论蒂莫西·莫顿的幽暗生态学

On Timothy Morton's Dark Ecology

幽暗生态学是由美国莱斯大学英文教授蒂莫西·莫顿于2007年提出的一个激进生态美学观点,其内容是以忧郁的美学态度反思沉重的话题。幽暗生态学思想的本质是对人类无法控制且在不断恶化的环境做出艺术的回应,其思考的对象是人与环境的共存关系,并涉及生态科学、艺术、哲学、文学、音乐、文化等众多领域。莫顿以“超客体时代”为背景提出“无自然的生态学”,认为人类与其他宇宙万物皆以超客体的形式平等地存在,自然不是浪漫主义艺术中按照人类意愿经过美化的自然形象,而是神秘的、自在的、不受人类控制的存在,因而人类在艺术中需要承认并接受自然中的危机、死亡等阴暗面。在此基础上,莫顿将自己的生态美学思想称为“幽暗生态学”,主张尊重人与环境不可终止的共存关系、不以人类意志为转移的环境以及“没有人类的未来”,并认识到且承担起人类对环境的责任。本文从莫顿的世界观、生态批评话语体系、“幽暗”之于生态思想的重要性以及幽暗生态学在文学阅读中的应用四个主要方面对莫顿的幽暗生态学进行阐述。

Dark ecology,proposed in 2007 by Timothy Morton,Professor of English at Rice University,is a radical ecological aesthetics as a reflection of the depress-ing events with a melancholic attitude.The essence of Morton's ecological thoughts is an artistic response to the uncontrollable and deteriorating environment,focusing on the coexistence between human beings and the environment,in various fields such as eco-logical science,art,philosophy,literature,music and culture.Morton creates the term ecology without nature"in the"time of hyperobjects",believing that humans and other nonhumans in the universe exist equally in the form of hyperobjects;and nature is not the image of nature in Romantic arts beautified by man's will,but a mysterious,autonomic existence free from human's control.Therefore,humans need to recognize and to accept the crisis,death,and other darks sides of nature in the aesthetics.On this basis,Morton names his ecological aesthetics"dark ecology",advocating the respect for the interminable coexistence between man and the environment,the overwhelming environment along with the"future without human beings",and the realization of humans'responsibility for the environment.This essay attempts to give a general introduction to dark ecology from four aspects:Morton's worldview,the key concepts in his ecocriticism,the importance of"darkness"to ecological thoughts,and the application of dark ecology in reading literature.