历史的文化和文化的历史：文化史研究的两种理路

对文化及其本质的理解应用到文化史研究时,往往导致两种理论和研究误区,一是将人类所创造的一切都归入文化范畴,形成了包罗万象、无所不涉的大文化史观,造成研究对象的极端泛化;二是难免陷入用人来解释文化、用文化来解释人的循环怪圈,易于形成抽象的唯心主义的文化观.针对这两种误区给文化史造成的困境,本文提出文化史的研究应该沿着两种理路拓展和深化:"历史的文化"和"文化的历史"."历史的文化",即研究在历史的流程中民族的文化传统、民族性,包括心理结构、性格趋向、思维方式、价值观念、审美意识等若干稳定的观念形态是如何生成、嬗变、整合、积淀、定型的,从而探寻民族的心路历程,揭示民族文化的历史个性和特质."文化的历史"即以文化为切入点,揭示在纷繁复杂的历史变迁中文化和社会生活的其他领域是怎样互相渗透、彼此推引的真相.这两种理路的文化史研究都要求弱化狭隘的学科意识,增强开放的问题意识.

Historical Culture and Cultural History: Two Ways of Cultural History Studies

Two wrong tendencies of theory and research would arise when the understanding of culture and its essence is applied to cultural history studies.The first is to pack everything that human beings have created into the category of culture,thus infinitely extending the object of research;the second is to be trapped in the odd cirlce of interpreting culture with people and then interpreting people with culture,thus leading to the abstract idealist outlook of culture.This paper proposes that the studies of cultural history should follow two ways: historical culture and cultural history.They both require that the narrow disciplinary consciousness be weakened and that an open consciousness of questions be strengthened.