柳诒徵“为史以礼”说的意蕴

The Connotations of Liu Yizheng's Doctrine of“Constructing the History Based on the Principle of‘Li'”

清末民初经学边缘化史学中心化的提法,一定程度上遮蔽了古史传统存续的问题。针对梁启超等新史家的观点,柳诒徵坚持以礼为中国文化和历史的核心,著成《中国文化史》和《国史要义》。前者实证性地说明了中国文化传统的优长恰在于礼,反驳中国没有文明和文化的说法;后者系统地提出中国史学的组织原则在于礼,力斥中国没有史学理论的观点。柳诒徵的史学思想和理论主张在中国近代史学发展史上富有特色,给人启示。

The well-known conclusion that the study of Confucian classics had been marginalizedwhile the study of history centralized in late Qing Dynasty and early Republican China, has shadowed, tosome extent, a critical problem -- the fracture of tradition in Chinese ancient history. Liu Yizheng,however, diametrically opposed to the view of ＂new historians＂ like Liang Qichao, held ＂Li＂ as the coreof Chinese culture and history, and wrote the famous books Chinese Culture History and Be-all and End-all of National History. The former book empirical illustrates that it is in ＂Li＂ that the advantages andmerits of Chinese culture and tradition lies, which refuted the argument that China has no culture andcivilization; the latter book advocates that the principle of organization in Chinese history is ＂ Li ＂,effectively refuting the judgment that there is no theory of historiography in China. Liu＇ s historicalthought embodied the idea of pragmatism. Since the moral corruption and social order degeneration inRepublican China, Liu Yizheng urged ＂government dependent on history when lost of Li＂, which meanswith the decline of Confucian classics, history should be used to develop Chinese traditional governmentwith ＂Li＂, taking a leading role to national salvation and restoring the order of Li.