作为日常语言的“理论”与作为学术语言的“理论”——新世纪中国文论研究中一种值得辨析的混淆

新世纪以来,在文化研究持续影响下,中国文论界关于学科性质的反思正趋深入。但各种相关讨论时常微妙地混淆着"理论"一词作为日常语言的意义与作为学术语言的意义,从而妨碍着持不同立场的学者间对话的有效性。作为日常语言的"理论",在希腊语言与拉丁语言中都并不是形而上学的同义语,而是一种超越常识却最终仍回归着常识、联系着实践、实现着抽象逻辑与生活世界的有机统一的思想活动,在形而上学与形而上层面上,分别具有不同特征。作为学术语言的"理论",则是20世纪西方文论发展中一个特定阶段,需要被置于文学理论、理论与后理论这一错综学术嬗变格局中,主要从文化批评理论的角度加以特定的理解。两种语言意义最为根本的区别在于:在日常语言中,文学理论是理论的一部分;在学术语言中,理论则是文学理论的一部分。经此辨析,这两种语言意义才可互为参照系,实现在"理论之后"背景下的有效互补,从而发展出我们自己面向新世纪、具有积极前景的后理论。

“Theory" in Daily and Academic Context——On the Confusion in Chinese Literary Theorical Research of the New Century

Under the continuous influence of cultural studies since the new century, the reflection about discipline attribute in our country’s literary theory circle is increasingly in-depth. However, a variety of related discussions often subtly confuse the meaning of "theory" in daily context with that in academic context. As in daily context, "theory" is not synonymous with metaphysics. As in academic context, "theory", which actually is a specific stage during the development of western literary theories in the 20th century, needs to be placed in the intricate academic evolution pattern of literary theory, theory and post-theory and mainly be understood from the perspective of culture critic. The essential distinction between two contexts is: in daily context, literary theory is a part of theory, while in academic context, theory is a part of literary theory.