汉语言和汉语思想:一场争论中的诸种立场

Chinese Language and Chinese Thought:Positions in a Debate

哲学与文化研究领域有一个热议的话题:本土语言对于思想及文化之形成的影响。由于汉语和印欧语言之间的差异,汉语受到了特别的关注。有人主张,汉语不同于印欧语言,它不关心模态,这一点对文化乃至世界历史产生了重大影响。本文梳理了有关这方面的讨论与争辩。作者以为,这些主张源自对汉语以及语言和思想之关系的错误假定。

The shaping influence of the native language on thought and culture is a much debated topic in philosophy and cultural studies,with a special focus on Chinese as the alleged antipode of the Indo-European languages.This article presents an overview of the history of the debate and discusses claims to the effect that Chinese—unlike IndoEuropean—is a language in the mode of"indifference",with considerable effects on culture,if not on world history.It is argued that these claims are based on wrong assumptions about the Chinese language and about the relationship of language and thought.