论梁漱溟的中西古今观

Liang Shuming's Comments on the Views of Sino-Western Cultures and the Ancient and Modern Cultures

在"中西古今之争"的问题上,梁漱溟在很大程度上是反对当时的西化派的。当然,梁漱溟在某种意义上也承认中西文化之同,并以此为立论的出发。他阐述了中西之同两方面:共时方面的文化三层说和历时方面的文化三期说。实际上,梁漱溟所认可的,只是中西不能相提并论,一古一今不能等量齐观。其实,在中西之别和古今之异中,梁漱溟更强调的是中西之别,古今之异根于中西之别。因此,有些中西之别是古今之异,有些则不是,关键要看它在哪一个层面上来说。所以,中西古今不能一概而观,文化的不同既有中西之异,又有古今之别;中西之异比古今之别更为根本。或许正如梁漱溟所言,我们所需要的思想,首先是一种态度、一种情感、一种意志。

Concerning the disputes on Sino - Western cultures as well as the ancient - modem cultures, Liang Shuming is a-gainst the westernization school to a large extent. Certainly, Liang acknowledges the similarities shared by both Chinese culture and western culture in a sense, which is even the starting point of his theory. He elaborates the Sino - Western cultural similari- ties considering the theory of the three dimensions of cultures from synchronic perspective and the theory of the three periods of culture from diachronic perspective. What Liang argues, in fact, is that Chinese culture is quite different from the Western cul- ture and that the difference in the idea of the ancient and the modern cultures lies actually in the Sino - Western cultural differ- ences. While some of the Sino - Western differences come from the differences concerning the ancient and the modern times, others do not. Different perspectives lead to different arguments. Generalization can be misleading. The Sino - Western differ-ences are more fundamental than that of the ancient and the modem cultures. As Liang shuming argues, what we need can be primarily defined as a kind of attitude, emotion and will.