张之洞与晚清文化保守主义思潮

【作者】 任晓兰；

【导师】 孙晓春；

【作者基本信息】 南开大学 ， 政治学理论， 2009， 博士

【摘要】 从传统中寻求富有建设意义的思想资源,是中西文化保守主义者共同的思想倾向。西方的文化保守主义是西方国家在自身的现代化进程中,由于出现了人的异化问题,引发了保守传统道德的回应。与西方不同,中国的文化保守主义还要面临一个儒家传统文化与西方现代文化的冲撞问题,“中体西用”思想成为了这一思潮的核心理念。中国的传统文化是一种具有悠久历史与强烈中心主义的文化,自西方文化伴随着列强的坚船利炮传入中国之初,文化保守主义思想就已经开始孕育,并随着民族危机的加深而愈发显得持久而坚韧。甲午战争的失败、洋务运动的破产,是中西文化力量对比走向失衡的开始,此时传统士人已经难以从传统的儒学体系中寻找到应对西学东渐和时代变迁的有力思想资源,儒学本身也无法按照其自身伦理政治的理路继续发展,而在此刻系统阐释“中体西用”思想以捍卫儒学道统的张之洞,强调以中国文化为本位有限的吸收西方文明,试图通过对传统儒家伦理的普世性价值的固守来维持传统中国社会政治秩序的稳定,对中国文化保守主义思潮的形成起到了重要的奠基作用,张之洞也因此成为了晚清文化保守主义思潮兴起的标志性人物。作为晚清官僚中的学者,学者中的官僚,张之洞的从政与为官具有一种独到的儒家文化特色,他始终力图为自己的为政治民之道寻求一种学理上的解释。同时,一生以孔儒之学为归依的张之洞,也自觉地融入了近代西学东渐的大潮,努力获取西方新知,这又使得张之洞具有了一种中西兼采、自成体系的学术素养。他立足古文经学,兼采汉宋,又对康梁等人奉为圭臬的今文经学极力抵制,而张之洞一以贯之的经世情怀,以及对传统儒家义利之辨的重新诠释,为其接纳西学提供了思想动因。但传统的经世思想本身也蕴含着维护封建道统的内在逻辑,排斥私利这一儒家文化人格片面的道德立身要求,也使张之洞在晚清社会转型时期遭遇困境,这使得张之洞无法在更高的层面上学习西方,他只能通过对正统儒学的调适与捍卫来应对传统文化的危机,提出“中体西用”主张,在肯定传统文化本质优长的前提下有限的吸收西方近现代文明,以期实现“保国、保种、保教”这一儒家伦理与政治制度紧密结合的政治理想。“中体西用”思想经过张之洞在戊戌时期系统阐释之后,其历史作用已经完成了从“采西学而开新”到“守中学以卫道”的转变,并经过满清朝廷的认可后成为了统治思想和官方意识,也成为了晚清文化保守主义思潮的核心理念,张之洞本人在这一思潮中的奠基地位由此确立。文化保守主义者在对社会政治秩序关注的同时,他们更看重的是人们道德秩序的维系,而中国社会儒家道德法律化的传统,正为他们守护传统的礼治思想提供理由。基于此,张之洞身体力行地将“中体西用”思想落实到政治实践层面,使这一思想成为了他在兴办洋务、变革科举以及清末新政时期进行法制变革、清末立宪的指导思想,对晚清的中国社会历史进程产生了深远的影响,而张之洞在这其间的成败得失也反映出传统儒家文明在中国近代化转型过程中的张力与惰性。社会变革不仅需要先进思想的导引,也需要有常态的文化制衡。但是,张之洞乃至中国的文化保守主义者,并没有像西方的保守主义者那样赢得社会更多的理解与认同。作为晚清文化保守主义思潮的奠基者,张之洞在提醒人们关注文化的民族性的同时,却忽视了对民族文化时代性的追求,他在试图关注对现有社会秩序的维持,并立足国情对社会近代变革做出循序渐进的审慎安排的同时,却无法从中国传统文化中找到能够适应社会近代转型的可靠思想资源,使其难以给中国的近现代化道路指明可靠的路径,而张之洞本人也每每陷入事与愿违、进退失据的现实困境。中国文化保守主义者所面临的社会历史环境,要比西方的保守主义者复杂而艰难得多,因为西方文化保守主义者所依托的市民社会、人文主义价值等前期思想资源,正是中国近代社会所缺失的,而以儒家思想为主体的传统政治文化的价值体系中并不包含现代化的因素,这使得创新传统成为了中国文化保守主义思想摆脱困境、实现发展的必需。毕竟,保守主义的关键不在于保守与否,而在于保守什么,正是在这个意义上,我们或许可以把中国文化保守主义的前途,看作是一种作为心理倾向的保守思路,以期在传统与现代之间寻求到一种合理的张力。更多还原

