欧洲中心论与罗伯逊的美洲观

Eurocentrism and William Robertson’s Idea of America

罗伯逊是著名历史学家,在史学研究方法上的确令人称道,但受欧洲中心论的局限,罗伯逊终究难以突破布丰、德波和雷纳尔等人在美洲印第安人研究上设置的藩篱,成为启蒙时代“美洲退化论”的主要代表人物之一。罗伯逊的美洲史研究在他所处时代无疑影响了很多欧洲人美洲观的形成,不乏正面或积极的因素在内,但负面的作用同样显而易见。他从“退化”角度对美洲土著人特性的描述看似无超出布丰等人的独到之处,只是以学界认同的名人身份促使了这种理论的广泛扩散。其实,罗伯逊在研究中没有完全照搬布丰等人的命题,而是在确认美洲土著人体质“退化”的前提下提出了一些令人深思的问题。从《美洲史》整个行文来看,罗伯逊的相关描述充其量只能是“退化论”在欧洲学界的余音而已。

William Robertson was a famous historian in the Enlightenment and published a multi-volume work about the American history.Under the influence of the Eurocentrism,Robertson accepted the theory of American degeneracy elaborated systematically by Buffon and became one of the representatives of the theory.Robertson’s idea of America undoubtedly had a great influence on many Europeans perception of America in his time.His description of the characteristics of Native Americans from the perspective of the degeneracy seemed to contribute little to the original theory,but it obviously contributed to the wide spread of this theory in European academic community and societies.In fact,far from an indiscriminate imitation of Buffon and other scholars’proposition of degeneracy and in his research,Robertson put forward some thought-provoking questions on the premise of confirming the physical degeneracy of Native Americans.According to the content of The History of America,Robertson’s descriptions are at best the echoes of the theory of degeneracy in European academic circles.