为了我们共同的文明:狄金森的中国观及其国际人文主义

Towards a Common Civilization: G. Lowes Dickinson,China,and Global Humanism

20世纪初,英国著名人文主义思想家、剑桥大学学者狄金森通过对中国古老文明的想象,深刻剖析、批判了西方现代工业文明,并藉此深入思考比较文明理论的现实意义。比较文明研究旨在通过修正我们的文明观来增进文明间的相互了解,从而达到维护和促进世界和平的目的。因而,促进文明的进步,完善文明的发展形态,应该是一项全球范围内的政治行动。文明与文化的区别是欧洲现代工业文明的产物,今天有必要将二者重新结合起来讨论,以应对人类文明共同面对的挑战。狄金森在比较文明理论方面的论述和实践,深刻地表达了其国际人文主义的关怀,对理解、思考当代全球化带来的问题有着积极的现实意义。

Focusing on G. Lowes Dickinson＇s critique of modem industrial civilization and his use of China as alternative to capitalistic modernity, the essay attempts to show that comparative civilizational analysis serves a distinct international agenda and is in fact a political project that aims to alter and amend our civilizational configuration for international peace. Dickinson＇s notion and practice of comparative civilizational studies embody a global humanism that needs to be urgently renewed today in thinking about contemporary problems brought about by globalization. The essay also contributes to the debate on the distinction between civilization and culture and argues that their divergence is a historical product and that their unity needs to be restored for a better understanding of the global human conditions.