诗性预构与理性阐释--海登·怀特和他的《元史学》

海登·怀特的<元史学>代表了20世纪下半叶西方历史哲学的成就,也表达了他本人的学术理想.在<元史学>中,怀特认为自己获得了两项理论成果,一是确立历史作品普遍存在着诗学本质,二是展示了一种被称为"历史的"思想模式的一般性结构理论.的确,<元史学>自圆其说,本身也是实践这两项理论成果的典范.同时,怀特启发我们,在历史学领域内,诗性与理性的结合依然有待探索.他的学术实践进行了一次积极的尝试.当怀特强调历史叙述中诗性行为的重要性时,他也在努力对这种诗性行为进行理性解释,将它纳入到认识论的范畴中来.这样做意味着,诗性地预构某种理论乃是为了对原本未纳入到理性认识中的事物进行理性解释.反过来说,只要历史需要解释、进行解释,它就与预构理论的诗性思维、想象不可分离.

Hayden White and His Metahistory

Hayden White's Metehistory represents the accomplishment of western philosophy of history in the late 20th century. It also expresses White's academic ideal. White thinks he has made two theoretical achievements in this book: one is that he illustrated poetic nature of historical writing ; the other is that he showed the general theory of structure of what is called "historica" thinking pattern.