在经验与先验之间——兼论知识分子的历史使命

Between Experience and Apriority——Also on the Historical Mission of Intellectuals

在探寻人类文明进程的普遍规律、获取人类文明的普遍性价值的过程之中,如何既避免“理不离境”的经验主义错误,又规避超越时空的先验主义谬误,显然是迄今为止在学术界仍未得到明晰的认知和解决的重大理论问题。与经验论一样,完全脱离经验基础的先验论,无疑偏于极端和绝对。将经验与先验相统一而形成的有机认识论或普遍主义认识论,或许是更为合理的认知门径。而对于这一门径的找寻,正是知识分子尤其人文知识分子不可回避的历史使命。知识分子群体不同于其他阶层的社会职责和独有优势,在于它以必要的逻辑思维训练为前提,超越经验知识,通过知识占有和因此获得的思想力量,以先验与经验有机结合所获取的洞察力,批判性地洞悉、预判事物发展的趋势与前景,对社会现实及其发展前景作出必要的预警和展望;同时,在事物发展的多样性之中,探求、发现与抽象出远高于具体经验知识的共同经验知识及文明成果,也即体现事物发展之真理性的普遍性理念,最终积淀而为超越时空的共通性文明成果,进而推动社会进步。

In the process of seeking the universal law of human civilization progress and obtaining the universal value of human civilization, how to avoid both the empiricism error of “reason doesn’t depart from facts” and the apriorism error of transcending time and space is obviously a major theoretical problem that has not been clearly recognized and solved in the academic circle so far.Like empiricism, apriorism, which is completely divorced from the empirical basis, tends to be extreme and absolute.The organic epistemology or universalism epistemology, which is formed by the unification of the experience and apriority, may be a more reasonable cognitive approach, and the intellectuals, especially the humanistic intellectuals, owe this historical mission to fulfill.The social responsibility and unique advantage of the intellectual group, which is different from other classes, lies in that it takes the necessary logical thinking training as the premise, goes beyond the empirical knowledge, through the possession of knowledge to obtain the ideological power, and with the insight obtained by the organic combination of transcendence and experience, it critically understands and predicts the development trend and prospect of things, and makes the necessary early warning and prospect for the social reality and its development prospect.At the same time, in the diversity of the development of things, exploring, discovering and abstracting common experience knowledge and civilization achievements are far higher than specific experience knowledge, that is, the universal concept that reflects the truth and rationality of the development of things, finally accumulates into common civilization achievements transcending time and space, and then returns to promote social progress.