小议历史与历史学的意义

On Significance of History and Historiography

任何史家都要面对的一个共同问题就是:何为历史及何为历史学?就本质上讲,历史乃是一种特殊的认识方式,也就是说,历史虽然是以回忆和重构过去事实的方式表现出来,但其中寄托着人们的理念,是人们认识自身、建构社会、诠释人性与宇宙的一种特殊的知识探求方式。由于人们对它的期望,赋予它很多的承载,历史也总是以这样或那样的形式附着人们的价值判断成份,因此,所谓绝对客观的历史是很难存在的。这是历史学作为人文学科的最大特点。同时,历史知识依附于人类的生命信息而存在,离开人类的生命意识是无所谓历史的。

A common question shared by historians is the definition of history and historiography. In nature, history is a special cognitive mode. That is, it is a way for people to recall and restructure the past and therefore to know themselves, construct the society and explain the human nature and cosmos. One the other hand, due to its embodiment of people’s expectations, history turns out to be a form embedded with people’s judgment. An absolutely objective history is therefore very difficult to find. This feature is also the most important one of historiography. Meanwhile, historical knowledge is closely related to human life, without which history will no longer exist.