【Abstract】 Both cultural conservationist from the east and the west claimed to search for constructive ideology resources from their traditions. The cultural conservatism in western countries is mainly about the discussion on the traditional morality caused by the theories on human alienation in the process of modernization, whereas that in China should deal with the conflicts between the traditional Confucian culture and the modern western culture. So "Westernized Chinese style" became the central tenet of this ideological trend.With profound history,the traditional Chinese culture has a strong sense of humanism. The cultural conservatism had began since the western powers invaded China with their battle ship and cannons as well as their culture and it was deepened and strengthened by the ever increasing national crisis. The failure of the 1894 War and the westernization movement began the disequilibrium in the balance between the oriental and occidental culture. The traditional scholars could not find powerful ideological resources from the traditional Confucian culture to cope with the eastward spread of western culture and the vicissitude of times, while Confucianism could not continue developing itself according to its ethical politics. At this moment, Zhang Zhi-dong who tried to retain their dignity of Confucian orthodoxy brought about the idea of "Westernized Chinese style", which emphasized that we should base on our national culture and absorb alimentation and distillate of occidental culture. He wanted to maintain the traditional social order by the universal values in Confucianism. He played a fundamental role in the formation of cultural conservatism in China and became the representative personage of the upsurge of cultural conservatism in the late Qing dynasty.As an official and scholar, he showed a typical Confucian characteristic in his work and tried to find some explanation in Confucian for his principle of being official. At the same time, as an advocate of Confucianism, he also joined the trend of the eastward spread of western culture and acquired much western ideas, thus formed his own style of combining the oriental and occidental culture. He advocated the ancient classics and resisted the modern script classical learning which was regarded as its criterion and core by scholars like Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao etc. However, his consistent style and the reinterpretation of the Confucianism provided ideological motivation for acquiring of western ideas. The traditional practical thought entails the inherent logic of safeguarding the Confucian orthodoxy. Zhang’s acquiring of western ideas was confined by some moral requirements of the Confucianism in the period of social transformation. So he can only put forward the concept of Westernized Chinese style"to adjust the Confucianism to cope with the crisis face by traditional culture. The concept advocates absorption of western civilization on the basis of ensuring the dominant position of the traditional culture in order to realize the political idea of "protect the country, protect the nation and protect Confucianism", which is a close integration of Confucianism and the political system.After the systematic interpretation of the concept of "Westernized Chinese style" by Zhang during the Wu Xu period (1895-1898), the concept shifted its emphasis from the absorption of western knowledge to the safeguarding of the feudal system, and it gradually gained the recognition of the court of the Qing dynasty and became the official sense. It also became the core idea of the late Qing dynasty cultural conservatism and Zhang thus held a fundamental position in this stream of thought. Cultural conservationists attach importance to the moral order of the society as well as the social and political stability, and the tradition of moral legalization in Confucianism justified their safeguarding of the thought of "Rule of Rite". Thus Zhang put the thought into political practice and made the thought as the guiding thought in the transformation of legal system, the westernization movement, the reform of imperial examination system and the constitutionalism etc in the late Qing dynasty, which had a profound influence on the development of the society in China in the late Qing dynasty. The ups and downs and Zhang also illustrated the tension and inertia of the traditional Confucianism in the process of modernization of China.The social reform needs not only the guidance of advanced thoughts but also the balance of the normal culture. However, Zhang as well as other cultural conservationists in China haven’t gained understanding and recognition of the society as their counterpart in western countries has. As the founder of the trend of cultural conservatism in late Qing dynasty, Zhang neglected the epoch nature of national culture during his advocating of cultural nationality. He tried maintaining the social order and gradually achieving the modernization of China, but he could not find reliable ideological resources in traditional Confucianism to adapt to the modernization of China. He hasn’t found the correct way to modernization for China. He also faced a lot of troubles and things always went contrary to his wishes. The social and historical environment in China was much more complicated than that in western countries, because China was lack of the ideological resources like civil society, values of humanism etc that western counties have. The Confucianism does include any element of modernization in. If we want to get out of the predicament to develop our country, we need to resort to innovation. After all, the essence of conservatism does not lie in whether we conserve or not but what to conserve. We can regard the cultural conservatism as a kind of psychological tendency, so we need to find a reasonable tension between tradition and modernity for a bright future for the cultural conservatism in China.更多还原