渥滋華斯之視覺光學世界:笛卡兒機械論、圓、體轉、性能、與零點引力<<序曲>>與<<抒情歌謠>>

Abstract

本論文，目地在於以柏拉圖派注重知行合一，從練身的角度探究作者主體的時間。此以主體之身時所再現的空間呈現作者的光學既機械世界。其典型之代表作為《序曲》及 《抒情歌謠》。此面向之探討主體，源於現代科學之父笛卡爾之哲學理論與身體實踐。 再者，序曲及抒情歌謠被視為懺悔錄，為一種認知心智的科學技術：懺悔既得知真理，亦是鍛鍊身體內功。懺悔錄之內容皆為作者所認知的記憶時光，既黑白分明的〈點點光陰〉(“spots of time”)。因為這些時空點皆是主體生命中批判的片刻：這些片刻使其靈魂不斷地產生不安，總是陷其於恐懼或是美麗的境界, 同時也是一個停滯的時點，既是使詩人產生向心或離心的時點及其身體回原點的變迭狀態。 為了闡明作者之光學既機械觀點，此論文除了討論傳統及現代對作者時空點的批判外 並追溯從柏拉圖至德勒茲之聯想哲學理論。鑑此，此論文亦間接地解釋了幾個重要的機械術語：體轉、性能、化圓、零點的引力等等。 此論文論述主張，渥滋華斯之懺悔錄可類比於笛卡爾之機械心智理論：時空之虛擬性，源自主體自身之性德所至，一方面藉由作者使其身體内力之實驗屈從於心智想像思維創作之中﹔另一方面又藉由作者化其時間之行為及其對客體之命名為永恆的真理，因而使此浪漫詩人得君子之美名。Unlike most Wordsworthian studies, this dissertation aims to investigate Wordsworth in the perspective of physis/physics/physiology. It looks into Wordsworth’s world as an optic world (in which imagination is seen as “visionary gleam” and life is found to be full of “spots of time”) and as a mechanical world (in which circle, torsion, gravity, etc., are working entities for natural or human beings). It takes for its scope of study two main works of Wordsworth’s, namely, The Prelude and the Lyrical Ballads. And it refers to several Western thinkers, especially Descartes, for the physical investigation of the works. In addition, both The Prelude and the Lyrical Ballads are considered to be confessional works, explicitly and implicitly. To confess is to recognize “truth” and “virtue” (in the sense of power, force, or strength as well as in the sense of moral goodness). What Wordsworth recognizes, as expressed in both works, are the dark and light “spots of time,” which are the critical moments that foster the poet’s soul with fear and beauty, that stop life’s temporary motion or torsion with its centrifugal and centripetal forces, that make possible the replacement of the x axis of space and the y axis of time with the z axis of universal eternity, and that lead the poet to go through a full circle and enter the zero point of gravity, where mechanical motion becomes everlasting rest and “renovated virtue” becomes pure soul. In order to explicate the optical and mechanical views on Wordsworth, the dissertation traces philosophical ideas from Plato to Deleuze besides reviewing some modern Wordsworthian studies on the “spots of time.” Furthermore, it explains such technical terms as torsion, virtue, circle, and 0 of gravity, in consideration of the dual aspects of quantity and quality, motion and rest, centrifugal and centripetal forces, nature and society, fact and imagination, space and time, x axis and y axis, body and soul, etc. The dissertation concludes that Wordsworth’s confessional literature is closely related to Descartes’ mechanical versus mental ideas, especially in the sense that to “virtualize” the “spots of time” is to idealistically make them both “virtual” by subordinating physical nature and actual fact to the mind’s imaginative creation, and “virtuous” by elevating the temporary deeds and names to the permanent truth and fame.