论柯文的中国史观及其史学特征

Cohen' s Conception of History of China and Its Historiographical Features

柯文早期的中国史观曾受“传统与现代性”两极对立理论的影响。后来,他所倡导的“中国中心观”试图超越这一理论的局限,进而从根本上否定以西方“现代性”为标准的衡量中国社会发展程度的研究模式。但柯文未能科学地把握“传统”与“现代”的关系,其史学思想具有较为明显的相对主义倾向。

P. A. Cohen' s early conception of history of China was influenced by the polarized opposite theory of 'tradition verse modernity'. Later, he tried to go beyond the limitation of this theory by his ' China - centered approach', and further negated the research model in which the development level of Chinese society was measured by the standard of Western 'modernity'. Cohen, however, failed to grasp the contradictory relationship between tradition and modernity scientifically, and his ideas of history had a quite clear relativist tendency.