启蒙时代的“同情”

Enlightenment Understandings of Sympathy

通过考察同情观点在18世纪欧洲的演变及其与启蒙主义主体观的联系(聚焦于18世纪上半期的情况与之前的铺垫),以及18世纪中叶兴起的人物观点与同情话语的联系(以菲尔丁的小说为主要例证),认为18世纪的欧洲发展出两种同情观,分别对主体的状态与构成做出了两个相悖的假设。假设一:个体之间虽然边界鲜明,但互相之间情感模式相似,个人可以通过想象来认知、体会他人的情感。假设二:人必然受他人情感的影响,个体之间边界模糊,但人与人之间并没有普遍的情感,只有互相受影响的倾向,所以并不能保证情感的有效沟通。如果我们将第一种对同情的理解称为"聚合式同情",第二种就是"间离式同情"。这两种同情观并行交织,构成了启蒙主义主体观中的一个核心悖论,并与新兴现代小说中的"人物"塑造手法形成了互文关系。

What do the diverging views of sympathy in 18 th century Europe imply about Enlightenment views of human subjectivity? This essay charts two concurrent notions of sympathy during this era to demonstrate a central split within Enlightenment thinking. On the one side are theories of universal sentiments that gesture toward the possibility of unobstructed interpersonal communication. On the other is an equally strong apprehension that emotional connections between people function like a contagion that brings no real understanding. The essay further shows that these two models of sympathy — as emotional synchronization and as emotional entanglementy — are also manifest in the English fiction of the 18 th century, as seen in Fielding's literary career.