2021年第五屆跨學科研究項目申請通知

隨着數字（數碼）技術的加速發展，控制論有機體（Cyborg）、功能增強（Enhancements）和腦機結合等新興技術熱點層出不窮，一種以「後人類」（Posthuman）為關鍵詞的研究領域正在逐漸形成，人類在數字技術時代的存在與前景成為其關注焦點。漢語學界近年來提出「未來法學」或「未來哲學」等概念，涉及的正是這個數字技術時代的人觀問題。

二十世紀後半葉以降，全球人文學界經歷了意義深遠的「人觀轉向」（anthropological turn），對人的存在及其特質的追問不斷輻射進文科、理科、醫科和應用學科，持續激發出新的理論創見，為當下數字技術時代的人觀探索奠定基礎。在這一「人觀轉向」中，針對身體與身體性（body and bodiliness）的探討佔據重要地位，學界日益把身體視為人與人之間的溝通媒介，強調人類認知、情感、記憶、身份認同等與身體因素的關聯。

在「後人類」引發的學術探討中，身體的物化、商品化以及階級化前景成為關鍵問題之一。技術與資本聯姻，把完美、健康的人類身體設定為機器進化、超越的目標，「不完美」、「不健康」的人類身體降等為潛在的淘汰版本。如何在這個數字技術時代的特殊問題語境中理解人類的身體和身體性，尤其是身體的脆弱、疾病、痛苦與殘障對於人之為人的意義，構建針對身體現象的漢語宗教批判論述，這是道風山漢語基督教文化研究第五屆跨學科研究項目的基本立意所在。自2017年以來，研究所以「尊嚴、道德與權利」（2017）、「風險與希望」（2018）、「信任」（2019）以及「待客與自主」（2020）為主題，陸續推出四屆跨學科研究項目，取得良好的學術反響。在這個研究系列的基礎之上，本次跨學科研究項目「數字技術時代的人觀：身體與身體性」將於2021年舉行，匯集多重學科角度，集中探討以下核心議題：

1. 身體的脆弱、疾病、痛苦、殘障與人的尊嚴有何關係？基督教神學的經學傳統與教義傳統、東方與西方古典哲學的問題傳統能為此提供何種理論資源？

2. 如何從腦科學（尤其是神經科學）的角度來理解身體的脆弱、疾病、痛苦、殘障與人類心智過程之間的關係？完全脫離身體性的心智過程是否可能？

3. 文學作品、造型藝術和視覺藝術如何理解並表達身體的脆弱、疾病、痛苦、殘障？漢語世界的文學創作以及藝術創作在此議題上有何積累與成果？

4. 從漢語處境出發，如何理解身體的脆弱、疾病、痛苦、殘障在社會空間、政治空間和法律空間中的顯現、表達與接納？

以上議題彼此關聯，涉及系統神學、聖經與古代近東研究、古典哲學、倫理學、腦神經科學、文學研究、社會學、政治學、法學理論等多重學科，需要進行跨學科的合作探索，以把握主旨問題並獲得新的學術發現。

現誠邀各地大學和研究機構中從事腦神經科學、政治學與社會學的專家學者申請本研究項目，於2021年7月至8月出任漢語基督教文化研究所跨學科項目訪問學者，進行為期兩個月的密集式研究，探討切入數字技術時代之人觀的理論路徑，共同推動漢語神學對重大時代課題的參與、建構和貢獻。

卻參與者請於2021年3月10日之前提交申請，詳情請見以下網址：

The Concept of Human in the Age of Digital Technology: Body and Bodiliness—An Integration of Christian Theology and Interdisciplinary Studies

Date: July to August 2021, January 2022 (2+1 Months)

Language: Chinese (Mandarin)

Project Description:

The global academia of the humanities has undergone a major “anthropological turn” in the second half of the Twentieth Century. Its continual questioning of human being and its main characteristics has stimulated the development of many new theoretical ideas in many other disciplines, such as arts, natural sciences, medical sciences, and applied sciences. This, in turn, has laid the foundation for today’s investigation of the concept of human in the age of digital technology. In this “anthropological turn,” the discussion of “body and bodiliness” is playing a crucial role. The body is increasingly considered the medium of communication between human persons, and the relationship of human cognition, emotion, memory, identity etc. with the body has likewise been receiving more attention and emphasis.

Inspired by the concept of “posthuman,” the prospects of the deification, commercialization, and ideologization of the body have become one of the key research questions in academic discourses. The intermarriage of technology and capital has, on the one hand, set the perfect, healthy human body as the goal of the evolution and perfection of the machine, and, on the other, downgraded “imperfect,” “unhealthy” human bodies as potential candidates for obsoleteness and elimination. How can we understand human body and bodiliness—in particular, the meaning of fragility, sickness, suffering, and disabilities of the body for being human—under the particular context of the age of digital technology, and construct a Sino-Christian critique and discourse of the phenomenon of the body? This will be the core guiding question of the Fifth Christian Theology and Interdisciplinary Studies Project to be organized by the ISCS in 2021.

In this interdisciplinary project, we will focus on the following questions:

1. How do the fragility, sickness, suffering, and disabilities of the body relate to the dignity of human? What kinds of theoretical resources can the exegetic and dogmatic tradition of Christianity as well as the classical tradition of Eastern and Western philosophy offer us?

2. How can we understand the relationship of the fragility, sickness, suffering, and disabilities of the body with human psychic processes from the perspective of the neurosciences of the brain? Are psychic processes totally disconnected from bodiliness possible at all?

3. How are the fragility, sickness, suffering, and disabilities of the body understood and expressed in literary works, plastic arts, and visual arts of the West? How much can we learn from literary and artistic works in Chinese culture?

4. How can we understand the manifestation, expression, and acceptance of the fragility, sickness, suffering, and disabilities of the body in the social space, the political space, and the legal space under the Chinese context?

The above-mentioned questions necessitate a multidisciplinary collaboration and transdisciplinary investigation which combine the approaches of systematic theology, biblical and ancient Near East studies, classical philosophy, ethics, neurosciences of the brain, literary studies, sociology, politics, and jurisprudence etc., in pursuit of new insights and a deeper understanding of the issues involved.

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