从神话学立场论夏朝的存在

On the Existence of the Xia Dynasty from the Mythological Standpoint

神话就是古人心目中的历史。远古的神话和后世的历史叙事在社会功能上是一致的,都是用神圣叙事来证明当时的社会生活与制度。所以,我们不能根据神话情节的虚构性来否定神话所要证明的社会现实的真实性。神圣叙事涵盖神话和历史两个概念,通过分析有关鲧、禹和启的神圣叙事的社会功能,或可证明作为第一个世袭王朝的夏朝是真实的存在。史学界和考古学界对于夏代是否属于信史无法取得一致意见,争议的核心在于双方使用的方法论和证据学原则的不同。

Mythology was equal to history in the minds of the ancient people.The myths of remote antiquity and the historical narratives of later periods were identical in their social functions,as they both used sacred narratives to verify the social life and institution of that time.Therefore,we cannot base ourselves on the fictionality of mythological plots to deny the authenticity of the social reality which the myths were intended to attest to.Here,the term“sacred narrative”covers the concepts of both mythology and history.This paper is intended to prove the real existence of the Xia Dynasty,which was the first hereditary kingdom in China,by analyzing the social functions of the sacred narratives about Gun(鲧),Yu(禹),and Qi(启).Now the historians and archeologists still hold different views about the real existence of the Xia Dynasty.The core of their debate lies in the difference between their methodology and evidentiary principle.So,this paper also discusses the evidentiary principle for the study of ancient history in the academia.