18世纪中国史学理论的新成就——论章学诚关于史学性质的认识

New achievements in theory on Chinese historiography in 18th century —— On Zhang Xuecheng's understandings of nature of historiography

清代乾嘉时期 ,中国史学中出现了历史考证和理论总结两大发展趋势。在后一种发展趋势里 ,浙东学派史家章学诚关于史学性质的认识成为最突出的史学理论成就。章学诚阐明史学具有“求真”、“重意”和“致用”三大属性 ,这不仅是中国古代史家中关于史学性质认识的最高水平 ,而且为后人对历史学性质的认识提供了宝贵的借鉴。

During the Qianjia period in Qing Dynasty, there appeared two schools in historiography study: historical textual researching and theory summarizing. In the later one, Zhang Xuecheng's understandings of the nature of historiography were regarded as the most outstanding achievements. Zhang Xuecheng, representing the school in the East of Zhejiang Province, pointed out that historiography had three attributes: being true, meaningful and practical. This indicates that Chinese ancient historians had reached a high level in understanding the nature of historiography and their ideas are helpful for later generations to make further studies.