社会科学研究的转向:以历史发展理论

The Turn of Social Science Research:Using History to Develop Theory

社会科学研究转向历史有几种含义,其一是方法论上转向历史学方法,其二是研究议题上转向历史领域,其三是研究理念和取向上转向以探寻历史进程的方式来寻求对事件和行为的解释,它们分别代表了学者对社会科学主流方法的反思和挑战;反映了把历史重新带入社会科学来克服社会科学研究“工具性”和“单面性”的努力;意味着通过引入时间要素和利用历史材料来重新发现历史,从而实现对社会变迁过程及其规律的完整和深刻的认知与理解。其中,以探寻历史进程的方式来寻求对事件和行为的解释,有助于全面反省社会科学尤其是政治学理论、模式和方法的建构,是社会科学研究得以走进政治和历史深处的重要路径。

The historical turn of social science research has several meanings.First,it implies a methodological shift towards historical methods.Second,it involves a shift in research topics to-wards historical fields.Third,it signifies a shift in research concepts and orientations towards ex-ploring historical processes as a way to seek explanations for events,behaviors,and institutions.These turns respectively represent scholars reflections on and challenges to the hegemony of main-stream methods in social science.They reflect the efforts to reintroduce history into social science to overcome the tendency of instrumentalism and one-sidedness in social science research.This ap-proach also means to rediscover history through the introduction of the time element and the use of historical materials,thereby to achieve a complete and profound cognition and understanding of the process of social changes and their laws.Among these,seeking explanations for events,behaviors,and institutions through the exploration of historical processes helps to comprehensively reconsider the construction of theories,models,and methods in social sciences,especially in political sci-ence.It is an important path for social science research to explore the depths of politics and history.