宋恕政治改革思想的演变及其困境

The Evolution of Song Shu’s Political Reform Thought and Its Cultural Dilemma

宋恕是晚清温州甚至浙东非常有思想创发性和影响力的学者之一,其别具一格的“三始一始说”政治改良思想使他成为清末变法思想的重要推手。通过回顾其“政说凡四变,愈变而愈卑”的思想演变轨迹发现:宋恕集无政府主义、民主共和、君主立宪和开明专制等多种政治主张于一身,思想光谱多变而复杂。宋恕这种锐意改革却又瞻前顾后、醉心西化却又保守传统的特质,既有其身体、性格、观念和时代局限使然,亦是中西政治文明冲突的深层文化困境所致。在提出文化自信的今天,宋恕当年得不偿失的思想后退告诫我们,中国现代本土政治文明的建构只有在不断开放进取而非消极保守的文化心态中才能取得成功。

Song Shu was one of the most creative and influential scholars in Wenzhou and even east Zhejiang in the late Qing Dynasty.His unique thought of political reform,which is to change Chinese clothes into the western style ones before the reform of the official system,the establishment of the Parliament and the change of the imperial examination system(known as the political thought of starting from one to reform three),made him an important promoter of the reform thought in the late Qing Dynasty.Looking back on the evolution of his thought degenerating from anarchism to democratic republic,constitutional monarchy and enlightened absolutism,we can find that Song Shu’s political views were changeable and complex,integrating the above four into one.His characteristics,reform-minded but backward-looking,western-oriented but conservative,was caused by his body,character,concept and the limitation of the times,as well as the deep-seated cultural dilemma of the conflict between Chinese and western political civilization.Today,when we put forward the idea of cultural self-confidence,Song Shu’s unworthy backward thought warns us that the construction of China’s modern political civilization can only be successful in an open and enterprising cultural mentality rather than a passive and conservative one.