何炳松的相对主义史学思想辨证

The Other Side of He Bingsong's Ralativist Theory of History

何炳松指出历史学与自然科学在研究方法、研究目的和研究对象上均有很大不同,由此得出历史学是一门主观推理的学问,历史学不必像自然科学那样寻求历史发展的因果规律,历史认识会随时代的变化而变化,体现了历史相对主义的思想特征。另一方面,他指出,历史学与自然科学都旨在求真,历史学为了求得历史真相,必须在充分搜集史料的基础上,对史料进行科学的考订和分析,然后用科学的方法进行编撰,这又是一种实证史学的方法论。因此,简单将他定位为中国现代相对主义史学家是片面的。

It is true that according to lie Bingsong, the methodology, the purpose, and the subject of research of history are all different from those of natural sciences, lie Bingsong considered for these reasons that history is of subjective reasoning. Unlike natural sciences, He Bingsong held, history does not aim to f＇md the kind of cause-effect rules of development. The knowledge of history also changes along time. He Bingsong＇ s theory of history is with certain relativist characteristics. On the other hand, He Bingsong considered that the common target of both history and natural science is truth. History aims at the truth of the past, so that it needs to be based on primary sources, based on the critical peruse of sources. The writing of history must be based on the critical use of sources and must be conducted with scientific methods. In this respect, He Bingsong＇ s view of history is also positivist. It is therefore wrong to simply categorize He Bingsong as a modem Chinese relativist historian.