哪个我们?如何差序?——今天我们怎么理解同心圆意象

Hsiao-tung Fei’s Concentric Circles Image Revisited

费孝通的“差序格局”思想是中国理论、中国学派建设过程中的一项重要成果。费孝通形象表述差序格局的同心圆波纹结构也已经成为一个经典意象。同心圆波纹结构的差序格局首先指向作为中国基层的乡下社会。费孝通以乡土中国来缩影式地描述中国这个整体。同心圆意象其实并非费孝通的独创,它曾以不同形式见于西方古代哲学典籍和现代研究文献,并非具有中国特色的意象。与平面、静止和规则的同心圆意象相比,量子力学的时空引力场和相互作用的自我光锥可以更好地解释当代社会关系立体、动态和变异的结构。

The differential mode of association proposed by Professor Hsiao-tung Fei is an important achievement in Chinese theoretical and scholarly construction.Prof.Fei characterizes Chinese pattern of social relations by the well-known image of expanding concentric circles with the self at the center.The differential mode of association is put forward to explain rural China in particular and Chinese society at large.The image of concentric circles is not invented by Prof.Fei,but can be found in ancient philosophy and its modern development in the West.In this paper,the author argues that,in contrast with the planar,static,and regular image of concentric circles,the concepts of gravitational field and light cone in quantum mechanics can better explain the cubic,dynamic,and irregular structure of contemporary social relations.