普世与建构:论情感的史学化历程

Universalism and Constructivism: On Historicalization of Emotion

情感是人类生命的重要组成部分,也是历史学需要研究的对象之一。但是由于情感本身的个体性和模糊性,其需要借助其他学科才能进入历史学的研究视野,这一过程即情感的“史学化”。时至今日,情感的史学化进程大体可分为三个阶段:第一个阶段,历史学试图借助心理学将情感纳入研究视野,初步显现出普世主义(universalism)和建构主义(structuralism)的二元对立;第二个阶段,历史学试图借助人类学和社会学,提出以研究情感表达方式为核心的“情感学”,但其理论强烈的建构主义色彩致使研究中凸显相对主义特征,进而产生了客观主义危机;第三个阶段,强势崛起的生命科学尝试为情感的普世主义存在提供客观生理和神经证据,以威廉·雷迪为代表的历史学家们试图以此作为情感史研究的普世主义立场,对冲前一阶段产生的客观主义危机,进而消解普世主义与建构主义的二元对立。

Emotion is an important part of human life and one of the important objects of historical research.However,because of the subjectivity and ambiguity of emotion,it can be studied only with aid of other disciplines,that is"historicizing"of emotion.To date the process of historicizing emotions was three stages:in first stage,historians attempted to study the history of emotions with the aid of psychology,in which the opposition between universalism and constructivism was uncovered.In the second stage,historians attempted to research w emotionologyv with the aid of anthropology and sociology,however,due to the constructivism of sociology and anthropology,this kind research showed relativism,which led to the crisis of objectivism.In the third stage,the rising of life sciences tried to provide objective physiological and neurological evidences for the universalism of emotions,and historians,typified by William Reddy,attempted to use it as a universal ground for the history of emotions,counteracting the effect of objective crisis and eliminating the opposition between universalism and constructivism.