米歇尔·福柯与现代史学思潮变化之渊源

Michel Foucault and the Origins of the New Trends in Contemporary Historiography

在现代世界,法国思想家米歇尔·福柯(Michel Foucault,1926—1984)对当代史学的主导观念、书写内容和研究方法均有重要的影响。首先,福柯改变了近代历史学的主旨,摒弃了启蒙运动思想家希图探究历史规律的所谓"大写的历史"。其次,福柯为"它者"写史,将历史研究的对象从中心转移到了边缘,譬如疯狂、疾病、身体、性等,引发了史学界的诸多新潮——医疗史、性别史、身体史、儿童史、情感史等等。再次,福柯改造了历史研究的方法,指出史家不能仅仅依赖文献,而需要扩大史料的范围,将建筑、机构、规则、技术、物品、习俗等能承载记忆的东西都包含进来。复次,福柯提倡用话语取代语言,提出"考古学"和"系谱学"的概念来考察话语的构成和网络,直接导致了历史学中的"语言学转向"。最后,福柯指出了知识与权力的关系,揭橥了近代理性主义、科学主义所建构的知识体系背后的权力架构和网络。

Michel Foucault is a key thinker that has prefigured the new trends in historical writing of our times.First,by challenging the idea of'History'advanced by Enlightenment thinkers,he changed the purpose of historical research.Second,while eschewing the search for historical laws,Foucault called for attention to the'other'in history,pioneering the histories of medicine,sexuality,body,children and emotions.Third,Foucault helped enlarge the scope of historical sources,including architecture,disciplines,technology,material culture and social customs.Fourth,by coining such terms as'archaeology'and'genealogy,'he emphasized the role of language in epistemology,resulting in the'linguistic turn'in historiography.And the fifth,he analyzed the relationship between knowledge and power,offering a sharp critique of Enlightenment rationalism.