化人新世紀？：以《愛麗絲》為鏡／徑重省人－動物組配論

Toward a New Age of Anthropomorphism?: Reconsidering the Human-Animal Assemblage through the Looking-glass of Alice Books

化人主義在動物研究的領域裡一直是個頗爭議的概念，將動物化人到底有助於喚起共感，還是會淪為一廂情願的投射？不同立場的論辯雖仍持續著，但近來隨著行動者網絡理論的盛行，已有越來越多研究者注意到，化人主義未必有礙動物倫理的推展，如班尼特（Jane Bennett）即力主化人主義的正面價值，認為當我們承認非人的物也有能動性時，在新的科技發展協助下，這種化人主義將有助我們聆聽與回應由物所提出的主張、所發出的異議；而面對環境生態的種種問題時，對能動性的肯定也應能讓我們更細膩地去分析：在人與非人的組配中，每個參與者各自扮演了什麼角色。當化人主義被如此推崇時，人與動物關係是否也隨之進入了一番值得期待的新局？本論文將取徑路易斯‧卡若爾 （Lewis Carroll）的《愛麗絲》 （Alice books），透過這兩本與達爾文（Charles Darwin）投下演化論震撼彈同一時期、且書中充斥化人動物的文學作品，探討目前興起的人－動物組配論為人與動物關係的思考及動物倫理研究帶來甚麼樣的開創性或疑義，而其中的疑義，又是否和以物為導向的趨勢有關？除了透過文本詮釋來進行對於相關理論概念的釐清與反思，本論文亦將討論：從什麼樣的角度來探討愛麗絲故事中的人與動物關係將有助於凸顯其中的倫理意義，而不只是停留在歌頌「物的民主」的階段？

Although it is still debatable whether anthropomorphism simply presents a vision of animals based on human’s distortive unilateral projection, with the advent of Actor-Network theory (abbreviated as ANT), more and more critics start to assume that it grants legitimacy to our empathizing with nonhuman animals. Jane Bennett, for instance, acknowledging all nonhuman bodies as members of a public, contends that animals, vegetables, minerals, like humans, are all actants participating in the same assemblage. Moreover, she alleges that with the aid of new procedures and technologies, we will even be able to consult nonhumans more closely, to learn to listen to their propositions and respond more carefully to their objections. This paper seeks to inquire whether the human-animal assemblage, endorsed by critics like Bennett, Bruno Latour and Donna Haraway, does indeed promise interspecies intimacy between humans and animals. Using Lewis Carroll’s Alice books as a case in point, this article attempts to illustrate whether and/or how the notion of assemblage may shed light on our co-evolution with animals. It will also unearth the significance of animal ethics in Alice Books, lest we prematurely celebrate the “democracy of objects” upheld by ANT scholars and other like-minded theorists.