知识共同体--维多利亚文人的智性探求

摘要

Never has there been an age so much concerned about the nature of knowledge as the Victorian age.Almost all cele-brated men of letters of this period pondered on the nature of knowledge, the boundary of human intellect and consequences of intellectual pursuit.Although varied in field and scope, they overlapped and interpenetrated in discourse, through which they un-consciously constructed a unique community of knowledge.They sought wholesome rather than specialized knowledge, sound reason rather than professional training.Through the close link they sustained between the value of knowledge and that of ethics and aesthetics, this community functioned as a spiritual lighthouse in the age of turbulence.%没有哪个时代像维多利亚时代这样如此关注知识的本质问题。当时几乎所有重要的文人都在思考知识问题，探求人类智性的边界，反思认识活动带来的后果。尽管他们的学科领域看似泾渭分明，关注焦点也各有不同，然而细读和比较会让我们发现，他们的话语在深层处彼此交叠，相互渗透，形成了一个独特的知识共同体。这个共同体追求整体性而非分化的专业知识，看重健全心智而非职业人士的培养；他们把知识与道德价值和审美情趣紧密关联，成为动荡时代为大众提供精神导引的中坚力量。