控制自然观念的思想史蠡探——威廉·莱斯《自然的控制》文本学梳理

On the Ideological History of the Concept of the Idea of the Domination of Nature—William Leiss’The Domination of Nature

科技征服自然这一观念于当今时代似乎已然成为不证自明的存在,威廉·莱斯认为生态危机产生的真正根源绝非是传统观念上对科学技术的崇拜,而是源于“控制自然”这一意识形态。基于不同时期赋予该意识形态不同的价值内涵,莱斯首先分析了古代神话和宗教时期控制自然内涵并承认该时期是观念形成的萌芽期;其次着重论述了培根“科学技术控制自然”的观点,由此控制自然观念正式确立;最后总结了十七世纪之后人们重审控制自然思想并对其反思,标志控制自然观念最终成熟。对“控制自然”观念形成过程作详尽历史考察,是深层挖掘生态危机产生意识根源的必要途径,亦是解决该问题的必然方法。

The concept that science and technology conquering nature seems to have become a self-evident existence in the present era.William Leiss believes that the real root cause of the ecological crisis is not the worship of science and technology in traditional concepts,but from the ideology of“controlling nature”.Based on the different value connotations given to the ideology in different periods,William Leiss firstly analyzes the connotation of controlling nature in ancient mythology and religion,and admits this period is the embryonic stage of the formation of ideas;secondly,he focuses on Bacon’s viewpoint of“science and technology control of nature”,thus,the concept of controlling nature was officially established;and finally,he sums up the revisiting of the idea of control of nature after the seventeenth century and its rethinking,which signified the final maturity of the notion of control of nature.A detailed historical investigation into the formation process of the concept of“control of nature”is a necessary way of digging deeper into the root causes of the ecological crisis,and also an inevitable way of solving the problem.