“愿你生活在有趣的时代”——美国的中国哲学研究现状

“May You Live in Interesting Times”: The State of Chinese Philosophical Research in America

美国的中国哲学研究目前正处于一个危机与机遇并存的“有趣的时代”。在过去十年甚至更长一段时间里,美国的中国哲学研究似乎深陷难以摆脱的泥潭,问题主要在于我们对哲学研究内容的认识,即对哲学的“核心”与“边缘”的划分。与中国哲学研究在美国哲学院系受到冷遇成为鲜明对比的是,中国哲学在如宗教学系、历史系、东亚学系等其他院系方兴未艾,这意味着我们的中国哲学研究失去了哲学家们解读文本及观点的独特哲学方法与工具,从而使中国哲学研究难以健康、蓬勃地发展。同时,这种情况又为中国哲学研究带来了相对自由,我们可以利用这种相对自由去做那些主流哲学界无法做的事情,即开展新的比较研究,结合其他学科的研究方法进行跨学科研究,对过去百年来西方哲学界不曾关注过的广泛领域展开研究。

The state of Chinese philosophy is definitely in an “interesting time” now in America, facing both peril andopportunities for growth. For nearly two decades Chinese philosophy has stagnated in America mainly becauseof how we understand “philosophy” in academia, which is to say, Western philosophy is at the center, and allothers are at the periphery. Chinese philosophy is hardly touched upon in the philosophy departments of majoruniversities, but can rather be found in departments of religious studies, Asian studies, and even historydepartments. One the one hand this drives Chinese philosophy out of the hands of the scholars most qualified toanalyze philosophy, but ion the other hand it provides Chinese philosophy with a kind of methodological freedomto interact and grow with other disciplines.