文艺复兴魔法:沉思抑或操作?——从皮科·米兰多拉的魔法理论透视耶茨论题

Renaissance Magic: Contemplation or Operation?——The Yates Thesis from the Perspective of Pico Mirandola’s Theory of Magic

一、耶茨及其批评者1964年,英国科学史家弗朗西斯·耶茨(FrancesYates)出版《布鲁诺与赫尔墨斯传统》,在西方学界引起轰动。该书旗帜鲜明地主张,赫尔墨斯主义与卡巴拉主义、新柏拉图主义一起,塑造了文艺复兴时期对于世界的新理解。这特别表现在,受赫尔墨斯主义影响的文艺复兴魔法,不同于希腊和中世纪对沉思的向往,极力主张实践性的"操作(operation)",后者"对人而言不仅光荣而且重要.

In her representative work Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition,British historian of science Frances Yates suggests that unlike ancient Greek philosophy or medieval theology,Renaissance magic for the first time advocated human operation and domination over the world,which itself gave birth to modern natural science.Yates’research changed the understanding of the Renaissance in western philosophical and scientific history circles,and her theory of Hermeticism,known as the"Yates Thesis,"had a far-reaching influence.Yet Yates’thesis has also been criticized by various scholars,especially by philosophical historians represented by Copenhaver and Farmer,who strongly opposed her idea of magic.In their view,Renaissance magic was essentially contemplation rather than operation,and therefore does not possess the characteristics of modern natural science.This paper takes Pico Mirandola’s theory of magic as its starting point,and attempts to combine his cosmology and theory of human nature.It shows that although Renaissance magic had the tendency and intention of contemplation,its intrinsic characteristics and manifestations were still operative.Farmer and Copenhaver put too much emphasis on the theological background and purpose of magic and neglected the operation of magic in the theological landscape,a move that can be seen to be theoretically unsustainable.