlook the sufferings of others in order to uphold his reputation.

            After leaving the cave in Plato’s parable, man thinks himself the paradigm of freedom and sophistication because he has discovered the inner workings of the universe, but, in reality, he has boxed himself into his desire to be respected as an intelligent, erudite expert. Society is based on reputation, which, as Rousseau maintains, is based on outside appearances. Man is incessantly seeking to prove himself correct through statistics and hard facts. Rappaccini is, then, the perfect image of man, who in his obsession with attaining admiration through scientific rationalism devastates the world in which he lives. By depicting Rappaccini as modern man, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Rappaccini’s Daughter” serves as a dire warning to mankind, alerting it to its alarming fixation on empirics based reputation.


 

 

 

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