勇于建构?——朱利安中西“时间”观念对照研究之反思与辨明

Oser construire?——Reflections and Clarifications on Fran?ois Jullien's Comparative Study of Chinese and Western Conceptions of “Time”

“时间”是中西哲学史最为基要、深广的问题之一,也是当代哲学建构的核心问题。法国汉学家朱利安《论“时间”》一书涵摄王夫之思想(主要是易学观念)来做中、欧时间哲学对照研究,在古典与当代视域中设置了重重中-欧思想间距,展现出深邃而驳杂的学术风格。朱利安的致思方式触碰并紧扣着中西比较哲学研究的关键问题,具有很强的思想穿透力,然而,其依傍中国“时”观这一思想“上游”对欧洲哲学所开展的极富哲学雄心的根源“追溯”,具有结构主义、简化主义的倾向,反而导致对中、欧思想真实历史的双重遮蔽。朱利安对中国思想“他者性”的建构缠绕着欧洲认识中国这一“他方”的历史-地理经纬,然而他却不愿意正视这一事实而对既有的思想成见展开反思。朱利安“汉语思想消解生命意义(sens)”的论断是形式化的,其立论基础也问题重重。对“时间”问题展开跨文化思考,“文化史”的视角是不可或缺的,而这恰恰是朱利安有意忽略的部分。

Time is one of the most fundamental and profound issues in the history of Chinese and Western philosophy,and it is also a central issue in the construction of contemporary philosophy.The book Du “temps”:éléments d'une philosophie du vivre( 2001) by the French sinologist Fran?ois Jullien,taking into account Wang Fuzhi's thought(mainly the concept of Yijing),sets up a series of distant-gaps between Chinese and European thought in a classical and contemporary perspective,and shows a deep and mixed academic style.Jullien constantly touches on the key issues in the study of Chinese and European comparative philosophy,and his arguments in this book are highly penetrating.However,his extremely philosophically ambitious tracing of the roots of European philosophy,by relying on the Chinese concept of “Shi” as the “upstream” of thought,has a tendency to be structuralist and reductionist,leading instead to a double obscuring of the true history of Chinese and European thought.Jullien's construction of the “otherness” of Chinese thought is entwined with the historical-geographical understanding of European view on China as the alien,yet he is unwilling to confront this fact and reflect on established ideological stereotypes.Jullien's assertion that “ Chinese thought dissolves the meaning of life” is formalistic and problematic in its basis.The perspective of cultural history is essential to cross-cultural thinking about “ time,” which is precisely the part that Jullien deliberately ignores.