West of Eden: Carrying On

伊甸園之西：持續中

Samuel Weber

《Tamkang Review》 Volume 45 Issue 1 (2014/12) Pp. 3-21

https://doi.org/10.6184/TKR201412-1

Abstracts

「西方」歷史與文化深受所謂「單神學的身份典範」影響，而本文〈伊甸園之西〉試圖重新思考其背後的驅動力。如同聖經故事描述，世界是由單一、排他且萬能的上帝所創造，這也是第一次挪用並闡明「單神學的身份典範」的例子。這個「上帝」在「出埃及記」中告訴摩西他的名字即「我就是我是誰」（或者其他翻譯版本，「我將是誰」），這個上帝可能只是願望的投射，目的是設想一般的存在，以及特別是人類的存在，設想存在是自我一致，且不受時空（因此身體的）改變之影響；若果真如此，那麼所謂世俗文化，其中大部分可以看成是這一模式的延伸，也就是上帝以人的形式出現，降生於世上；耶穌之死絕非上帝之死，而象徵著人透過身體的復活與永生，進而神化；伊甸園的東門雖已關閉，那麼這模式也將是「回到」伊甸園的方式。在全球化的時代，這也意味著我們需要重新思考東方與西方的關係，特別藉由審視這鏡像的（以拉崗解釋「鏡像」的意涵）、不可能成功的企圖，企圖重回那種設想自我為恆常不變的時代。

Keywords

自我身份 ； 造物者－上帝 ； 影像 ； 認同 ； 世界／全球 ； 哈姆雷特論及孩童－演員

Parallel abstracts

＂West of Eden＂ attempts to rethink the forces driving ＂Western＂ history and culture as informed by what might be called a ＂monotheological identity paradigm,＂ first deployed and articulated in the Biblical narrative of the creation of the world through a single, exclusive and universal God. This God, who can tell Moses in Exodus that his name is ＂I am who I am＂ (or in other translations: ＂...who I will be＂) is perhaps the projection of a wish to conceive being in general and human being in particular as self-identical and impervious to temporal and spatial (and hence bodily) alteration. If this is so, then much of what is called ＂secular culture＂ can be seen as an extension of this model, which is brought down to earth with the appearance of God in human form. The death of Christ, far from being the death of God, would then signify the deification of man through the promise of bodily resurrection and eternal life. This would be the way ＂back＂ to an Eden whose Eastern Gates are barred. In an age of ＂globalization,＂ this model suggests the need to rethink the relation of ＂East＂ and ＂West＂ in terms of this imaginary (in the Lacanian sense) and impossible attempt to ＂return＂ to a life in which the ＂Self＂ could be construed as perennial.

Parallel keywords

self-identity ； Creator-God ； image ； identification ； world/globe ； Hamlet's child-players

References

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Derrida, Jacques,Dutoit, Thomas(Ed.),Pasanen, Outi(Ed.)(2005).Sovereignties in Question: The Poetics of Paul Celan.Paris:Fordham UP.

Derrida, Jacques(2003).Beliers.Paris:Editions Galilee.

Derrida, Jacques,Allison, David B.(Trans.)(1973).Speech and Phenomena.Evanston:Northwestern UP.