战争始于何处？--修昔底德的阐述与国际关系学界的解读

From Where War Begins:Thucydides'Narration and IR Scholars' Interpretation

作者分析了修昔底德关于伯罗奔尼撒战争起因的论述,并将修昔底德本人的论述和国际关系学者对修昔底德的解读进行了比较,认为两者之间存在着明显的差异:首先,修昔底德强调这场战争本身及其起始过程的特殊性,国际关系学者则往往试图从修昔底德的论述中提炼出战争爆发的普遍原因。其次,修昔底德并不寻求现代意义上的"原因"和因果关系,而只是记述他所见之事,即战争的起始过程或预兆;国际关系学者寻找的则是导致战争的一种或多种原因,并想要以此来预防或控制战争。修昔底德与当代学者之间的思想差异促使我们思考:当代国际关系学者应当如何阅读经典著作?

This article analyses Thucydides' narration of the beginning of Peloponnesian War,compares it with IR scholars' interpretation of Thucydides,and finds that the difference is evident.On the one hand,Thucydides focuses on the particularity of war and its beginning,while IR scholars tend to generalize some universal causes of war by reading Thucydides;On the other,Thucydides does not search 'cause' or causality in modern sense,but record what he saw as the signs of war,while IR scholars try to prevent or control war by discovering the causes of war.The differences between Thucydides and modern scholars raises such a question:How should IR students read classics