古典传统与欧洲人对美洲的早期认知

The Classical Tradition and the Europeans'Early Perception of Americas

“古典传统”可理解为从古希腊一直持续到文艺复兴的一种知识体系,其中包括欧洲人观察异域人与物所遵循的基本理念。以“我”为中心的世界观是古典传统的重要组成部分,哥伦布远航美洲之后固存于古典传统的中心主义迅速发酵,欧洲人对美洲的认知无不打上“我”优“他”劣的深刻烙印。这样,他们传递给外界的信息总是由固定模式塑造的美洲,很大程度上讲的是他们“脑海”中早就存在的美洲,而不是现实中的美洲。欧洲人把印第安人身上表现出的某些特性按照自己所需无限夸大,以便“对号入座”他们已经设置好的框架。因此,欧洲人构建的印第安人形象并不能反映所观察对象的真实状况,只是他们虚构或创造出来的,以便为奴役土著人寻求不受到道德谴责的合法理由。追根溯源,这种认知方式只是古典传统中相关知识在新时空下的再现或延展。

The‘classical tradition'can be understood as a knowledge system which lasted from ancient Greece to the Renaissance,including the basic ideas fllowed by the Europeans for observing the exotic world.The self-engrossed world view was a crucial part of the classical tradition.After Columbus sailed to the New World,the centrism which was rooted in the classical tradition quickly swelled and the Europeans'perception of Americas was deeply branded with the superiority of‘me'and the inferiority of‘him'.In this way,the information that they transmitted to the outside world was always an America that was shaped by a fixed model.To a large extent,it was the America already existing in their mind rather than the America in reality.The Europeans immensely exaggerated the certain characteristics of the Indians according to their own needs,so as to'take their seats'in the framework which they have set up.Therefore,the Indian images which were constructed by the Europeans cannot reflect the truth of the observed objects,but their fiction or creation was only served to seek legal reasons for enslaving the natives without moral condemnation.In fact,this way of perception was not novel,but the reproduction or extension of the relevant knowledge of the classical tradition in the new scope of time and space.