同感的失效与补救——以明清之际中西文化互通为例

Failure and Remedy in Empathy-A Case Study on Culture Interaction between China and Europe in Late Ming and Early Qing Dynasty

作为意识的一种特殊形式,“同感”是解决主体交际问题的工具,是自我理解他者的基石。跨文化的互通在本质上是文化传播者在文化意识上的交互体验,因此,同感在异质文化互通中发挥着重要作用。本文尝试运用同感理论,解析明清时期耶稣会士与儒士交往过程中同感机制所发挥的影响以及同感机制失效的原因,借此为两种异质文化互通提供一种认识论视角的诠释和反思。

“Empathy”has been defined as a special form of consciousness by phenomenalists and it serves as a vital tool to settle down the issue of inter-subjectivity.The definition is an indication that empathy plays fundamental role in understanding between the self and the other.Eccentrically,interaction between different cultures is an interactive experience of communicators in cultural consciousness.Therefore,empathy is also a decisive element in cultural interaction.Based on theoretical findings on empathy,this paper attempts to interpret the two divided understanding of Confucianism from two influential Jesuits in Late Ming Dynasty.On their cases,we can observe that they demonstrated divergent attitude in understanding Confucianism due to different empathy operation in their consciousness.In addition,failure of empathy operation was also presented in awareness of the key decision makers between the two sides in Chinese Rites Controversy in early Qing Dynasty.The research can provide a new interpretation and reflection from epistemological perspective for interaction between the two divergent cultures.