美洲人起源研究与近代历史意识变迁

Study on the Origins of the American Aborigines and the Transformation of Historical Consciousness in Modern Times

随着新航路开辟,探险者将大量新大陆的知识带到欧洲,冲击了基于《圣经》的传统世界观。美洲原住民作为《圣经》中并未记载的民族,他们起源何处成为当时学者们热议的话题。在当时,一些学者试图将美洲人纳入诺亚谱系之中,用古典知识与《圣经》解释美洲人的起源。随着人们对美洲人认识的增进,一些新的问题接踵而来,传统知识体系无法容纳这些新知识,基于《圣经》和古典知识的传统知识框架遭受冲击。18世纪后,美洲人起源的研究开始步入新的阶段,虽然结论与近代人文主义学者的研究相似,但是研究方法已与早期研究迥然不同,这也折射出近代历史意识的转型。

In the Age of Discovery,European explorers brought a great deal of knowledge of America to Europe,which challenged the traditional Bible-based worldview.American aborigines and their origins were fiercely debated among scholars since they are not mentioned in the Bible.Some humanists tried to include American aborigines into Noah’s genealogy and to explain their origin with classical knowledge and the Bible.This traditional framework,however,faced a strong challenge because of its inability to answer new questions brought up by new discoveries about the American aborigines.After the 18 th century,the study of the origin of American aborigines began to enter a new stage.Although scholars of this period had similar conclusions with those of humanists,their different research methods reflect the transformation of modern historical consciousness.