“西方理论的中国问题”对谈

A Dialogue on the “Chinese Issues in Western Theory”

“西方理论的中国问题”困扰了中西知识界数百年。西方从亚当·斯密的“中华文明静滞论”、黑格尔的“中国没有历史”,到费正清的“西方冲击—中国反应”、柯文的“在中国发现历史”等观点;中国从“器道”之争、戊戌变法、五四运动,到“文化热”“重建中国文论话语”等运动或思潮,可以说都聚焦于此。近年,欧美和中国学者在新的历史语境下重新展开“西方理论的中国问题”研究,受到中西学界的广泛关注,但这一话题中的一些核心命题,比如何为“理论”、何为“中国问题”、何为“中国理论”、何为“中西”等,仍亟待讨论并进一步澄清。《探索与争鸣》曾就这一话题组织刊发《世界中的中国和西方:“西方理论的中国问题”对谈》,本次对谈系对前次讨论的进一步深入和展开。以下选摘本次对谈精华,以飨读者。

The Chinese issues in Western theory has troubled the intellectual circles of both China and the West for hundreds of years.Western scholars,starting from Adam Smith's theory of the “stagnation of Chinese civilization”,Hegel's assertion that “China has no history”,to John King Fairbank's “Western impact-Chinese response” and Paul Cohen's “discovering history in China” have all grappled with this issue.Similarly,China's own intellectual trajectory,from debates on “instruments versus principles”,the Reform Movement of 1898,the May Fourth Movement,to the “cultural fever” and the “reconstruction of Chinese literary discourse” has centered around this theme.In recent years,scholars from Europe,America,and China have revisited the “Chinese Issues in Western Theory” within a new historical context,attracting widespread attention from academia.However,some core issues within this topic still require urgent discussion and further clarification,such as defining what constitutes a “theory”,what is a “Chinese theory”,what is a “Chinese issue”,and how to understand the relationship between “China and the West”.