从启蒙到反启蒙——严复与“五四”新文化思想之异同

From Enlightenment to Anti-enlightenment——Difference and Similarity between Yan Fu and May 4th New Culture and Ideas

在近代中国一连串不断递进的思想启蒙进程中,严复是一个核心人物。他是他那个时代启蒙观念的开创者和集大成者。1916年登场的以"五四"新文化运动为标志的新启蒙运动,其所推出的大部分观念都是从严复那里继承过来的。严复晚年对东西方文化,对民主、科学的价值重新估价,以及对"五四"和新文化的批评,并不标志严复思想发生了倒退,而是展示了两种不同的启蒙观念和范式的分歧。具体说来,严复的思想是晚清中国追求富强观念的体现,而新启蒙代表了民国知识阶层个性解放的追求;严复把启蒙视为一个漫长的自然历史过程,是对整个民族精神与个性的重新塑造,"五四"新文化则将启蒙提升为知识阶层话语权的争夺,是知识分子群体之间的观念交锋;启蒙在严复那里是一种严肃的思想文化转输之旅,是一种深层次的学术讨论和输入程序,而在"五四"新文化那里则是对思想观念正确错误的判定,是意识形态观念的宣传;严复的启蒙是基于比较客观的、中立化的标准,"五四"新文化则把启蒙置于批判的民族主义立场。但从总体上看,严复与"五四"新文化,是在一个共同历史目标下的对立与互补。

In the process of enlightenment in modern China, Yan Fu is at the center. He is the creator of the comprehensive idea of enlightenment at his time. The new enlightenment, started in 1916 and symbolized by the May 4th Movement, inherited most of its conceptions from Yan Fu. In his later years, Yan Fu revaluated the eastern and western cultures, democracy and science, as well as his crit- icism of May 4th Movement and the new culture, does not mean his retreat in his ideas, but rather displays the difference between two ideas of enlightenment and two paradigms. In a general view, Yah Fu and the May 4th new culture are both opposition and complement for a common historical target.