＂No other doctrine needs＂: Knowledge in Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained

「本自俱足」－《失樂園》與《復樂園》中的知識

黃嘉音(Chia-yin Huang)

knowledge ； wisdom ； scientia ； sapientia ； Paradise Lost ； Paradise Regained ； 知識 ； 智慧 ； 《失樂園》 ； 《復樂園》

興大人文學報

59期（2017 / 09 / 01）

251 - 280

英文

The problem of knowledge was one of the major intellectual concerns at the Age of Scientific Revolution in early modern Europe. With the rise of new sciences, the expansion of learning, and the broadening of world view came the explosion of knowledge, this posed enormous challenges, not only to church authorities, but also to individual thinkers. The question of how the desire for knowledge may be reconciled with faith has been debated in the writings of the time. Citing other critics, Lee A. Jacobus points out that the struggle between reason and faith is one of the major conceptual dualisms of the century (16). Howard Schultz, examining the metaphor of Lady Curiosity in the 17th-century English intellectual history, remarks that ＂intellectual sin came in for a scolding somewhere in every influential kind of writing＂ (1). For John Milton-a writer who devoted himself to learning and the path toward true faith throughout his life, the issue of how knowledge may be subsumed into the system of Christian faith, rather than becoming a subverting force, constitutes the core of his thinking. This concern is found most manifest in his major epics about the fall of man and the redemption through the Son-Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained, in which knowledge stands in the center of the loss and the regaining of paradise. The Forbidden Tree (often referred to as ＂the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil＂) poses a major challenges to the characters and the readers about the knowledge of God, of the self, and, in sum, about true knowledge. The exchange between Raphael and Adam essentially revolves around the questions of knowing-of what God wants man to know, of what man should or should not know, of the manners in which man understands what is known, and most importantly of how knowledge should be bridled with faith so as to attain true wisdom. On the other hand, in Paradise Regained, the Son's sustained resistance to Satan's temptation is in many respects grounded on his knowledge of himself and of God. Even the last and ultimate temptation that Satan placed in front of the Son-one he easily defied-is the temptation of all knowledge: the possibility of comprehending all things in the world. It is, therefore, the aim of this paper to explore the problem of knowledge as presented in John Milton's Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained by examining the rhetoric of the characters on knowledge with cross-reference to Milton’s ideas of knowledge in his prose works such as Areopagitica, Of Education, The Reason of Church Government, De Doctrina Christiana and other tacts. The paper argues that the tension between being satisfied with the knowledge revealed by divine grace and pursuing worldly knowledge is fully played out in Paradise Lost whereas Paradise Regained offers a moral solution to the human dilemma through wisdom and the Son.

在十六、十七世紀科學革命時代的歐洲，知識的渴求成為當時社會菁英極為關切的課題之一。隨著現代科學的萌芽，知識領域逐漸擴展，世界觀更加開闊，歐洲人面臨了一個知識爆炸的時代，而這樣的轉變對於基督教會的權威及個別的思想家都是一場極大的挑戰。如何在知識的渴求與基督教信仰之間取得平衡，使得彼此相容而不衝突，成為當時許多作家論辯的議題。在彌爾頓的兩部主要史詩《失樂園》與《復樂園》裡，知識成了失去樂園與回復樂園的關鍵。善惡知識樹作為一種上帝的禁令，促使《失樂園》中的角色以及讀者，重新審視對知識的定義和理解，包括對上帝的認識、對自己的認識，以及何謂真正的知識。天使拉斐爾和亞當的對話，討論的往往是上帝要人類知道什麼、人類應該和不應該知道什麼、應該如何恰當理解所知的事物，以及如何以信仰來駕馭知識以達到真知。在《復樂園》中，上帝之子之所以能夠堅決抗拒撒旦的誘惑，是因為他對自己和對上帝的認識。而在撒旦所使出的所有伎倆中，最終極的誘惑即為知識的誘惑－擁有全世界知識的誘惑。因此，本篇論文試圖探討彌爾頓在兩部史詩柑品中如何看待知識這個議題，一方面參考彌爾頓的幾篇論辯文章中有關於知識的論述，包括《論出版自由》、《論教育》、《教會制度原則推論》、《論基督教教義》等，另一方面分析兩部史詩中對於知識的思辨及呈現。本論文認為滿足於信仰上的道德智慧（sapientia）與追求世俗的知識（scientia）構成了《失樂園》中最主要的內在張力與衝突。而在《復樂園》中，彌爾頓藉由上帝之子，為人類提供一種信仰道德上邁向真知的路徑。

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