文化中介者还是“政治脂肪”:《独立评论》关于文化价值问题的一次论争

Cultural Mediators or "Political Fat"?A Debate on Cultural Values in the Independent Review

文化价值系统的危机,是近现代中国社会面临的最大危机之一。面对西方文化价值的冲击,知识阶层开始探索冲出困境的方式,为中国文化寻求出路。报刊媒介的兴起,为知识阶层与社会大众之间搭建了可沟通对话的平台,强化了知识人的文化中介作用。本文即立足于此,对《独立评论》等刊物关于中西医之争、中西文化取舍等文化价值问题的论战展开研究,探讨在文化与社会变革中,知识人对中西文化价值系统的碰撞持何种态度,为何会产生不同的文化抉择,对此作出了怎样的回应与努力。本文同时揭示了转型时期的社会背景与知识人自身的角色属性,使知识阶层普遍认为危机中国家之出路就在于重建文化秩序,因此文化价值问题就成了争议的中心。无论持何种观点,文化争论的根本目的在于推动中国现代化进程,重塑转型时期的文化价值系统。在这一社会调停的过程中,作为文化中介者的知识人对自我身份地位产生焦虑,试图重回政治中心,却始终只是钱穆意义上的“政治脂肪”。

One of the greatest crises facing modern Chinese society is the crisis of the cultural value system.Faced with the impact of Western cultural values,the intellectual class began to explore ways to break out of the dilemma and find a way out for Chinese culture.The rise of the press built a platform for communication and dialogue between the intellectual class and the public,and strengthened the role of intellectuals as cultural mediators.Based on this,this paper examines the debates on cultural value issues such as the debate between Chinese and Western medicine and the trade-off between Chinese and Western culture in the Independent Review and other publications,and explores what attitudes intellectuals hold toward the collision of Chinese and Western cultural value systems in the midst of cultural and social change,why they make different cultural choices,and what responses and efforts they make in response.The paper also reveals that the social context of the transition period and the role of intellectuals themselves have led the intellectuals to believe that the way out for the country in crisis lies in rebuilding the cultural order,and thus the issue of cultural values has become the center of controversy.Regardless of the views held,the fundamental purpose of the cultural debate is to promote the modernization process in China and to reshape the cultural value system in the transition period.In this process of cultural mediation,intellectuals,as cultural mediators,became anxious about their self-identity and attempted to return to the political center,but always only as"political fat"in Qian Mu's sense.