臺大文學院「百年榮光」專欄第八篇　邱錦榮名譽教授（台大外文系名譽教授）撰

文學院存在的獨特價值——外國語文學系名譽教授　邱錦榮老師

 

這是一個2015年的故事。為了增加跨學科對話的機會，當時的校長楊泮池教授策劃半年一次的跨學院跨領域交流會，由十一個學院輪流主辦，參與者多為行政主管。2015年12月18日由文學院主辦第四次跨領域交流會，我聽到許多他院參與者表示參加這次的交流會感到非常自在，而這是在其他地方的論壇少有的感覺。我思索可能的原因是：專業術語方便樹立專業概念，而建構出的疏離感，這是因為科技領域的學者利用專業術語而減少多重解釋造成的麻煩，來與同領域的人溝通，同時卻也造成其他領域的人不易融入與理解，所造成的隔閡。

 

然而2015年文學院的跨領域交流會有什麼不同？獨特之處在哪裡？該場研討會其實按照例行程序進行：不同學科的教授（本次包含人類學、音樂學、哲學、語言學和中文領域）分別以各自選題演繹如何激發跨學科創造力。雖然完全理解並不可能，但與會觀眾皆有相當程度的理解和共感，箇中原因則為涉及的議題都是與人類本性和獨特性相關的核心價值。當時的陳弱水院長在文學院的迴廊設宴款待嘉賓。在那個寒冷的夜晚，這座87歲的建築展現了建築之美和人文的溫潤。與臺灣大學越來越多的建築新貌不同，文學院矗立在獨特、歲月悠久（也許是孤獨）的宏偉中。時光使人變得成熟而謙遜，而歷史長河的延續見證文學院存在的獨特價值。

 

I want to share an episode back in 2015. To increase opportunities for interdisciplinary dialogue, the then President Pan-Chyr Yang 楊泮池 had established a semi-annual event named Cross-College Symposium, hosted in rotation among eleven colleges of the university, participants being the chief administrators of the university. At the symposium hosted by the college of Liberal Arts on December 18, 2015, I heard many participants saying that they felt very much at home, a feeling they had seldom experienced at forums held elsewhere.

 

If I were to account for this feeling, one possible reason might be the alienation by jargons. Because experts of sciences and technology communicate largely with one another in their circle, a specialized jargon develops that even colleagues in adjacent fields cannot easily understand it.

 

So how different was the 2015 symposium at the College of Liberal Arts? Whence its uniqueness? The symposium was conducted according to the routine procedure: professors from different disciplines (anthropology, musicology, philosophy, linguistics, and Chinese in this case) each gave a presentation on how a project of their choice could inspire interdisciplinary creativity. Complete understanding was not to be expected, yet all talks were comparatively accessible to the audience because, as I assume, they were humanities-related subjects and therefore related to the core values of human nature and uniqueness.

 

Dean Chen Jo-shui 陳弱水entertained the participants with a feast in the main corridor of the College. On that wintry evening, the 87-year-old building featured architectural beauty and human warmth. Unlike most NTU buildings, the College stands in unique, historical (and perhaps solitary) grandeur. Time makes a man mellow. Likewise, the mission of historic continuity makes the existence of the College of Liberal Arts a worthy one.

 

︽12月18日於文學院演講廳舉辦之第四場「國立臺灣大學跨領域交流會」合影。

 

 

︽1976春作者與外文系同班同學合照一：時值杜鵑花期。數十年文學院的外觀幾無改變，矗立於前庭的幾株大葉欖仁，依然壯碩。散居海內外的同學無論實體聚會或線上群組聊天，人文教育給我們的滋養都是共同記憶。

 

 

︽1976春作者與外文系同班同學合照二。