他山之石,何以攻玉?-驗證菲利浦.普曼在黑暗元素三部曲中的宇宙觀及靈魂觀

Can an Alternative Cosmology Save Our World?-A Study of Aspects of Soul and Worlds in Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials Trilogy

徐孝先(Hsiao-Hsien Hsu)

指導教授 ： 周曉青

國立暨南國際大學/人文學院/外國語文學系/碩士(2012年)

https://doi.org/10.6837/NCNU.2012.00179

摘要

本研究旨在探討菲利普.普曼所著之黑暗元素三部曲中，對於自創之世界觀及靈魂觀以期實現其無神以及純然隨機的新世界「天堂共和國」中的邏輯以及新神學的建立提出質疑。在普曼的設定下，新世界的秩序來自於一種名為塵的分子，這種分子構建了所有的物體、靈魂、以及無數的平行世界，並使這些平行世界產生連結，其中的被創物包括了我們所認知的上帝。藉此設定，普曼也開啟了其小說文本中，教廷權威與真理追求者之間的戰端。這種終極目的為驗證上帝其實是假神，而並不是否定其存在的手法，某種程度上成為其小說中相當核心，並最具爭議的部份。
本研究發現由普曼設定支撐整個世界運作的兩種重要元素：塵以及靈,在現象學以及形上學的解釋上都充斥著矛盾。以塵為例,學生試以文本中塵的本質性以及功能性歸納出所謂的塵,其實是一種饒富生命力以及無所不能的「超級元素」；普曼對塵的期待以至於加諸了過多的附加價值諸於其上，最後甚至令其成為組成世間一切有形無形的分子，使得原本具有神性的元素變成了怪物。研究中也發現，這種以單一元素成為整個宇宙的唯一成因，企圖否定造物者存在的學說，與紀元前約450年間發跡於希臘的分子學派極為相似。文中亦說明了分子學派早在兩千年前就因為其邏輯缺陷而無法為神學以及科學接受。在普曼的黑暗元素三部曲中，因為其反基督的寫作動機使得分子學復辟，但其所跟著重生的邏輯缺陷卻仍未得到解釋！構成世界的唯一元素充滿邏輯問題，這也將使普曼的新無神世界危如累卵。
而這個世界第二個支點在於靈的設定以及其存在的正當性，簡單來說就是靈魂觀。靈魂向來是一個敏感不易觸及的主題，普曼藉由將人的個性形象化、具體化，並使之成為一種類似伙伴關系的動物伴其主體左右。研究中亦發現了難以解釋的衝突點，主要緣於靈與本體互動的情緒反應上。根據海德格的存在主義以及亞里斯多德的形上學中對於形與體的解釋中，所謂的情感表達，亦都只是由思想及靈魂中產生的意念投射。然而小說中靈既然已經化身為具體實物，由主體對於靈所產生的情感以及不安源自何處? 即被投射物與投射物皆屬有靈，而且形式上獨立，但實體上共生的多重靈魂觀在文中並沒有得到很理想的處理。
本研究的結論乃是基於塵與靈的缺陷，進而對於普曼主張作家應該著眼現實而非空洞的幻想的批判提出質疑,因其設定固然近似現實，但仍屬虛幻。而所謂的「天堂共和國」，也因為其兩個主要元素缺乏邏輯性的支持而看不出比原本要被推翻的「天堂王國」高明太多。但研究同時也發現，這並不是普曼或是受其批判的其他作家的問題,而是受限於文體本身。

關鍵字: 黑暗元素三部曲;塵;靈;菲利浦.普曼

關鍵字

黑暗元素三部曲 ； 塵 ； 靈 ； 菲利浦.普曼

並列摘要

The thesis questions the aspect of souls and worlds in Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Material Trilogy, which he expected to fulfill his atheistic world and the universe of probablism, namely “Republic of Heaven.” In Pullman’s setting, the disciplines of the New World originated from Dust, an atom-like element that constructed all the materials, souls and numberless parallel universes; even God was the concentration of Dust. Under this setting, Pullman waged a war between the two powers, the Magisterium and the Truth suitors in the novel. Pullman’s ultimate goal was to prove the being of God a lie without denying His existence. The methodologies applied in the novel somehow became the central and the most disputing theme of the story.
The study showed that the two important elements that support Pullman’s world, Daemon and Dust were facing their contradictions in both phenomenological and metaphysical ways of defining them. Take Dust as an example, I inducted what Dust was by its essence and function then found this overloaded “super element” was inexpertly overestimated than a godly cause. With too many extra values added, at the same time it was made the only element that created the whole world; its holiness was ignored and turned into a monster. Moreover, the study found that Pullman’s idea of Dust was very similar to the Greek atomism (founded in 450 B.C.), a theory that was already abandoned by theology and science two thousand years ago because its lack of reasoning logic. In His Dark Material trilogy, the theory was restored with Pullman’s motive of anti-Christianity and denying of the Creator, but its lack of logic remained unsolved.
The second support of Pullman’s world was his setting of Daemon and its legitimacy of existence. Simply, Daemon is Pullman’s view on soul. Soul had been always a sensitive and complicated subject, but Pullman visualized and externalized it as an animal-shaped partner called Daemon. Daemon represented its human’s characteristic and was inseparable with its human. The study found an unexplainable conflict in the relationship between the Daemon and its human based on their psychological interactions. According to Martin Heidegger’s ideas of existentialism and Aristotle’s Metaphysics, emotional expressions are the projections of one’s mind and soul. Since in the story the souls had been embodied as Daemon, where or what does the owner originate his or her feeling and anxiety toward their Daemon? Apparently, the projector and the projected both had souls and being metaphysically individuals, whilst they were physically as one. It is to say Pullman’s ambition of essentially symbiotic multiple souls did not fulfill successfully in the story.
The conclusion of the study was based on the defects of the Dust and Souls then questioned Pullman’s critics in whether a fantasy literature can or should really be realistic. By evaluating Pullman’s works, it is to proved that an imitation of the reality still remain fictional and unreal in the world of His Dark Materials. Besides, his setting of “Republic of Heaven” is proved not better than the overthrown “Kingdom of Heaven” that readers are encountering, while the basic two elements Dust and Daemons being in lack of logical and correct theological explanation. However, the study also found that this is not Pullman’s or any other fantasy writers’ fault, but that they were limited by the genre itself.

Key words: His Dark Materials Trilogy; Dust; Daemon; Phillip Pullman

並列關鍵字

His Dark Materials Trilogy ； Dust ； Daemon ； Phillip Pullman

參考文獻

Aristotle. Nicomachean Ethics, Books VIII and IX. Translated with a Commentary by Michael Pakaluk. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998.

Aristotle. Aristotle’s De Animal in Focus. Ed. Michael Durrant. London: Routledge, 1993.

Berry, Adrian. “How to Swap Universes,” Sunday Telegraph (London) June12, 1994.

Bird, Anne-Marie. “‘Without Contraries there Is No Progression’: Dust as an All-Inclusive, Multifunctional Metaphor in Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials.” Children’s Literature in Education. 32.2(2001): 111-123.

Chrisafis, Angelique. “Fiction becoming trivial and worthless, says top author” The Guardian, August 12, 2002. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2002/aug/12/books.booksnews.