文化变革与西方资本主义的兴起——读韦伯《新教伦理与资本主义精神》

20世纪初 ,德国著名社会学家马克斯·韦伯发表了《新教伦理与资本主义精神》(以下简称《新教伦理》)一书。他在书中提出西方经过宗教改革形成的新教 ,尤其是英国的清教孕育了一种“资本主义精神”,而这种精神对于近代资本主义的产生和发展起到了巨大的推动作用。在随后的一系列比较宗教研究中 ,他进一步提出包括中国在内的东方世界因缺少一种类似的资本主义精神 ,使得近代资本主义在这些地区迟迟不能产生 1。近一个世纪以来 ,韦伯的这一学说不断地受到怀疑和批评。唯物主义者认为韦伯颠倒了物质和精神的关系。英国著名的费边主义史学家托尼…     

儒家“仁”的核心——处理好“二人”（人际）关系

儒家学说的核心为“仁”,已为人所共知,而“仁”的确切解释为何,却似无定见。孔子创“仁学”,他自己列举了“仁”的种种情况,好像也没有确定出一个可供规范的定义。疏理孔子言论,直接论“仁”的：     

解读当前儒学研究新动向

现代新儒家 (包括海外新儒家 )“内圣开出新外王”和“返本开新”观点的兴起与流行 ,使得宋明儒学的“性理学”道统在近现代得到了理论的延续和信仰的张扬。然而 ,现代新儒家“原理主义”、“道德主义”、“理想主义”的鲜明特征 ,又使其“务虚”而非“务实”的思想在实践的检验中不得不面临无视国计民生的理论困境。正是为了克服现代新儒家在寻求经济高度发展和亟需规矩准绳的现实社会中的种种不足和弊端 ,当今学界出现了一股走出“现代新儒家”囿于心性之偏颇、旨在弘扬“荀学”外王路线、进而迈向务实理性的理论思潮。这股理论思潮对于现代化进程中“中国精神”的提炼或有裨益。     

资本主义精神：新教伦理、个人主义还是“民族主义”

韦伯、桑巴特和托尼对资本主义精神的理解各不相同。韦伯突出宗教改革对资本主义兴起的意义,重视禁欲主义、勤奋、节俭等新教伦理;桑巴特强调个人对财富和享乐的追求,甚至认为资本主义产生于奢侈。但他们都对资本主义的恶性发展和精神危机表示忧虑。托尼同样担忧资本主义活动中道德伦理的缺失,认为宗教冷淡和个人主义的发展会带来恶果。格林菲尔德以某种“集体意识形态”替代韦伯命题中的个体意识,反对用个人主义解释资本主义。但她以“英格兰民族主义”为资本主义兴起与持续发展动因的论述,既不能解释资本主义的兴起,也不符合资本主义发展的历史。     

韦伯资本主义起源理论评析

德国著名思想家马克斯·韦伯是资本主义理论或现代化理论的奠基人之一。在韦伯的资本主义理论中,韦伯论述最多也最为重要的是资本主义起源问题(以下简称起源问题或理论)。 半个多世纪以来,在国外的韦伯研究中,关于起源理论的著述一直占有绝对的数量优势,并被看作是“韦伯主题”研究。然而,绝大部分韦伯主题研究的目的似乎就是帮助读者     

资中文庙，孔子不能坐

孔子是儒家学说的创始人，被后世奉为“万世师表”，明嘉靖八年，敕封为“至圣先师”。中国各地皆有文庙，庙内的孔子塑像都是坐着的，受到众士子的尊崇。     

论20世纪初越南汉学之发展——以《游学报》为例

20世纪前20年,汉学在越南被称为“Hán h.c”（汉学）,偶被称为“Trung h.c”（中学）,由于该国悠久的儒家科举历史,“汉/中学”被认同为儒家思想和儒家学说。20世纪初,越南汉学史的研究从越南的“本土叙事”出发,可以有效避免任何忽视现实多元性的宏大叙事。按照这一思路,本文通过中圻（保护地安南）阮氏王朝（Nguy n court）赞助出版的新闻简报《游学报》个案研究,集中探讨儒家伦理在20世纪早期越南的传播。为了使安南在技术上实现半殖民地半封建的现代化,同时又不触及其政治制度的基础,阮氏王朝利用这份简报作为论坛,宣传根据西方哲学和伦理道德解释的儒家价值观,以使其青年精英在海外学习期间远离社会主义/共产主义的影响。     

