要研究17、18世紀英國社會的時代精神和思潮,探究其文學文藝創作理念,厘清這一時期文學評論中的"智趣"概念是一個很好的切入口。智趣是當時文學作品質量評判的標準,是作家追求的文學風格,但其定義卻十分模糊。這不僅是因為英語中智趣一詞本義異常豐富,更因為當時的哲人文士競相賦予這一概念眾多互相矛盾的定義。本文認為,該時期學者關于智趣本質的討論歸根結底是關于"判斷"與"狂想"在文學文藝創作中孰重孰輕、思想的內容與表達又該如何平衡的討論,鮮明地體現了英國該時期文學藝術觀、語言觀、科學觀、世界觀的演變,也預示了文學藝術在理性與科技時代將面臨的困境。

The evolution of the concept of "wit" in English literary criticism and philosophical treatises of the 17 th and 18 th centuries is a gateway into the artistic theories and zeitgeist of the time. Then a standard for evaluating artistic quality and a style pursued by men of letters, wit was at the same time an ill-defined concept because litterateurs and philosophers tended to clash in their theories of its nature and value. This debate on wit was ultimately one upon the places of judgement and fancy as well as content and expression in artistic creation and human communication, thus reflecting the development of views on literature, art, language, science and the world and signaling the predicament in which literature and art would be placed in the upcoming age of science.