从思想到行动——略论五四运动与启蒙

From Thinking to Action——On the May Fourth Movement and Enlightenment

五四新文化运动包含着多种成分并给后世留下了不同的解释。人们需要的是将其放在整体的历史变迁中来认识其必然性和有限性。它和欧洲启蒙运动一样,都是知识分子倡扬科学、理性和民主,批判封建专制及其意识形态的思想解放运动,并都在以后的历史发展中为民众的政治行动所代替。然而它也不同于法国的启蒙,即由于中国知识分子的边缘化及其小资产阶级的特点,以至其思想启蒙过于短暂并带上了激进主义的特征。

There was a lot of controversy over the May Fourth Movement in modern China and it is still an important question today. This article holds that we should look at the question from a historical point of view. Like the European Enlightenment, the May Fourth Movement was initiated by the intellectuals who promoted science, reason and democracy and criticized feudal despotism and ideology. It was replaced later by the mass revolution. On the other hand, the enlightenment in China had some radical features and quickly turned into a mass movement because Chinese intellectuals were marginalized in the society and had some characteristics of petty bourgeoisie.