同异之间与方法内外:西方政治思想史研究方法之辩

The Similarities and Differences in the History of Western Political Thoughts and Disciplines of History of Thoughts in the West:An Essay Regarding Methods,Methodology and their Boundaries

西方的思想史研究在内部有着明显的区域国别差异和学派方法差别,观念史、概念史、话语分析、语境主义政治思想史等都有其代表人物、研究方法和研究特色,大多不限于政治领域。在这些流派中,将研究对象聚焦于政治思想的主要是从20世纪60年代兴起的以斯金纳等历史学家为代表的语境主义政治思想史,其方法论与研究步骤也最贴近政治活动本身。国内学界对思想史研究方法的介绍运用,往往更强调方法的跨学科性,而忽略了不同方法本身的针对性和限制性。本文从归纳西方思想史研究的五项基本预设出发,试图进一步厘清西方思想史中具有代表性的研究方法,进而指出西方思想史研究的价值定位与方法论意义上的功能局限,以期为本领域的研究提供一些参考。

Among the disciplines of the history of thoughts in the west,visible differences can be observed across different countries/regions and in terms of their methods and methodology,i.e.disciplines such as history of ideas,conceptual history,discourse analysis and the contextualism study of the history of political thoughts(intellectual history)all have their own representative figures,methods of study and features of research.Specifically speaking,the contextualism study of the history of political thoughts which has become a major discipline among academics in the west since 1960s under the innovation and influence of historians like Quentin Skinner is the one major discipline that focus on the area of political thoughts mainly,and its methodology and approach are made for the studies of political activities from the start.Our recent discussions and applications of the methods and methodologies of the study of the history of thoughts put more emphases on the interdisciplinary features of the methods among those disciplines,while omit the targets and boundaries among them.This essay tries to encapsulate the five fundamental presuppositions of the studies of political thoughts in the west and then clarifies the distinctions among certain major disciplines.Furthermore,the value suppositions and the limitations regarding the western studies of the history of political thoughts will be discussed in hope of of shading some lights for our own studies.