“雷纳尔之问”与美洲“发现”及其后果之争

The Raynal's Question and the Dispute on the Discovery of the Americas and Its Consequence

"雷纳尔之问"是研究美洲的法国专家雷纳尔1780年提出的,由里昂研究院设奖征文,此举将欧洲学界对美洲"发现"及其后果的争论推向高潮。这场争论主要局限在欧洲学界,学者们从不同角度对"雷纳尔之问"做出回答,"肯定"与"否定"观点对立交锋。这场争论涉及研究美洲的一个根本问题,既包含着对欧洲大国殖民化美洲的评价,又暗含着如何能够走出专制主义带给美洲灾难的梦魇。争论高潮迭起,但并未决出胜负高下,里昂研究院也从来没有从征文中择出最佳论著,奖项无果而终。然而,欧洲学界对"雷纳尔之问"的争论具有不可磨灭的深远意义,促进了欧洲学界对美洲问题研究的开展,有助于欧洲人进一步了解美洲,对专制主义和殖民主义给人类社会带来的"灾难"形成了新的认识,为他们以后逐渐走出对美洲异国风情的想象奠定了基础。

The Raynal's Question was proposed in 1780 by Abbe Raynal,a French expert on the studies of the Americas.According to Raynal's proposal,the Academy of Lyons set up a prize for the best work to answer his question,which pushed a dispute on the discovery of the Americas existing among the European academia to a new height.This dispute referred to a fundamental question concerning the studies of the Americas,which included the assessment for the colonization of the Americas by the European powers and implied how to get rid of the calamities brought by the despotism to the New World.The dispute attracted much attention of scholars,but no final conclusion can be drawn.The Academy of Lyons never successfully chose the best one from the presented works and the prize came to nothing.However,the dispute about Raynal's Question still had an indelible and profound significance.It promoted the development of the studies of the Americas in the European academia,contributed to the further understanding of the Americas by the Europeans,and helped them have a new recognition of the calamities to the human society caused by both despotism and colonialism,which laid a foundation for them to get out of imagination for the American exoticism.