文明史学在近代中日两国的兴起与变异——以田口卯吉、梁启超为重点

Historiography of Civilization in Japan and China

文明史学起源于西欧,19世纪70年代初传至日本,20世纪初进入中国。经田口卯吉、梁启超等人的提倡和实践,文明史学在日、中两国兴起。一方面,中日早期的文明史学拥有共同的理论特征,主张以进化史观取代传统的历史观念,以民众心理、社会风俗等为研究重点,以历史的因果关系、演化规律及公理公例为追求目标,以文明之精神为历史进步的决定性力量;另一方面,中日早期文明史家在接受和传播西欧文明史学现代性理念的同时,又因应时势,予以改造与发挥。西方史家认定文明史合于自然科学的性质,中日史家则主要是从社会科学角度来理解文明史;日本史家通过文明史学确立民族自信,中国则出现了明显否定民族传统的历史虚无主义倾向;日本早期的文明史学带有较严重的国家主义色彩,中国的文明史家则强调本民族的团结与自救。循流溯源,观同析异,这对于深刻认识中日两国史学现代性的发生大有裨益。

The historiography of civilization derived from Western Europe was introduced into Japan in the 1870s, and then into China in the early 20th century. For the advocating and practice of Taguchi Ukichi and Liang Qichao, the historiography of civilization arose in Japan and China. On the one hand, both Chinese and Japanese historiographies of civilization shared at first the same theoretical features, which claimed that traditional history shoutd be replaced by the evolutionary conception, with focus on public concepts and social customs, with the pursuit of causal relationships, laws of changes and all the axioms and regulations in history as goals, and with the spirit of civilization as the decisive force of historical progress. On the other hand, the Chinese and Japanese historians who had first accepted and advocated the Western historiography of civilization modified and even reshaped it according to the needs of times. Regarding the scientific nature of history, western historians held that the historiography of civilization conformed the property of natural science, while Chinese and Japanese historians mainly understood it from the perspective of social science. As for attitudes towards traditional history, Japanese historians took advantages of historiography of civilization to build national self-confidence; on the contrary in China it developed into a tendency of nihilism to deny Chinese traditions. When faced with national crisis, early Japanese historiographies of civilization were colored with strong nationalism, unlike the emphasis on nation＇s unity and self-help by Chinese historians. It is therefore of great benefit to trace the source through the flow of modernity and to analyze the similarities and differences of the two countries.