论自然与环境

On Nature and the Environment

生态批评属于文本和文化研究的范畴,于20世纪70年代末发轫于西方国家,尤其是在美国。生态批评本质上探索的是人类社会和超人类世界,即人和"自然"之间复杂的、动态的关系。本文概述了生态批评发展过程中的第一次浪潮、第二浪潮和第三次浪潮,同时列举了北美以外世界各地出现的各种生态批评范式,其中就包括中国的生态批评。从根本上说,生态批评致力于揭示人类如何理解自己和他者的关系,以及为什么作为个人和作为一个物种的我们,会以现在这样的行为方式与自然界互动,哪怕这样的行为实际上违背了我们自己的最大利益,有时甚至是危及我们的基本生存。环境哲学家和生态批评家有时使用"生命之爱"(对生物的爱)和"生态恐惧症"(对自然的厌恶和恐惧)这类词汇来描述人类对自然的态度。生态批评被描述为"环境角度的文学和文化研究"。然而,生态批评关注的最根本的是,我们人类是如何思考的,如何使用语言和其他文化表现形式的,以及我们与超人类世界的互动如何丰富并挑战了我们的生活。

Ecocriticism is a field of textual and cultural studies that emerged in Western countries, such as the United States, in the late-1970 s. Ecocriticism in nature explores the complicated, changing relationships between human society and the more-than-human world—between people and ＂nature＂. This article briefly summarizes the development of ecocriticism through its first-wave, second-wave, and third-wave phases. The article also offers examples of various non-North American varieties of ecocriticism, including Chinese ecocriticism. Ecocriticism basically tries to reveal how human beings understand themselves in relation to ＂the other＂ and why we, as individualsand as a species, behave as we do in our interactions with the natural world, even when our behaviors sometimes work against our own best interests, sometimes our very survival. Environmental philosophers and ecocritics sometimes use words such as ＂biophilia＂（love of living things）and ＂ecophobia＂（dislike or fear of nature）to describe human attitudes toward nature. The field of ecocriticism can be described as ＂literary and cultural studies from an environmental perspective＂. Still, on the most basic level, ecocriticism is concerned with human beings—how we think, how we use language and other forms of cultural expression, and how our own lives are enriched and challenged by our engagement with the more-than-human world.