“社会”是一个关键词:“五四解释学”反思

"Society" is the Key Word:Reflections on "the Hermeneutics of the May 4^(th) Movement"

"五四"曾经作为一个政治事件进入了政治史关注的视野,也曾作为新文化运动的起源,扮演着代言自由主义个性解放的角色。但以往的"五四"研究越来越趋向于把政治和社会运动与"个性解放"的话语对立起来加以论证,以突出"五四"作为中国革命悲剧性命运开端的地位。这种"思想史分析"框架一度广为流行,成为对抗正统意识形态的重要依据。问题在于,过度强调"五四"个人启蒙遭遇挫折的一面,有可能遮蔽将"社会改造"的探索作为"五四"另一个内涵所具有的重要价值,从而不自觉地以西方的历史视角衡量"五四"的意义,最终忽略了中国现代历史转型更重要的一些面相。

The May 4^th Movement of 1919 entered the vision of political history as a political event. Being the origin of the New Cultural Campaign, it also played the spokesman role for liberalism and individual emancipation. However, studies of the Movement have shown an increasing tendency of setting up political/social campaigns and ＂individual emancipation＂ as antithesis, thereby giving prominence to the status of the movement as having initiated the tragedy of Chinese revolution. Such a framework of ＂ideological analysis＂ once enjoyed tremendous popularity and lent itself to the combat against orthodox ideology. However, excessive limelight on the frustration of individual enlightenment may overshadow the other important aspect of the Movement, namely its achievement in ＂social transformation＂. Such a biased historical angle, which is typical of the west, will overlook some important aspects of the historical transformation in modern China.