Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai Philologia 2/2011 [antikvár]

studia ubb ph1lologia, lvi, 2,2011L'ATTAQUE RATIONALISTE CONTRE LES UTOPIES DE L'AGE CLASSIQUECORIN BRAGA1ABSTRACT. The Rationalist Attack Against Utopias of the Classical Age. The philosophera of the Classical Age vehemently criticised the imagination. They thought it was the source of ail errors and illusions in human cognition. Their attack lead to the dépréciation of ail literary genres which were based on the marvels and miracles, on the fantastic tradition of the Middle Age and the Renaissance, such as the extraordinary and the utopian voyages. If at its beginning the utopian genre was conceived as a witty fiction nourished by a pleasant fantasy, after the attack of the Cartesian rationalist philosophers, it acquired the meaning of impossible project, faked fiction, forgery.Keywords: Fantasy, Imagination, Utopia, Rationalism, Cartesian philosophy, illusion.REZUMAT. Atacul rationalist împotriva utopiilor epocii clasice. Filosofii epocii clasice au criticat vehement imaginatia, pe care o considerau sursa tuturor erorilor §i iluziilor în cognifia umana. Atacul lor a dus la deprecierea tuturor genurilor literare care se bazau pe minuni çi miracole, pe traditia fantasticâ a Evului Mediu çi a Renaçterii, cum ar fi câlatoriile extraordinare §i utopiile. Daca la începuturile sale genul utopie a fost conceput ca o ficçiune spirituala alimentata de o fantezie placutâ, dupa atacul lansat de filosofii rationaliçti cartezieni, termenul de utopie a dobândit semnificatia de proiect imposibil, fictiune, himera, fais.Cuvinte cheie: fantezie, imaginafie, utopie, rationalism, fîlosofle cartezianâ, iluzie.Au début du XVIIIe siecle, Shaftesbury critiquait le gout public pour sa disponibilité d'accepter les mémoires de voyage sans aucun discernement. Le penchant pour ce type de littérature est si fort, se plaint le lord, que, indépendamment du génie de l'auteur et de la valeur de l'ouvre, le lecteur est, des les premieres pages, disposé a se laisser entraîner dans les fictions qu'on lui présente. Remplis de désirs et d'espérances , philosophes, femmes ou jeunes gens, tous sont prets a suivre le narrateur dans ses rencontres parfaitement implausibles avec des betes et des poissons énormes, avec des hommes monstrueux et des situations fausses et artificielles2.1 Babeç-Boyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, E-mail: [email protected] And thus, fiill of Desire and Hope, we accompany him, tili he enters on his great Scene of Action, and begins by the description of some enormous Fish or Beasi From monstrous Brides he proceeds to get more Monstrous Men. For in this race ofAuthors he is ever compieatest, and of the first Rank who is able to speak of things the most unnatwal and monstrous Monsters and Monster-Lands were never more in request; and we may often see a Philosopher or a !Vit, run a Tale-gathering in these idle Deserts, as familiarly as the silliest woman or merest boy . Lord Shaftesbury, Characteristiks of men, manners, opinions, times, The 6* édition, London, Printed by J. Purser, vol. 1,1737, p. 346,350.