探寻扎根于(中国)实际的社会科学

In Search of A Social Science that is Grounded in(Chinese)Reality

本文从连接西方理论与中国研究问题的角度回顾了作者自身多年的研究。作者的经验研究发现,中国的实际多与西方理论预期相悖。同时,西方理论强烈倾向偏重二元建构的单一方,但在真实世界中,它们多是并存和相互作用的,共同组成一个二元合一体,一如中国长期以来的实用道德主义正义体系那样。据此,作者质疑西方理论思维,不仅诸如主观主义VS.客观主义或意志主义VS.结构主义的二元对立建构,也包括理论VS.经验的对立建构,更包括西方VS.非西方二元。而在真实世界中,这些二元大多组成相互作用的合一体。此外,西方理论也多拒绝道德价值观,认为其是一种非理性和非现代的因素,但儒家"己所不欲,勿施于人"的"黄金规则"仍然顽强地在今天的中国起到重要的作用。我们需要的是用能够准确掌握中国实际的研究方法来形成扎根于中国实际的理论概念和社会科学。

This article reviews the author's own research over the years from the question of how to relate Western theory and China research. The author has found through empirical research that Chinese realities generally run counter to Western theoretical expectations. And,further,that Western theories tend to overlook one side or another of dualities that coexist and interact in the real world—for example,the simultaneous resort to high moral values and practical actions in the Chinese justice system. Those findings have led the author to question the very nature and structure of the major Western social science theories,which exhibit a strong tendency to onesided emphasis on one or another side of binary oppositions,not just with respect to such binaries as subjectivism vs. objectivism,but even with respect to theory vs. experience,and the West vs. the non-West. In the real world,however,the two sides co-exist and interact within a single whole. Western theories have also shown a strong tendency to reject moral values as somehow irrational and un-modern,while the persistent Confucian"golden rule"of"do not unto other what you would have them do unto you"has persisted through the ages down to the present. It still serves as a viable guide to practice. What we need is a method of research that would enable us to grasp accurately Chinese realities and to develop theoretical concepts that would be anchored on those realities.