折中的“重估”

The Eclectic“Transvaluation”:the Plural Meanings of the May Fourth New Culture Illustrated by the Slogan of“Transvaluation of all Values”

“重新估定一切价值”(Transvaluation of all Values),在1919年被胡适用以概括“新思潮的根本意义”,成为新文化运动的重要口号。该口号的提出本有特殊语境。一战后的中国思想界有了新的趋向,尊西趋新、反传统已不再具有类似“政治正确”的独尊地位,原本被尊崇的“欧化”、被否定的“国故”都面临重估。在此背景下,《新青年》派与《时事新报》同人关于“外国偶像”与“固有文化”的争论,成为傅斯年、胡适调整表述的契机,促使他们使用更折中、开放的口号——“重新估定一切价值”“整理国故”来回应对方质疑,并容纳多元的新派。在这一情境中提出及流行的“重新估定一切价值”具有多重属性:胡适在表述上统合种种不一致的新思潮,又暗藏其对中西文化的主张,并针对新兴的“主义”;因其开放性,它在流传中更被不同地理解与使用。这一口号的多重性体现出历史上的五四新文化运动比以往认知的更为丰富。

In 1919,Hu Shi used Nietzsche s epigram“Transvaluation of all Values”to summarize“the fundamental meaning of the new intellectual trend”and this epigram thus became one of the important slogans of the New Culture Movement.After WWI,Chinese intellectuals no longer believed that Westernization and anti-traditionalism were absolute truth,and both the Western culture they had advocated and the Chinese tradition they had criticized needed to be revaluated.In this context,the debates about“foreign models”and“native culture”between Xin qingnian(New Youth)and Shishi xinbao(China Times)gave opportunities for Fu Sinian and Hu Shi to adjust their expression and urged them to use the more eclectic and inclusive slogans,such as“Transevaluation of all Values”and“reexamining the national heritage”to respond to their opponents challenges and appeal to more intellectuals inclining to new ideas in general.Thus,the slogan,“Transevaluation of all Values”,had multiple meanings.Hu Shi used it to summarize various new ideas,imply his own idea about the Chinese and Western cultures,and criticize the emerging“isms”.Because of its inclusiveness,it could be interpreted and perceived in different ways.The plural meanings of this slogan illustrate the complexity of the May Fourth New Culture Movement in history.