西方史学传统中的当代兴趣与当代史

The Interest in the Recent Past and Contemporary History in Western Historiography

当代史源远流长,从古希腊、罗马时代起,关注当代就是历史学家的主要任务,历史是为了保存对当代事件的记忆。直到文艺复兴时期,"历史"(history)都不同于"编年史"(annals),前者关注当代事件和人物,后者记述遥远过去的事件。追溯西方关于过去和现在的观念的变化,我们可以清楚地看到,直到文艺复兴时期,人们都将过去与现在、过去与未来混为一谈。从文艺复兴开始,西欧史学向现代迈进,古代以来的现在观念缓慢地被侵蚀,人们对时代误置越来越敏感,逐渐认识到古代的现在和现代的现在在观念上远非同一个范畴。然而,到18世纪,充分辨别现在与过去的思想能力,也就是划定现在为不同的时代的可能性才真正产生。在19世纪,一方面人们认识到现当代史的现实意义,另一方面,史学家却因为史学客观性的要求而将现当代史推到了学术边缘。这种情况直到20世纪后半期才得到彻底改变。20世纪后半期以来的当代史不仅具有政治、文化意义,而且强调了理解现在作为研究过去的方法论意义,研究当代事件和进程成为了重新解释过去的起点。这种思想观念超越了所有传统上对自己时代的兴趣,是20世纪历史认识论的主要收获之一。

This paper discusses the interest in contemporary history from ancient historians to modern historians. Based on the historical analysis of antecedents of the History of the Present, it explains what categories such as ＂present＂ and concepts such as the ＂the history of one＇s own time＂ have meant for historians for centuries, and what the current differences with the earlier form are. In doing so, it points out that the main difference between the traditional form of History of the Present and the modern form lies principally in the ＂sense of present ＂ and therefore in the ways of tackling or preserving the past and of considering the future. The paper aims to demonstrate that focusing upon the changes of the interest in contemporary history and the sense of present cast a new light on the changes of western historiography over the centuries.