试论通史与普世史的区别——以王夫之和鲍修哀的史学著作为对象

Discussion on the Difference between General History and Universal History——Taking the Historical Works of WANG Fu-zhi and Bossuet as Objects

鲍修哀是17世纪法国重要的神学家、史学家,Discourse on Universal History是他在历史学方面的代表著作。自20世纪初以来,国内不少译著和研究论著都将鲍修哀这部书的书名译作《通史论》或《世界通史》等,这是不太合适的。刘家和曾指出,中西之间有着重通史与重普世史的特点之不同。普世史固然必须以时间为经,但其重点却在共时性的普世的空间之纬;通史固然必须以空间为纬,但其重点却在历时性的时间之经。也就是说,西方思想中的Universal history(普世史或普遍史)与中国的“通史”概念在内涵上有很大不同。中国的“通史”思想其核心在于“穷变通久”,也就是司马迁所说的“通古今之变”。以王夫之为例,其史学著作虽属史论体,但特别注重对古今之变以及历史变化的辩证发展和深层原因的揭示,尤其是对变与常关系的深刻把握,使其成为继司马迁以来中国史学“通史精神”的又一典型代表。作为与王夫之大体同时的鲍修哀,他的史学著作虽然在内容上涵盖古今广泛的时间,但指导思想却是基督教普世史的神学观念,把历史变化归于神意,未能体现出“通古今之变”的思想,这是中西传统历史观念中的重要区别。

Bossuet was an important French theologian and historian in the 17th century,and Discourse on Universal History is his representative work in historiography.Since the early 20th century,many translations and research works in China have translated the title of Bossuet’s book as“通史论”or“世界通史”,which is not quite appropriate.Mr.LIU Jia-he has pointed out that there is a difference between the Chinese and the Western in terms of the characteristics of general history and universal history.Universal history must of course take time as its warp,but its focus is on the spatial latitude of the universal in common time.On the other hand,general history must of course take space as its latitude,but its focus is on the temporal warp of time.In other words,the connotation of Universal History in Western thought is very different from that of the Chinese concept.The core of the Chinese concept of“universal history”lies in the idea of“the evolution of the past and the present”,or“the changes of the past and the present”,as SIMA Qian put it.Although WANG Fuzhi’s historical writings are in the style of historical treatises,he paid special attention to revealing the changes in the past and the present,as well as the dialectical development and deep causes of historical changes,especially his profound grasp of the relationship between changes and constants,making him another typical representative of the“spirit of general history”in Chinese historiography since SIMA Qian.As Bossuet,who is basically of the same era as WANG Fu-zhi,although his historical works cover a wide range of time in terms of content,the guiding ideology is the theological concept of Christian universal history,which attributes historical changes to divine will,and fails to reflect the idea of“dialectically treat the changes of ancient and modern times”.This was an important difference between Chinese and Western traditional historical concepts.