西方的东方学及其功能属性

Oriental Studies in the West and Its Functions and Attributes

西方的"东方学"作为与古典学、人类学相并列的三大学术领域之一,具有悠久的历史传统,它既是作为一门学问的"东方学",也是作为一种思想形态的"东方观"。西方人的自我确认、与他者文化的区分与辨异,都离不开"东方"的存在,而且都围绕"东方专制主义""亚细亚生产方式""东方停滞论""东方神秘主义"四个关键词展开。不同历史阶段西方人"东方"视野的移动伸缩、对"东方—西方"的认同与辨异、结构与解构模式的交互运动,都出于自身文化的内在需要,由此形成了关于"东方"的知识体系与思想传统。研读西方"东方学"著作,揭示其"西方文化认同"与"东西文化辨异"的功能,分析其知识形态与意识形态的双重属性,可以为中国的"东方学"学术史的研究提供外部参照与国际背景。

In the west, Oriental Studies is one of the three academic fields parallel with Classics and Anthropology, which has a long historical tradition. It is not only the Oriental Studies as a kind of knowledge, but also the Oriental View as an ideological form. The existence of the East is indispensable to the westerners’ self-confirmation and cultural differentiation from others. The shifting and stretching of westerners’ Oriental vision in different historical stages, the identification and differentiation of East-West, and the interactive movement of structure and deconstruction modes all stem from the internal needs of their own culture, forming the knowledge system and thought tradition about Orient. As a result, studying Western works on Oriental Studies, revealing its functions of Western cultural identity and Eastern and Western cultural differentiation, and analyzing its dual attributes of intellectual form and ideology will provide external reference and international background for the study of the academic history of Oriental Studies in China.