十八世紀西方學界對氣候與人體關係之討論

Abstract

本計劃希望以一年為期，探討啟蒙運動時期西方學者普遍相信「自然環境影響人體」 的看法。在十八世紀，不論英國學者阿爾布特諾（John Arbuthnot），還是法國學者布豐 （Buffon），都認為：處身於不同氣候環境之下的人類，其身體會有不同的反應。然而， 值得注意的是，一些古代學者（例如Hippocrates 與Strabo）也有類似的看法。自文藝 復興時代以來，古典文學作品已經成為西方學界重要的知識來源。因此，本計畫將以本 人既有的研究成果為基礎，經由研讀幾位古代希臘、羅馬作家的作品，試圖找出十八世 紀學者普遍接受的「自然環境影響人體」的可能知識來源。預計本研究將能夠展現啟蒙 運動時期科學知識與古典文學之間的密切互動關係，更可藉此暸解啟蒙運動對古典傳統 的轉化過程。

The Discussions on the Correlation between Climates and Human Bodies in the Enlightenment This one-year project poses to explore an idea generally accepted by the eighteenth-century savants: the developments of human bodies were influenced by environments. In this period, both John Arbuthnot（1667-1735）and Buffon（1707-1788） thought that various climates provoked different human somatic reactions. It is noteworthy that this modern idea was very similar to that of some ancient scholars, including Hippocrates （c.460-c.377 B.C.）and Strabo（？58B.C.-between21 and 25 ）. From the Renaissance on, the heritage of classical literature had been an essential authority of the western civilization. It is very possible that the Enlightenment thought of the connection between environments and human bodies was inspired by those ancient scholars. Therefore, this project is going to consult both ancient and modern sources concerning this idea, and to investigate to what extant the modern idea was founded upon the ancient authority. This research will thus reveal another aspect of the appropriation of the classical literature in eighteenth-century scientific thinking.