“层累地造成的中国古史”——一个带有普遍意义的知识论命题

The Ancient Chinese History Created Layer Upon Layer——An Intellectual Proposition with Universal Significance

顾颉刚“层累地造成的中国古史”一说的内涵不仅仅局限于史料学的层面 ,它的现代性似乎主要体现在顾颉刚对历史知识一般性质、尤其是其不确定性的看法上或对历史知识的谦卑的态度上。搁置历史本体、着重于古史知识形成过程的“层累构成说”标明了顾颉刚经验主义的知识立场。而在普遍的知识论意义上 ,从怀疑古史记录到怀疑全部历史记录 ,顾颉刚事实上已经触及了历史知识的一般性质与“神话”的性质的关系问题。

The connotation of Gu Jiegang’s proposition that the ancient Chinese history is created layer upon layer is not limited within the sense of theory on historical material. It seems that the modernity of it is mainly incarnated in Gu’s view on the general nature of historical knowledge, especially its uncertainty or the modest attitude toward the historical knowledge. The proposition, which pigeonholes the noumenon of history and emphasizes the evolvement of knowledge (about) ancient history embodies Gu’s empiricist standpoint on epistemology. In the universal epistemological sense, from doubting the record of ancient history to doubting the total historical record,Gu has eventually touched the relationship between the general nature of historical knowledge and the nature of myth.