国学之真的寻求——论严复对中国传统文化的批评

Exploration into the Essentiality of Ancient Chinese Civilization——On Yan Fu's Criticism of Chinese Traditional Culture

严复是中国近代著名的启蒙思想家,他译述的西方近代哲学社会科学著作在中国思想界发生了巨大而深远的影响。他的国学修养深厚,对中国传统文化能从社会进化论的观点给予批评。他认为,中国传统政治思想存在"好古忽今"的基本倾向,而且将政治与伦理混同,没有真正的政治学。从社会的实效考虑,他反对儒家的德治,主张法家的法治。然而儒家的积极入世的人生态度又为严复所肯定,其晚年又以儒家的价值观念为立国之本;他坚持中学与西学的分立,以为中学之真与西学之新互为消长,而真正的国粹必将长存。近年来,怎样重新认识中国文化的价值又成为新的学术问题,严复的见解对我们是很有启发意义的。

Yah Fu is a famous enlightenment thinker in Modem China and his translated works of western philosophy and social sciences have exerted a far - reaching influence on China＇ s ideological circles. He is a master of ancient Chinese civilization, which enables him to criticize it from the perspective of the theory of evolution. In his opinion, Chinese political ideology, with its particular ＂preference of the remote to the present＂, lacks genuine politics and tends to mix politics with ethnics. Taking the actual effect into consideration, he preferred ＂rule of law＂ advocated by the Legalists to ＂rule of morals＂ embraced by the Confucianists. However, he approved of Confucian positive attitude towards social life and in his old age, prized Confucian values as the essential of the nation. He believed that the essentiality of ancient Chinese civilization and the newness of western learning should be complimentary with each other and the national essentiality would stay. In recent years, how to evaluate the traditional culture has become a new academic problem and Yan Fu＇s comments tell us much.