韦伯解释资本主义发生的社会学视界

在《新教伦理与资本主义精神》一书中,马克斯.韦伯从社会学视角解释经济的发展,认为如果没有新教伦理导致的资本主义精神的存在,欧洲资本主义就不会兴起和发展起来。韦伯的这种社会学研究范式与经济学研究范式相比有许多特色,主要体现在:“跳出经济看经济”和从细微处切入探求现象背后的深层次本质;“系统的视野”和把经济发展看作是一种复合式的社会的变迁;“经验的研究”和整体类型比较学的研究方法。     

东亚地区的现代化及其启示

任何国家的现代化都是在一定的化环境中实现的。迄今为止,世界上实现现代化的国家按化背景可以分为两类：一是以欧美为代表的西方基础教的资本主义工业化道路,二是以日本和韩国、台湾、香港、新加坡为代表的东方儒教资本主义工业化道路。后是不同于西方而走上现代化的地区,他们的化背景却都是儒家化,这就对西方学韦伯的“障碍论”提出了挑战。因此研究它们实现现代化的化背景对我们有直接的意义。     

施乐文：儒家思想有助于中国现代化

“我研究中国儒家,主要对当代新儒家有兴趣,”施乐文操着流利的汉语说,“不过,我现在主要是研究中国近代史。”     

Telling small stories: spaces of knowledge and the practice of geography

This article examines how the practice of learning geography, and the arenas in which knowledge-making takes place, can be usefully positioned within changing histories of the discipline. It contends that networks of action – understood through the intersection of social sites, subjects and sources – present a conceptual framework and narrative focus for the re-consideration of specific episodes from geography's past. The interventions made here are informed and illustrated by a 'small story' about the doing of geography. Based on different personal accounts, the story revives a series of events, encounters, dialogues and images dating back to the winter of 1951 at Glenmore Lodge, Scotland. This educational institution in the Cairngorm mountains offered children from urban areas the opportunity to learn field studies and the skills of 'outdoor citizenship'. Initially, the focus falls on Margaret Jack, a 14-year-old field-course participant. Her learning experiences are traced through personal letters, a diary and a field journal dating from that time, and her recent recollections of this event. Margaret's account dovetails with the story of her field studies instructor, Robin Murray. Robin's role is traced through his learning experiences as a geography undergraduate at Aberdeen University, and the recent recollections of Catriona Murray, his wife.     

Das Wissen der Schulden. Recht,Kulturtechnik und Alltagserfahrung im liberalen Kapitalismus

The Knowledge of Debt: Law, Media Technique, and Everyday Experience in Liberal Capitalism. Performing an object such as ‘the economy’ hinges on practices of formatting knowledge. The article proposes to look at such instituting moments in connection with social conflicts over the legitimate rules of exchange. This is exemplified by way of recounting the story of the codification of Swiss bankruptcy law in 1889. In order to homogenize the legal procedures of debt collection and bankruptcy, two subject categories were instituted: ‘merchants’ and ‘non-merchants’. These different categories were thought to account for the diverging temporalities and spaces of credit exchange in everyday economic life. The introduction of the commercial register, a media-technical apparatus, enabled a formal distinction between ‘merchants’ and ‘non-merchants’. However, this boundary was contested and proved to be porose.     

Two radiocarbon dates for freshwater shells from hierakonpolis: Archaeological and geological interpretations

Shells of two species of freshwater bivalve (Unio willcocksi Bullen Newton and Etheria elliptica Lamarck) from the predynastic Gerzean (Nagada II) Decorated Tomb at Hierakonpolis, Egypt have given dates of 5000±90 bp for the tomb, and 12,900±120 bp for an episode of Nile terrace accumulation (correlated here with the Sahaba-Darau aggradation event). The archaeological and geological significance of these results is discussed, together with an outline of problems associated with radiocarbon dating of shell. Comparisons are made with the few other radiocarbon dates available for the Predynastic period in Egypt and possible reasons for the presence of shells in the tomb are considered.     

Some chronological implications of a fossil molluscan assemblage from a neolithic site at Brook,Kent, England

The later post-glacial history of a valley in the chalk escarpment near Brook, Kent, is described, based on molluscan stratigraphy, archaeological evidence and radio-carbon dating. Differences in size and colour banding, respectively, of fossil and living representatives of two species of land snails, Pomatias elegans (Müller) and Cepaea nemoralis (L.), are correlated with climatic change during the post-glacial period. The problems of the use of fossil shells of these species as samples for radiocarbon dating are discussed.     

