Eric Voegelin's New Perspectives on History and Experience: A Paradigm Shift

ABSTRACT

The article outlines Eric Voegelin's paradigm shift in his theory of history and experience to show how it has developed in several stages and through a number of revisions, shedding light on the historical and ideological backdrops of his theoretical endeavors. This also provides an introduction to the basic ideas and the methodological principles of Voegelin's approach.     

Alexander von Humboldt: Galvanism,Animal Electricity,and Self-Experimentation Part 2: The Electric Eel,Animal Electricity,and Later Years

After extensive experimentation during the 1790s, Alexander von Humboldt remained skeptical about “animal electricity” (and metallic electricity), writing instead about an ill-defined galvanic force. With his worldview and wishing to learn more, he studied electric eels in South America just as the new century began, again using his body as a scientific instrument in many of his experiments. As had been the case in the past and for many of the same reasons, some of his findings with the electric eel (and soon after, Italian torpedoes) seemed to argue against biological electricity. But he no longer used galvanic terminology when describing his electric fish experiments. The fact that he now wrote about animal electricity rather than a different “galvanic” force owed much to Alessandro Volta, who had come forth with his “pile” (battery) for multipling the physical and perceptable effects of otherwise weak electricity in 1800, while Humboldt was deep in South America. Humboldt probably read about and saw voltaic batteries in the United States in 1804, but the time he spent with Volta in 1805 was probably more significant in his conversion from a galvanic to an electrical framework for understanding nerve and muscle physiology. Although he did not continue his animal electricity research program after this time, Humboldt retained his worldview of a unified nature and continued to believe in intrinsic animal electricity. He also served as a patron to some of the most important figures in the new field of electrophysiology (e.g., Hermann Helmholtz and Emil du Bois-Reymond), helping to take the research that he had participated in to the next level.     

从文本到实践:民间小戏研究的范式转换及其演进路径

民间小戏是中国戏曲的构成部分之一,也是中国民间文艺的重要组成部分。民间小戏研究长期滞后于传统大戏研究。在以民间文学为研究对象的民间文艺学领域,神话、故事、史诗研究巍巍壮观,民间小戏研究有待进一步加强。民间小戏研究自民国以来经历了从文本层面的小戏转变为语境层面的小戏和生活实践层面的小戏的认知过程,形成了文本作品研究范式、文化语境研究范式和艺人实践研究范式。民间小戏研究范式的转换与演进受到社会文化思潮、学科建设发展、代表性学术论著和研究方法应用等因素的影响。乡村振兴战略的实施为民间小戏振兴及民间小戏研究提供了机遇,在乡村振兴的文化实践中,民间小戏的艺人实践研究范式仍然是民间小戏研究的未来趋向。     

Trimline Trauma: The Wider Implications of a Paradigm Shift in Recognising and Interpreting Glacial Limits

Trimlines mark the boundary between glacially eroded landscapes on low ground and landscapes dominated by evidence of periglacial weathering on higher summits. For many years the trimlines of Scandinavia, Britain and Ireland have been interpreted as marking the surface of the ice sheets at the maximum of the last glaciation, but recent cosmogenic exposure dating of erratics far above the trimlines in NW Scotland shows this to be false. The trimlines in that area must represent an englacial thermal boundary between warm (eroding) ice and cold (protecting) ice. It is now clear that even very experienced geomorphologists cannot necessarily tell the difference between terrain that has been recently glaciated and terrain that has not, because cold-based ice can leave virtually no trace. This calls into question not only the interpretation of high-level trimlines elsewhere, but also the mapping of the lateral limits of past glaciations, which are often based on similar or even weaker geomorphological and sedimentological evidence.     

Ethnicity,Secessionist Conflict and the International Society: Towards Normative Paradigm Shift

Abstract. This article addresses the challenge of ethnicity and particularly of secessionist conflict by trying to outline an international normative framework more conducive to conflict settlement. The working hypothesis is that accommodation through dialogue, in spite of its risks, offers the only way forward in situations of politicised ethnicity. The existing international nonnative regime (with its ban on secession and no opening for autonomy) is insufficient for managing and resolving such conflicts, while its revolutionary antipode, ‘national’ self-determination, is a frightening prospect. Three alternatives are explored: partial recasting with emphasis on devolution; a secessionist option for some federations; and secessionist self- determination for tormented minorities within well-defined criteria. The advantages as well as the drawbacks of unilateral (secessionist) self-detennination are explored in detail.     

