理解现代人道主义问题及其社会学价值

The problem of understanding modern humanitarianism and its sociological value

本文的目的是对理解现代人道主义问题作出一份社会学方面的贡献。本文在这样做的时候,更多关注的不是人道主义作为一种政治理想主义的地位,而是人们怎样通过具体的社会生活形式和人类社交方式培育和维持人道主义的。虽然本文的安排是围绕对福柯的人道主义批判的批判性解读展开的,但本文的目的是解释人道主义启发社会学理解的潜力,尤其是在社会学理解关注的是社会中对人造成伤害的场合,以及我们如何从社会文化上形成关怀他人的倾向的场合。在大致描述一种"人道主义的社会学"的同时,本文主张将"人道主义"文化和价值观纳入社会研究项目。

This article is designed as a sociological contribution to the problem of understanding modern humanitarianism. This is not so much concerned with the status of humanitarianism as a political idealism but rather with the ways in which it is nurtured within and sustained by embodied forms of social life and modes of human sociality. While it is organised around a critical reading of Foucauldian critiques of humanitarianism, it aims to explain the potential for humanitarianism to instruct sociological understanding, especially where the latter concerns itself with the harms done to people in society and how we are socially and culturally disposed to care for others. While outlining a 'sociology of humanitarianism' it also argues for the value of incorporating 'humanitarian' culture and values into projects of social research.