物構成了人存在的基礎。它不僅為人提供了維系生存、建構世界的材料,同時物的使用也對人起著重要的塑造與建構作用;它不僅承載著歷史與文化記憶,同時也規范、反映、限制著人的思維與行為方式。本文嘗試梳理從古希臘至今對物的觀察所走過的從直觀的觀察對象到認識的客體、從形而上的精神載體到拜物教的對象、從對物界限的消解到人與物相互作用的道路,討論物在社會實踐中的作用以及文學與物的關系。

Material things are the fundamental substance of human existence. Not only do they provide the things that construct and sustain the living world, in the way of utilization, they are also deeply involved in the shaping of human beings. Things act as archives of history and cultural memories which normalize, display and also restrict the thinking and acting of humans. This paper attempts to trace the history of the ideas of matter from antiquity to the modern times and discuss the functions of things in social practices as well as the relationships between literature and things. Starting with intuitive observation of the concrete beings, things have been defined with various values from cognitive object, embodiment of metaphysical spirit to artifact of fetishism. Through different historical times, the ideas of things are no longer confined to the material world and the interactions between humans and things have drawn more and more attention.