人与物关系的演变

The Evolution of Relationships between Humans and Things

物构成了人存在的基础。它不仅为人提供了维系生存、建构世界的材料,同时物的使用也对人起着重要的塑造与建构作用;它不仅承载着历史与文化记忆,同时也规范、反映、限制着人的思维与行为方式。本文尝试梳理从古希腊至今对物的观察所走过的从直观的观察对象到认识的客体、从形而上的精神载体到拜物教的对象、从对物界限的消解到人与物相互作用的道路,讨论物在社会实践中的作用以及文学与物的关系。

Material things are the fundamental substance of human existence. Not only do they provide the things that construct and sustain the living world, in the way of utilization, they are also deeply involved in the shaping of human beings. Things act as archives of history and cultural memories which normalize, display and also restrict the thinking and acting of humans. This paper attempts to trace the history of the ideas of matter from antiquity to the modern times and discuss the functions of things in social practices as well as the relationships between literature and things. Starting with intuitive observation of the concrete beings, things have been defined with various values from cognitive object, embodiment of metaphysical spirit to artifact of fetishism. Through different historical times, the ideas of things are no longer confined to the material world and the interactions between humans and things have drawn more and more attention.