西方占卜研究的新取向——评《古代的占卜与经验》和《古希腊罗马时代的占卜和知识》

New Studies on Ancient Divination——Review of Ancient Divination and Experience and Divinaiton and Knowledge in Greco-Roman Antiquity

20世纪前期占卜研究较少,传承了19世纪以来占卜“非理性”的思想,主要贡献是神谕的收集整理;20世纪后期关于占卜与“理性”的讨论发人深省,同时“功能主义”分析方法的应用开启了学界对占卜社会政治功能的长期关注;21世纪的学者们不再过多关注占卜是否理性的问题,而“功能”研究仍是可接受的研究“传统”,但也有一些创新研究。《古代的占卜与经验》和《古希腊罗马时代的占卜和知识》这两本论文集便是新时代创新尝试下的产物,其共同点是反思传统的功能研究,进而转换研究视角至几乎未开发的新领域。前者重点关注占卜的经验,特别是人们在占卜活动中所面临的挑战及其内心体验,并解释古代占卜本质是与神交流。后者则将研究导向知识领域,既探究占卜如何作为获取知识的模式,也探究占卜与其他类型知识间的关系。

In the first half of the 20th century,few scholars were interested in divination,for it was considered to be“irrational”,yet they published some collections of the oracles;in the late 20th century,the discussion on divination and“rationality”was very profound,and functionalism initiated a long-term concern on the socio-political functions of divination;in the 21st century,many scholars no longer pay much attention to rational or irational divination,and“functionalism”is still a popular“tradition”,but there are also some new research.Both Ancient Divination and Experience and Divinaiton and Knowledge in Greco-Roman Antiquity are collected papers of new attempts to develop new studies beyond traditional functionalism.The former focuses on practice of divination,especially the experience of attendants,and explains that the essence of divination in ancient times was to communicate with the gods.The latter focus on knowledge,including divination as a mode of knowledge,and the connections between ancient divination and knowledge.