早期斯多亚学派的普纽玛概念及其在宇宙论模型中的作用

The Early Stoic Concept of Pneuma and Its Role in the Cosmological Model

早期斯多亚学派在宏观宇宙和具体存在物之间构建了一个连续且统一的模型,并采用普纽玛(pneuma)这种火-气混合物作为联结宇宙-小宇宙的关键理论设施。一方面,普纽玛被界定为主动性元素的混合物,占据具体的物理空间,其扩张和收缩导致每一个具体存在物的产生、变化与运动,在此意义上构成了万物生成变化的最终原因。另一方面,普纽玛渗透于每一个物体内部,令整个世界成为统一的整体并保持这种整体性。早期斯多亚学派的这种普纽玛-宇宙论模型自提出以来就备受批评,被认为其普纽玛概念存在着内在的不一致。本文将集中探讨普纽玛概念的内在演化以及所谓的"空间占位"问题,指出这种"不一致"只是表面上的,早期斯多亚学派实际上是从性质和功能两个层面分别对普纽玛做出了界定与说明。不仅如此,如果我们根据斯多亚学派式的宇宙周期观念,引入一个二阶段的混合-生成模型来解释普纽玛与其他物质结合并推动变化的方式,则可以对于占位问题提出一个有利于斯多亚学派的说明。

The early Stoics attempt to construct a new cosmological model to account for both the origin of the Cosmos as a whole and how the particulars in it come into being and perish. To make this macrocosmmicrocosm model work in a continuous and unified way, they introduce a mixture of fire and air, which is called pneuma, using it as the basic principle to explain the nature of all creatures in the world and their movements. According to the early Stoics, pneuma is a kind of material body consisted of two elements whose endless extension and contraction cause the alteration and movement of everything in the world. On the other hand, pneuma penetrates all the creatures through and through when still remaining to keep its own active nature so that it determines the nature of other beings. It is in this sense that pneuma holds the whole cosmos as a continuous unity. Unfortunately, this account of pneuma has been attacked by many other philosophers on the reason that there is an inconsistency in its definition, which would inevitably lead to some fatal contradictions. One of the most serious criticism is focused on the question of how it is possible for the pneuma to penetrate the other body and ocoupy the same space at the same time should it be a body. This paper is aimed to show that the so-called inconsistency is merely an apparent one and the Stoic account ofpneuma can be defended by adopting a line of interpretation which combines the principle of mixture with a model concerning the periodical generation and destruction of the cosmos.