人文学科的希望何在?  

What Hope for the Humanities?

作　　者：伯纳德·威廉斯 吴芸菲(译) Bernard Williams;Wu Yunfei(Oxford University Oxford,OX12JD,United Kingdom;Department of Philosophy,TsingHua University Beijing 100084,China)

机构地区：[1]牛津大学 [2]清华大学哲学系

出　　处：《科学．经济．社会》2023年第5期122-128,共7页Science Economy Society

摘　　要：威廉斯考察了两种捍卫人文学科的主流观点,一种是将人文学科比附于注重炫耀性消费的奢侈品的“皮革桌垫”观点,另一种则是有所偏好地为单个人文学科辩护的“F.R.利维斯”观点,它们都试图从培育卓越个体的角度而非立足于现代社会从追求学科存续的角度为人文学科辩护。威廉斯认为,人文学科的首要意义是让我们明白我们是谁,而这需要了解我们从哪里来,历史学对理解人文学科和特定社会处境的重要性可见一斑。正是人文学科和社会理解之间的这种关联为人文学科的存续提供了辩护。这一辩护为回答人文学科知识分配的政治学问题提供光照。要回答这一问题,仅了解人文学科本身的旨趣还不够,需要进一步知道如何在现代世界的政治结构中恰当地使用和应用这些知识。在威廉斯看来,人文学科本身并不支持激进或保守立场,其特点是促进保守或激进观点的反思性程度,它体现在对现代社会的运作方式的信实理解上。Williams reviews two dominant views in defense of the humanities,one is the“leather Blotter”view,which attaches the humanities to luxury goods with a focus on ostentatious consumption,and the other is the“F.R.Leavis”view,which is a preferential defense of some single humanities disciplines.Both views attempt to defend the humanities disciplines in terms of cultivating excellent individuals rather than in terms of based on the modern society to pursue the continuation of the discipline.Williams argues that the primary significance of the humanities is for us to understand who we are,and that this requires an understanding of where we come from,as evidenced by the importance of historiography to the understanding of the humanities and particular social situations.It is this connection between the humanities and social understanding that provides a defense for the continuation of the humanities.This defense sheds light on answering the question of the political science of the distribution of knowledge in the humanities.To answer this question,it is not enough to understand the aims of the humanities per se;one needs to know more about how to appropriately use and apply this knowledge within the political structures of the modern world.For Williams,the humanities do not themselves support radical or conservative positions;they are characterized by a degree of reflexivity that promotes conservative or radical views,which is reflected in a truthful understanding of how modern societies operate.

关 键 词：人文学科 历史学 社会理解 信实 现代性 

分 类 号：B089[哲学宗教—哲学理论]