A Study Of Qian Mu's Thoughts Of Interpretation Of Historical Culture

After entering the modern society,Chinese historical and cultural traditions are challenged and impacted by western culture.How to respond to the challenge of western culture has become the main topic of modern Chinese academic.In this context,how to properly understand and interpret Chinese historical culture has become a problem that Chinese scholars have to think about.In the 20 th century,many Chinese scholars began to consciously reflect on the activities of interpretation of historical culture,so as to provide theoretical basis for the proper understanding and interpretation of historical culture.In the 20 th century,a variety thoughts of interpretation of historical culture emerged in China's academic world,among which Qian Mu's thought of interpretation of historical culture is one.Based on Qian Mu's works and the background of his existence,systematically studying and examining his thoughts of interpretation of historical culture will help us to understand the historical process of the transformation of Chinese interpretation tradition to modern times,and also provide ideological resources for the study of Chinese hermeneutics.Saving Chinese nation and tradition of Chinese culture is one of the important aims of the study of modern Chinese academic culture.The modern transformation of Chinese traditions of historical culture should have been a process of self-renewal,but in the face of strong Western civilization,it gradually deviated from itself.Completely destroying ancient cultural spirit has gradually become the main means for China to construct a modern civilization like western civilization.In Qian Mu's view,it is obviously impossible to achieve the goal of saving Chinese nation and tradition of Chinese culture by completely destroying the ancient cultural spirit.Therefore,he had to re explore a way of cultural self-help.Qian Mu noticed that there was a set of conceptual discourse system and classical interpretation system in the tradition of Chinese historical culture.However,in the context of "changing" and "learning from the west",they are gradually replaced by the modern western concept discourse system and academic thought research paradigm.This makes Chinese old classics,academic thoughts and historical culture fall into an unprecedented dilemma of interpretation.Qian Mu always believed that Chinese historical culture has its special spirit,concept discourse system and academic research paradigm.Therefore,although he was influenced by the western academic,he has consciously constructed his thought system and thought about the classical interpretation based on the traditional Chinese concepts,such as "Heaven and Man Are United as One","Mind and Matter Are United as One ","Benevolence and Wisdom Are United as One","Group and Individuals Are United as One","Thought and Meaning Are United as One","Knowledge and Action United as One ".By combing the evolution of Chinese academic thought and historical culture,he pointed out that the core spirit of Chinese tradition of interpretation of historical culture is the humanistic spirit of people-oriented.This humanistic spirit was established in the process of ancient Chinese thinking about the relationship between man and nature,that is,the relationship between nature and humanity.And the spirit of history,integration and education derive from the humanistic spirit of people-oriented.In Qian Mu's view,these four spirits originate from Confucianism and Confucian classics,which are the basic spirits of Chinese traditional culture and Chinese tradition of historical culture.Qian Mu think that there is a dispute between ancient and modern times and between Han and Song in the tradition of interpretation of Chinese historical culture.The issue of interpretation of historical culture revealed by the debate between ancient and modern times lies in whether historical culture interpretation should follow the tradition or focus on the present.In order to reconcile the dispute between ancient and modern times,Qian Mu put forward the concept of interpretation of historical culture of "restoring the ancient and opening up the new".He emphasized that the renewal of tradition of historical culture and the creation of academic ideas should be based on the correct understanding and reinterpretation of historical culture.In Qian Mu's view,innovation borns in the process of returning to the tradition of historical culture,in the process of returning to the tradition of historical culture,there must born innovation.Therefore,following the tradition and focus on the present in the interpretation activities of historical cuture is a unified whole.The issue of interpretation of historical culture revealed in the debate between Han and Song lies in whether the interpretation of historical culture should be centered on the principle of nature of mind and philosophical connotations or social practice.In order to reconcile the dispute between Han and Song,Qian Mu sorted out two academic traditions that originated from Confucius: one is the tradition of philology of heart that focuses on the ideological creation and spiritual cultivation;the other is the tradition of history that focuses on social practice and life experience.In his view,Confucius and Mencius think that philology of heart and history are a unified whole,and philology of heart is more fundamental than history.Therefore,he stressed that the fundamental purpose of interpretation of historical culture is to create great figures with virtue and beneficial to the evolution and development of human masses.This concept continued the tradition of Song Learning.However,Qian Mu did not fully follow the path of interpretation of historical cuture of Song-dynasty philosophers,that through the construction of metaphysical ontology and the establishment of theoretical system.Instead,he emphasized that the heart noumenon and the tao of human culture live in the evolution of historical culture.Therefore,he stressed that we should be based on historical facts and the context of evolution of historical culture,understand,grasp and expand natural truth and humanity truth.So,he regarded the heart noumenon that was attach importance by Song-dynasty philosophers as the heart of history and culture.In addition,Qian Mu's thought of interpretation of historical culture not only focuses on the renewal and creation of social group culture,but also on the growth and completion of individual life.Therefore,he stressed that interpretation of historical culture is to recognize and grasp the