章太炎的「神經病」作為生存位置與革命知識情感動能

Abstract

1906年，章太炎（1869-1936）在日本〈東京留學生歡迎會演說辭〉中，提出「神經病」作為召喚革命感情與學問事業的重要動能。本文試圖提供一種理解章太炎生命與學術的方式，是重新思考章太炎的「神經病」作為一種經驗立場，以及經常被忽略掉的作為革命知識與感情的重要動能。本文大略追究了19世紀晚期到20世紀初期「神經病」一詞的源流與多重語義，並且從兩個脈絡閱讀章太炎的「神經病」，一是「革命者」，一是有「腦病」的人。透過這二個線索的閱讀，本文一方面試圖將「神經病」的具體血肉經驗清晰化，另一方面也將章太炎的「神經病」闡釋為一種論述位置，亦即一個說話的位置，在這個位置上，凝聚了章太炎經驗、政治、社會以及知識立場。

This paper attempts to provide a new way to understand the life and work of radical intellectual Zhang Tai Yan (1869-1936) by rethinking ＂insanity＂ as both an experiential standpoint and an overlooked impetus for the development of revolutionary knowledge and affect. When giving a speech in Japan in 1906, Zhang Tai-yan used the unlikely term ＂shenjing bing＂ (literally nerve disease, but meaning insanity or, more colloquially, a person who is ＂psycho＂) to evoke the spirit of revolutionary knowledge and affect. This paper provides a preliminary study of the meanings of ＂shenjing bing＂ from the late 19th to early 20th century. The paper then reads Zhang as a ＂shenjing bing＂ in two ways, as a revolutionary and as a person with a ＂brain disease＂ (he was epileptic). Through this double reading, the paper attempts, first, to articulate (rather than avoid) the concrete, embodied experience of ＂shenjing bing.＂ Second, ＂shenjing bing＂ is explored as a discursive position, a speaking site where Zhang's experiential, political and social groundings converge in an epistemological standpoint.