莎夫茨伯利基于“热忱”的宗教思想探析

A Study of Shaftesbury’s Religious Thoughts Based on the Concept of Enthusiasm

"热忱"在十七世纪的英国意指备受指责的宗教狂热主义。莎夫茨伯利利用了这个广受争议的概念来建构他的宗教思想,这反映其思想的超前性和原创性。在早期作品《关于热忱的一封信》中,莎夫茨伯利对于"热忱"持一种微妙的、复杂的态度,他既批评它,又为它辩护。在其成熟期的《道德家们》中,莎夫茨伯利则更为坚定地为"热忱"辩护,它被视为一切人类特有活动的标志和源泉,每种具有想象力的建构——一切艺术,音乐,数学,科学和宗教——无不是来自于它,"热忱"已被他看作具有决定性力量的人类经验,它具有三重相关关联的含义:情感、启示、和审美。

In 17 th century,"enthusiasm"indicated religious fanaticism.However,Shaftesbury just used this controversial concept to construct his theory of religion,which illustrated his originality and precedence.Shaftesbury had a subtle and complex attitude to"enthusiasm"in his early A Letter Concerning Enthusiasm,which not only criticized but also defended it.Only in his later The Moralists,Shaftesbury apologized"enthusiasm"firmly,seeing it as the mark and source of every distinctively human act.In the eye of Shaftesbury,every product of imagination——all arts,music,mathematics,science and religion——came from"enthusiasm",which is seen as the decisive power in human experience and has three interrelated meaning:feeling,revelation and aesthetics.