“一战”的根源与“群氓崇拜”——论辜鸿铭对现代性的反思

The Causes of World War I and the Worship of the Mob——A Study on Guhongming's Reflection on Modernity

辜鸿铭与他的浪漫主义师辈们卡莱尔、阿诺德等人一样,批判欧洲现代文明,寻找疗救现代文明物质主义"痼疾"的"良方"。在他看来,这一"良方",正蕴藏于古老的儒家文明之中。因此,在同时代的康有为、严复等人致力于引荐西学之时,他却抛出"儒家文化救西论"。他对欧洲文明"群氓崇拜"的批判已涉及现代性的课题。他是中国范围内率先反思现代文明之负面性的思想先驱。

Just like his Romanticist teachers Thomas Carlyle and Matthew Arnold,Guhongming shows a critical attitude toward European Modern Civilization as well as seeking for a remedy for the materialism of modern civilization,which,he thinks,is contained in Confucianism. That's why he is on the contrary to his peers of Kangyouwei and Yanfu,holding the opinion that only Confucianism is the only remedy for the modern Europe. His criticism on mobs-worship is engaged in the subject of modernity. In this sense,he is the forerunner of reflecting and criticizing the modernity in China.