社会学视角下的“意会”问题及其研究方法——对费孝通扩展学科界限思想的再研究

The Issue of“Tacit Knowledge”from a Sociological Perspective and Its Research Methodology-A Re-examination of Fei Xiaotong’s Thought on Extending Disciplinary Boundaries

费孝通晚年的社会学思想发生了从生态研究向心态研究的转向。心态研究包括两方面含义:强调中国文化的主体性和人性的整全特征。这在其2003年扩展社会学学科界限的思想中得到进一步强化。扩展学科界限思想至少包括两个方面:议题的扩展和方法的扩展。在议题方面,“意会”概念扩展了传统社会关系的概念,将人与人之间的关系扩展为人与自然、人与自我层面的关系。费孝通在对“讲不清楚的我”的“意会”探索中,与美学的“意象”“意境”有了对接。后者提供了“意会”在现象学层面的表征,社会学对此思考的方法随之发生扩展,这便是走出传统实证主义藩篱,由此自内而外构建世界图景的“直觉”方法得到重视。“意会”将人与自然、人与自我的关系纳入社会学的分析框架,扩大了社会学的研究对象,在根本上受益于中国古典思想天人合一观的启发。

In the later years of Fei Xiaotong’s academic career,his sociological thought shifted from ecological research to the study of mentality.The study of mentality includes two key aspects:emphasizing the subjectivity of Chinese culture and the holistic characteristics of human nature.This shift is further reinforced in his thought on extending the boundaries of sociology as a discipline in 2003.This concept involves at least two dimensions:the expansion of topics and the expansion of methods.In terms of topics,the concept of“tacit knowledge”extends the traditional concept of social relations,broadening it to include relationships between humans and nature,and between humans and the self.In his exploration of the“tacit”aspect of the“indescribable self”,Fei Xiaotong connected with the aesthetic concepts of“imagery”and“artistic conception”.The latter provides a phenomenological representation of“tacit knowledge”,which led to an expansion in sociological thinking methods,particularly the emphasis on“intuition”,which transcends the traditional positivist boundaries and constructs a world view from the inside out.The inclusion of the relationships between humans and nature,and humans and the self into sociological analysis broadens the scope of sociological research,fundamentally inspired by the Chinese classical thought of the unity of heaven and man.