概念生成与国际关系理论创新

Concept Formation and Theory Innovation in International Relations

概念生成是社会科学领域知识生产的基本维度,也是进行理论构建和创新的重要方式。国际关系理论发展的实践表明,提出全新概念、重新界定既有概念及概念的跨学科引入和转换是实现理论创造的主要途径。近年来,一些中外学者尝试发掘源于中国历史与现实经验、反映中国思想文化传统的概念和话语,运用它们来修正根植于西方经验的主流国际关系理论存在的不足,由此展现了中国经验和中国概念在丰富国际关系理论知识体系方面的价值和潜力。中国概念的发掘与植入需要遵循概念创新和理论创造的基本原则,在强调中国经验和文化传统特殊性的同时,也应注重社会科学知识的普遍性和共通性,以便让中国概念适用于解释更加广泛的国际政治现象和对外政策行为。

Concept formation is one of the most important ways not only to produce knowledge but also to build theory in social sciences. The history of theory building in international relations indicates that theory is usually developed through creating new concepts,redefining existing concepts,or introducing concepts from other disciplines. Against the backdrop of China's rising power and influence,Chinese as well as foreign scholars have paid increasing attention to concepts and discourses that are deeply rooted in China's own history,tradition,and culture in order to redress the deficiencies of mainstream international relations theories that are derived from Western experiences. Those efforts have demonstrated the val-ue and potential of incorporating Chinese experiences and concepts in enriching our knowledge system of international relations. To cultivate and incorporate Chinese concepts,it is necessary to abide by the basic principles of concept formation and theory building. In other words,while emphasizing the particularities of Chinese experiences and cultural traditions,we also need to pay heed to the universality and commensurability of social science knowledge so that Chinese concepts are applicable in explaining a wider range of international politics phenomena and foreign policy behaviors.