赛珍珠文化相对主义思想溯源

Sources of Pearl Buck's Cultural Relativism

美国作家赛珍珠一生所从事的跨文化创作、学术研究和社会活动,均为其文化相对主义思想的体现。这一思想的形成首先来源于她的跨国界的生活,在几个不同世界的生活使其发现文化差异是普遍存在的现实,文化差异不是文化低劣的表现,相反,它赋予人类文化以多样性;其次来源于她的跨文化阅读,特别是对中国文化的研究性阅读,使得赛珍珠认识到文化差异存在的历史合理性,东西方文化因此应该遵循“和而不同”的原则,并在此基础上由沟通交流达到融合。

Pearl Buck＇s cross-cultural literary production, academic researches and social activities are all of them the embodiments of her cultural relativism. Her cultural spirit results first from her transnational life, which helps her to realize that cultural differences are quite common things in people＇s life and they are not signs of inferiority; the second source of her cultural spirit is her profound reading of both canonical and popular writings of Chinese culture, which makes her understand the raison d＇etre of cultural differences. As a result of her living and reading,Pearl Buck comes to advocate the principle of unity in diversity and the merging of different cultures.