弗里德里希·基特勒是德国一位重要的媒介理论家。他跨越人文与技术,构建起独 特的媒介理论,与北美媒介环境学派形成鲜明的参照。他使用“话语网络”这一关键概 念,考察了欧洲历史上不同时期的媒介技术与机构构成的话语网络及其对文化和社会的 影响,从而推进了福柯的话语理论。基特勒建构了媒介“基础”与话语网络“上层建 筑”之间的辩证法:正是媒介技术和话语网络的相互作用,推动着人类文明的变革。本 文认为,这一辩证法可被视作媒介物质主义理论。对基特勒“话语网络”思想的引介和 思考,可以拓宽当前中国新闻传播学研究者的研究视野,推动研究范式的更新。

Friedrich Kittler is an important media theorist in Germany. He crossed the barrier between humanity and technology, and constructed unique media theory which echoes North American media ecology. Advancing Foucault’s discourse theory, he used “discourse networks” as a key concept, and analyzed the leading media, discourse networks and their influences on culture and society in the two discourse networks periods in Germany. Kittler focused on the dialectic relationship between media as the base and discourse networks as the superstructure, and he found that the interaction between the media and discourse networks was a driving force of civilization. This paper argues that this dialectic could be regarded as the theory of “media materialism”. Rethinking Kittler’s “discourse networks” means that we should broaden the research horizon and renovate research paradigm of contemporary Chinese communication studies.