consistent spirit that plays a leading role in the evolution of historical culture on the basis of affirming individual historical value and significance.In Qian Mu's view,history is not only the life experience of human groups,but also the life experience of every individual life who lives in its own tradition of historical culture.The attitude towards their own history and culture is the attitude towards their own life.Therefore,Qian Mu stressed that he should have warm feelings and respect for his own history,and even advocated that he should pay attention to the projection of subjective feelings in the interpretation of historical culture.In his opinion,only in this way can we objectively grasp the evolution of history and culture and its consistent spirit.Because Qian Mu believed that truth exists in history and culture,he created a new method of interpretation of historical culture,that through authenticating historical facts to grasp the truth of life and the consistent spirit in the tradition of historical culture.It was named "thought clue".In Qian Mu's thought of interpretation of historical culture,there is also a unique concept of text interpretation.Based on his view of mind,Qian Mu affirmed the significance and value of language and characters in the evolution of humanity culture.In his opinion,language is the medium of the accumulation and transmission of historical and cultural mind.This means that understanding and interpreting historical texts is an important part of interpretation activities of historical culture.Therefore,he stressed that the process of understanding and interpreting historical texts is the process of achieving and completing his own life and the life of the ancients,and extending and expanding the great life of history and culture.It is in the text interpretation that the life of the interpreter and the life of the ancients have achieved integration and communication,and makes the historical and cultural life are presented and expand in the current human life.Therefore,Qian Mu stressed that in the interpretation of historical texts,the principles of interpretation should be "the unity of works and authors","the unity of interpretation objects and interpreters","the unity of words and deeds / knowledge and action".These three rules stipulate that in the interpretation of historical texts,interpreter should not only verify the authenticity of the text,explain the semantic meaning of the text,understand and grasp the spirit of the times,virtue and meaning of the author,but also improve realm of life,and show and practice the spirit and meaning of the text in social practice.In this sense,the text interpretation activities and individual life activities become a whole.As a historian,Qian Mu believes that the spirit and significance of historical texts are not only contained in the texts,but also in the historical culture.Therefore,he advocated to understand and interpret historical texts in the context of evolution of historical culture.This kind of interpretation method inherits and integrates the traditional Chinese classical interpretation methods,such as such as "principle interpretation,textual research and literary rhetoric are united as one","yi yi ni zhi" and "zhi ren lun shi",which is a historical text interpretation method with both traditional and modern meanings.At the end of each chapter,he added " Trial translation by modern Chinese" to try to resolve the contradiction and conflict between the traditional concept discourse system and the modern concept discourse system.His interpretation of the Analects focuses on revealing and highlighting the original meaning of the Analects and Confucius,but he also knows that interpretation of classics must expand the meaning of classics.Therefore,with the help of "Note",he distinguished Confucius' original meaning and the new thought created by him,so as to realize the dual interpretation purpose of "respecting the ancient" and "creating new thought ".In the interpretation of classical texts,he used such classical interpretation methods as " principle interpretation,textual research and literary rhetoric are united as one ","historical interpretation of classics" and "ideological clues".Some of these classic interpretation methods inherit the tradition of Chinese classic interpretation,and some of them are created by him.In the 20 th century when tradition and modernity tend to break up,in order to reconstruct the inheritance relationship between tradition and modernity,many Chinese scholars have the consciousness of consciously discussing and reflecting on the classic interpretation activities.Scientific positivists and modern Neo Confucianism are outstanding representatives.The former is based on humanism and rationalism,trying to establish a set of scientific methodology for text interpretation,while the latter advocates the spirit of moralism,trying to provide a theoretical system with philosophical significance for classic interpretation from the perspective of philosophy.Qian Mu's classical interpretation concept of emphasizing textual research and empirical research is quite similar to scientific positivists.However,he opposed the hermeneutic concepts of subverting the humanistic spirit and humanistic significance of classical texts with scientific methods.Qian Mu's hermeneutic concepts of interpretion of historical culture that emphasize moral cultivation and humanistic spirit,is quite in line with modern Neo Confucianism.However,he opposed the interpretation of classical texts by philosophical speculation and theoretical construction,and emphasized the understanding and interpretation of classical texts in the context of historical and cultural evolution,so as to avoid the tendency of classical interpretation to be metaphysical.In a word,in the process of the transformation of Chinese tradition of interpretation to modern times,it present many aspects and create many kinds of hermeneutic thoughts.Although these hermeneutic thoughts can not be called hermeneutic theory,they are all systematic and have a consistent spirit.They have similarities and differences,and sketch the modern picture of Chinese tradition of interpretation together,which can provide ideas and ideological resources for the construction of Chinese modern hermeneutics.As a modern historian,Qian Mu has a comprehensive and in-depth thinking on the activities of interpretation of historical culture.It has a very important academic significance and value to conduct a comprehensive and in-depth comb,discussion and research on his thoughts of interpretation of historical cuture.