《新青年》与五四文明论

New Youth and the Concept of Civilization in the May 4th Movement Period

五四时期是文明论在中国发生颠覆性变化的时期。中国中心主义的古典文明论近乎彻底瓦解,并为欧洲中心主义的现代文明论所完全取代,这个状况在《新青年》杂志中得到具体体现。通过整体反传统、全盘西化的文化思想革命,五四新文化运动确立了现代文明论的知识霸权,并对此后中国的现代化进程造成深刻影响,其是导致激进主义文化运动在二十世纪中国不断反复的历史原因之一。辩证地看,对西方现代文明论的自我殖民化接受,也往往孕育下批判反思的种子,第一次世界大战的发生及其后果,则让这个反现代性的潜在思想脉络得到凸显,并构成对五四新文化运动的思想修正。五四文明论不仅是对西方现代文明的跨界移情,而且也包含着对于一个本土化的替代性文明方案的创造性想象。

The May 4^th Movement is a period of subversive changes in the development of the theory of civilization in China. The classical civilization theory of Chinese centralism is almost completely disintegrated and replaced by the modern civilization theory of Eurocentrism, which is embodied in the magazine New Youth. Through the cultural and ideological revolution characterized by overall opposition to traditions and wholesale westernization, the May 4^th New Culture Movement established the knowledge hegemony of modern civilization theory and profoundly affected China's modernization process. It is one of the historical reasons that led to the continuous repetition of the radical cultural movement in China in the 20^th century. Dialectically, the acceptance of the self-colonization of modern western civilization theory also gave rise to critical reflections. The occurrence and consequences of the First World War highlighted the potential anti-modernity thought, thus constituting an ideological amendment to the May 4^th New Culture Movement. The May 4^th civilization theory is not only cross-border empathy of modern western civilization, but also contains the creative imagination of an alternative civilization scheme.