洋务运动时期王韬对待西方法政知识的认知与逻辑

Historical Record and Its Logic on Wang Tao's Knowledge of Western Laws and Politics During the Westernization Movement

两次鸦片战争,中国的国门被迫打开,中国以极不情愿的方式被拉进世界万国体系之中。王韬作为这一过程的见证者和参与者,用自己的认知、表达和态度典型地展现了这一充满冲突与碰撞的过程。洋务运动时期,王韬对于西方法政知识的具体认识经历了上海墨海书馆、流亡海外和重回故土三个时期,其对西方法政制度的认识存在着变与不变两种倾向。一方面,王韬在一定程度上接受了西方法政知识,超出了"朴素排外主义"的范畴,以一种"心灵开放的民族主义"态度和立场,加入了同时期其他人所不曾掌握的"世界性的元素",调和了学习西方和儒学中国之间的矛盾。另一方面,由于王韬始终坚信中国传统儒家文化的至上性,对于西方以及英国的思考仍然在儒家"循环论"和"衰退观"的框架下进行,受到"强制同化"和"圣学投影"这种认知—评价心理的制约,因而最终未能更进一步,超越这一时期流行的"中本西末观"。

After the two Opium Wars, the gate of Qing Dynasty was forced to open. China was unavoidably pulled into the system of modern civilized countries. As a witness and participant in the whole process, Wang Tao typically exhibited all the conflict and collision in this situation by his cognition, expression and manner. The changes of the attitude of Wang Tao toward western legal knowledge experienced three stages, including the period when working in the London Missionary Society Press in Shanghai, the period when being exiled abroad and the period when returning to homeland. Meanwhile, his knowledge of western legal regulations was more and more scientific having two tendencies of changing and unchanging. On the one hand, Wang Tao accepted western legal knowledge in some degree, and overcame “simple exclusivism.” He held a position of “open-hearted nationalism,” with some international elements which had never been grasped by his contemporaries, and reconciled the contradiction between western thoughts and Confucian teachings. On the other hand, Wang Tao believed in the superiority of traditional Chinese Confucianism, because his study of western thoughts followed the approach of cyclical theory and recession opinion, and was strongly influenced by the ideas of “forced assimilation” and “saint teaching’ s projection.” Wang Tao’ s thought about western legal knowledge couldn’ t go beyond the popular opinion “Chinese Learning for Fundamental Principles and Western Learning for Practical Uses” at his time.