英国大瘟疫时代的政治共同体想象——《乌托邦》中的瘟疫管控、养生法与和谐身体

Political Community Imagination in English Plague Era:Plague Control,Regimen and Harmonious Body in Utopia

英格兰在16世纪初多次遭受瘟疫袭击,政府采取隔离与其他管控措施但未能阻止疾病蔓延。为此,医生建议国民制定个性化的养生法以防治自然身体疾病,同时政府依据古典医学和谐理念发挥不同阶层功能以确保政治身体健康,再现了政治共同体尊重差异与追求和谐的思想。《乌托邦》同名岛国公民在自家花园种植草药,在城市建立一套管控瘟疫的完美医疗体系,与作者莫尔作为代理执政官处理瘟疫时所经历的伦敦医疗惨状形成鲜明对比,而莫尔参与公共事务与书写理想国度彰显了他捍卫处于瓦解中的民族共同体的决心。岛国人痴迷作者好友带去的古希腊医学典籍;实践体液理论的健身、养生与和谐思想;追求自然身体、政治身体与宇宙身体的健康,派遣官员援助邻国健康发展;尊重对方异样的文明道路,这都投射出大瘟疫时代英格兰的全球(欧洲)共同体想象。

At the beginning of the 16th century,England was hit by plague several times.The government adopted some preventive measures like quarantine,but still could not stop the disease from spreading.Therefore,physicians advised that people should follow an individualized regimen to prevent and treat the disease in natural body,and that,simultaneously,the government should prompt all institutions at different levels to function well in accordance with the harmony concept in classical medicine,so as to ensure the health of political body.What all this embodies is the political community’s ideal of respecting difference and pursuing harmony.In Utopia,the citizens of the namesake island country plant herbs in their family garden and establish a perfect medical system to contain the plague in their cities.This constitutes a sharp contrast to the miserable medical situations in London that More,the author of the story,experienced when he was dealing with the plague as the acting administrator.More’s participation in public affairs and his writing about a utopian nation display his determination to protect the collapsing national community.The Utopians read,with avidity,the books about the ancient Greek medicine,brought by More’s good friend,and practice the ideas of bodybuilding,regimen,and harmony in pursuit of the good health of natural body,political body,and global body.Also,they send officials to help neighboring countries’healthy development while still respecting their different ways of civilization.All this reflects England’s imagination of the global(European)political community during the plague era.