感官史、力、音樂－從身體與靈魂的關係論赫德聽覺理論與音樂美學
Journal
新史學
Journal Volume
18
Journal Issue
3
Pages
139-180
Date Issued
2007
Author(s)
Abstract
Traditionally regarded as a transitional figure between the German Enlightenment and Romanticism, Johann Gottfried Herder's (1744-1803) prominence in literary criticism, political philosophy, and historiography has been well documented. More recently, studies of Herder have turned to his pioneering investigations of an anthropologically-oriented epistemology, in which his idea of the ”whole manv” (ganzer Mensch) plays a prominent role. However, while scholars have pointed out the importance of sensations and the corporeal in Herder's perceptual theory as a whole, the importance of ”hearing” has rarely been adequately clarified. In Herder's epistemology, sensation (Empfindung) forms the ”dark” perception that constitutes an emotional, yet no less essential, side of human existence. In particular, Herder defines hearing as the sympathetic vibration (Mitbewegung) of the body and the soul, and he calls music the closest art to the human heart. This psychological as well as physiological side of human beings, in Herder's view, must be accompanied by an omnipresent physical ”force” (Kraft)-the origin of every form of human energy. Such an intricate and almost self-contradicting idea cannot be fully justified without an understanding of Herder's contemporaries' anthropological studies as well as research in the natural sciences such as Albrecht von Haller's work on physiology. This article argues that in the German anthropological efforts to rebut rationalist epistemology, Herder was the first to emphasize listening as the best channel to communicate with the innermost force of the human being. Herder's efforts were then followed by a series of physiological/psychological researches in the nineteenth century, including the so-called physiological psychology of Hermann Lotze and the monumental physiological work of Hermann von Helmholtz, Die Lehre von den Tonempfindungen als Grundlagen fur die Theorie der Musik (On the Sensation of Tones, 1863), which were all influenced by Herder's theory of hearing.
Type
journal article