China's Dynamic Industrial Sector: The Internet Industry

A Singapore-based economic geographer explores and analyzes the spatially uneven evolution of the Internet industry in China, arguing that the country's immense regional disparity in the provision of Internet services is best explained by the interplay of place- and path-dependence. The author demonstrates how the highly uneven regional endowments in relevant industrial and entrepreneurial resources have led to the substantial and persistent regional imbalance within China's emerging "new economy." His initial survey of the country's 100 leading Internet content providers (firms), identified from a listing of ca. 11,700 commercial websites, is selectively augmented to reflect an increase of over 70 million Internet users in 2007, reaching a total of 253 million in June 2008, and thus overtaking the United States as the world's largest Internet market. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: L10, L86, O30. 6 figures, 1 table, 53 references.     

The 1911 International Exposition in Rome: architecture, archaeology, and national identity

This paper discusses the 1911 International Exposition in Rome and illustrates how this patriotic celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Italian Sate utilized symbolic landscapes of architecture and archaeology to promote nationalist sentiments of italianità and romanità centered on the young capital of Rome. Through modern art exhibitions at the Valle Giulia, scientific conferences at the Castel Sant’Angelo, archaeological exhibits on the Roman Empire in the Baths of Diocletian, and regional Italian pavilions in the Piazza d’Armi, exposition officials offered a complex representation of Italian national identity that was modern yet ancient, cosmopolitan yet bucolic, European yet regional, and imperial yet developing.     

The Rise and Fall of Alexander the Great – The Need for Medical Analysis: Reply to Commentaries

Alexander the Great died in 323 B.C. from an unknown cause. By elucidating the nature of his death, we can better interpret various aspects of Alexandrian history. Alexander’s death may have ensued from the sequelae of a congenital scoliotic syndrome. It would therefore be of significance to note that one of the greatest leaders in history who conquered much of the then known world may have been suffering from a physical disability.     

The Chemists' Style of Thinking

Der Denkstil der Chemiker. Der Aufsatz diskutiert die Tragfähigkeit des Begriffes “Denkstil”, wie er von Alistair Crombie eingeführt und Ian Hacking aufgegriffen wurde, für das Verständnis dessen, wie das Fach Chemie historisch seine Identität ausgeprägt hat. Obwohl weder Crombie noch Hacking den Begriff “Denkstil” in Bezug auf einzelne Disziplinen verwendet haben, erscheint im Fall der Chemie seine Anwendung besonders vielversprechend, weil er hier hilft, ein zentrales Problem zu thematisieren – nämlich die Frage, wie es Chemikern trotz wechselnder Gegenstandsbereiche und theoretischer Umbrüche gelang, eine eigenständige und stabile Identität auszubilden. Nach einer Einführung in den Begriff “Denkstil”, argumentiert der Aufsatz, dass die Beständigkeit der Chemie als eines Faches wesentlich in ihren Laborpraktiken gründet, die ihrerseits wiederum die spezifische Art der Fragen bestimmten, die Chemiker in ihren Forschungen stellten bzw. die Form der Antworten, nach denen sie suchten. Folgende Merkmale kennzeichnen diesen “chemischen Denkstil” (1) eine spezifische, im Herstellen begründete Form des Wissens, (2) die Befassung mit einzelnen Stoffen und Materialien statt mit Materie im Allgemeinen und (3) eine Beobachtung von Natur besonders im Hinblick auf Transformationsprozesse. The Chemists' Style of Thinking. This paper discusses the relevance of the notion of “styles of scientific thinking” introduced by Alistair Crombie and revisited by Ian Hacking, for understanding how chemistry shaped its identity. Although neither Crombie nor Hacking applied this notion to individual disciplines, it seems appropriate to use it in the case of chemistry because it helps to address a puzzling issue: how did chemists manage to shape an identity of their own, despite shifting territories and theoretical transformations? Following a presentation of the notion of style, I will argue that the stable identity of chemistry is rooted in laboratory practices, which determined the specific questions that chemists put to nature as well as the answers to their questions. The “chemical style of thinking” is characterized by i) a specific way of knowing through making, ii) the concern with individual materials rather than matter in general and iii) a specific commitment to nature.