|
緒論
-
什麼是性行為? |
|
性及性行為屬于演變史 4：“人是機器”說
|
|
 |
|
朱莉
O.
德·拉·美特利（Julien
Offray de La
Mettrie，1709-1751）
法國內科醫師和機械唯物主義哲學家，以其著作《人是機器》而聞名。書中，人的身體被解釋成機器的零部件。用作者自己的話說就是：人的身體是“一部被多個彈簧所賦予的完整的精巧物，彈簧移動著人體這架精巧的機器。”因為這部著作沒有為永恆的不同神靈留足生存的空間，權威當局和憤怒的公眾輿論認為它誹謗了神靈。作者不得不逃亡他鄉，不過在柏林普魯士偉大的國王弗雷德里克的宮廷尋到了庇護所。其實，德·拉·美特利只是以間接的方式闡明了他那個時代對於人體的感悟而已。後來，他關於人體的哲學感悟極大地影響了對人類行為的研究。
|
|
|
毋庸置疑，“性（sex）”的概念的逐漸改變也反映了人對自身形象認識的改變。畢竟，自從中世紀末期以來，歐洲人的生活方式已經經歷了徹底的和不斷加速的轉變過程。這種從封建經濟制度到資本主義經濟制度的轉變、貿易的增加和科技的進步，使得人們的觀念、生活習性和道德價值觀發生了革命性的變化。脫穎而出的城市中產階級或資產階級把他們自己訓練成較為遵守紀律、自律和克己的一代新人。這是以往任何時候從未有過的變化。工作效率、守時、生產率和利潤被人作為新的觀念所稱頌。人們開始把人體視為以最有規則和最可能合理運轉的一台機器。在性機能方面，人們也希望這台機器既可控又經濟。人們殘酷地壓抑著自發的生理反應和生理欲望，認為生理反應和生理欲望會妨礙性器官的“適當”使用。與此同時，對肉體欲望不斷地壓抑、抑制和畏懼，逐漸把人們的關注點聚焦於“性生活品質（sexual
quality）”之上。
|
|
|
德·拉·美特利具有爭議性的著作《人是機器》[L'Homme
machine
（Man
a Machine）]
左：法文原著書名頁（1748）；右：英語譯本書名頁
（1750）（約20年後，隨著詹姆士·瓦特改進了蒸汽機技術，開始了“機械化時代”，即開始了工業化革命時代。） |
|
|
|
Introduction - What is sexual behavior? |
|
History of the Term 5 |
|
|
|
Julien Offray
de La Mettrie
(1709-1751), a French physician and philosopher of materialism, is best known for his work L'Homme machine (Man a Machine). In it, the human body is explained as a piece of machinery. In the author’s own words: “A full detail is given of the several springs which move the human machine”. Because the book leaves no room for a separate, eternal soul, it was considered scandalous by the authorities and publicly burned. The author had to flee, but found asylum in Berlin at the court of the Prussian king Frederick the Great. Actually, de la Mettrie merely formulated a growing perception of his time and, in indirect ways, later greatly influenced the study of behavior.
|
|
|
There is no question that the gradual changes in the concept of “sex” also reflected changes in the image people had of themselves. After all, since the end of the Middle Ages the style of living in Europe had undergone a thorough and ever-accelerating transformation. The transition from a feudalistic to a capitalistic economy, the growth of trade, and the advance of technology gave rise to new attitudes, habits, and moral values. The emerging urban middle class or bourgeoisie trained itself for a greater degree of discipline, self-control, and self-denial than had ever been known before. Efficiency, punctuality, productivity, and profit were proclaimed as the new ideals. The human body came to be seen as a machine which had to perform in the most regular and rational manner possible. This machine was also expected to be practical and economical in its sexual functioning. Spontaneous physical responses and desires which interfered with the “proper” use of the sex organs were rigorously suppressed. At the same time,
the growing suppression, subjugation, exploitation, and fear of the body also increasingly focused attention on its "sexual" qualities.
|
|
|
De La Mettrie’s controversial book.
Left: Title page in the original French (1748)
Right: The English translation (1750).
(About twenty years later, James Watt, with his improvement of the steam engine, started the “machine age”, i.e. the industrial revolution.)
|
|
|