博物馆工作由封闭型向开放型的转变

博物馆工作必须由封闭型向开放型转变,这是由博物馆的基本职能决定的,也是客观形势发展的需要。我国博物馆工作目前还处在由封闭型或半封闭型向开放型的转变阶段。博物馆工作者要进一步更新观念,加速这一转变过程。     

Animal Electricity at the End of the Eighteenth Century: The Many Facets of a Great Scientific Controversy

In the 1790s, Luigi Galvani and Alessandro Volta were the main protagonists of a lively debate on the role of electricity in animal organisms. Significant developments originated from this debate, leading to the foundation of two new disciplines, electrodynamics and electrophysiology, that were to play a crucial role in the scientific and technological progress of the last two centuries. The Galvani-Volta controversy has been repeatedly reconstructed, sometimes in an attempt to identify the merits and the errors of one or the other of the two protagonists, sometimes with the aim of demonstrating that the theories elaborated by the two Italian scholars were irreconcilable, reflecting completely different ways of looking at phenomena and conceiving of scientific research. In this article a different interpretation is offered, based on a discussion of the scientific issues that were central to Galvani's and Volta's research, and with reference to the context of science and society of the eighteenth century.     

中国从农业文明向工业文明的过渡——对中国资本主义萌芽及相关诸问题研究的反思

中国具有源远流长、从未间断的明,这在世界上是罕见的。然而,当西方世界发生工业革命并因此而取得飞速发展之后,在人们看待中国的眼神中,既有对她过去的钦羡,也有对她现在的不屑。于是,大家在追问：为什么中国会变得如此落后?——对此,我们曾提出过许多解释,其中影响最大的是从资本主义的产生、近(现)代化以及科学技术等方面所进行的探讨。然而,这些研究角度或概念,不同程度地存在着偏差,导致了对这一问题认识的误区。     

楚文化中的动物符号和前宗教问题

张光直先生指出中国先秦化的基本框架属于“亚-美化连续体”。楚化中的巫术或仪式属“亚美-化连续体”中的萨满教范畴。本从动物符号与神话、动物符号与巫术和动物符号与萨满教三个方面论述楚化中没有图腾崇拜,楚人社会的萨满教只是一种世界性的普遍存在的前宗教现象。     

梁启超新史学从政治向学术的过渡

梁启超是中国“新史学”的创始人。1902年,他发起“史界革命”,推动了传统史学向现代史学的转化。梁启超在历史学的各个方面:史学理论、史学方法论、中外历史编纂、史学史、人物传记等各方面都有开创性的贡献。他的史学革命思想及其研究成果奠定了中国百年史学基业。梁启超被史学界公认为“理论和实践并重的史界巨灵”、“现代史林泰斗”。①一、挑起“史界革命”大旗1902年,梁启超写下了《新史学》一文,公开挑起“史界革命”的大旗,从此而开辟了中国现代史学的新天地。梁启超《新史学》的意义首先在于它是宣言书,宣告了具有三千年历史的传…     

Proto-Israelite Mythopoeics. A Perspective from Neuroscience on the Book of Joshua

This article contends that the Deuteronomic‐1 legend of the book of Joshua was formed into its mythical cyclical form through a process of oral transmission. As the oral stories told about an original source event were transformed into a community story it began to take on a liturgical form. This article explains the neuropsychological aspects of this natural process and also highlights how the cultural shift in the 12th century B.C.E. preserved the form of the Deuteronomic‐1 legend.     

从历史发展多线性到史学范式多样化--围绕"以一元多线论为基础的现代化范式"的讨论

“以一元多线论为基础的现代化范式”把“现代化”主要看做一个有特定内涵的全球历史大变革进程,看做一个并不具备终极目标价值而且道路模式选择多样的历史范畴,从而使之成为史学研究的对象。它和20世纪50～60年代的美国现代化论有原则上的不同,也不同于建立在“五种生产方式序列”基础上的“革命范式”。东、西方两种对立的单线演进历史模式,在史学方法论上都有绝对主义和排他性色彩。一元多线历史发展观则是开放的、包容的、多面向的。现代化范式的出现打破了史学长期由单一范式支配的局面。史学范式的多样化,是中国史学繁荣之道。