现代人起源六十年之争

现代人起源的争议由来已久,而遗传学的冲击尤大。1987年,美国加州大学伯克利分校的人类学家根据对147名各大洲不同人种妇女胎盘细胞中的线粒体DNA分析,将所有现代人起源追溯到20万年前的一位非洲妇女。这一被称为"夏娃理论"或"走出非洲"的假设对学术界和一般公众产生了巨大的影响①。这意味着人类起源和进化的主干在非洲,其他各大洲的古人类代表都不过是进化中的旁支。后来,有学者对"夏娃理论"的遗传学推理做了检验,认为现代人有一个共同祖母的说法十分可疑②。虽然目前国际学界承认,古代的非洲种群不管在规模还是在古老性上,对全球现代人进化有着最重要的影响,但是这种影响究竟是整体取代还是存在一定的基因交流仍存在争议。本期介绍的是两位美国人类学家对现代人起源之争的历史回顾,对我们了解好似雾里看花的现代人起源之争有一定的帮助。现代人起源争论的关键,在于如何解释遗传学证据与化石材料之间的矛盾。遗传学研究表明,现代人的线粒体DNA和Y染色体变异非常小,表明其更新世祖先种群的规模很小,而且分布非常有限。但古人类化石却表明人类祖先的种群不少,分布也很广。如果古人类以很小的种群在漫长的时间里孤立进化却没有形成新的物种显然不可思议。于是,一种"瓶颈说"被提出来解释这种现象,即人类进化在更新世末遇到一个瓶颈,只有少量基因被保留下来,"夏娃理论"就认为现代人都是一小群非洲人的后代。但是与"夏娃理论"不同,本文作者认为这种瓶颈在更新世一直存在,并提出了一种间断进化模式来说明人科化石记录的地理差异和遗传学解释,即人类进化是一种适应辐射(种群扩张)和物种选择(种群减少)的交替过程。他们认为,现代人起源也是这种过程的产物,大部分更新世人科化石是没有留下后裔的一批种群。在过去两百万年的进化过程中,人类并非源自单一物种,而是来自由间断性物种形成事件所隔开的几个相继的物种,反复的遗传瓶颈大大减少了最后智人种群的遗传变异。作者还指出,现代人起源应该从生物人类学的方法来进行研究,并重视自然选择的作用。     

从岸本能武太到章太炎:自由与秩序之思的跨洋交流

19世纪下半叶,自由放任资本主义引发的社会问题,令偏向个人主义的斯宾塞社会学说遭到质疑,并引发关于个人自由与社会秩序关系的深入思考。在西学东渐大潮推动下,欧美学界的思考以学术译介的方式传入日本和中国,并因文化传统、话语体系、时政背景以及学者个人因素的差异而发生流变。岸本能武太《社会学》在斯宾塞社会有机体说基础上,以"非社会性"对译人类反抗社会秩序的"反社会性"特征,在缓解斯宾塞个人自由观念给日本社会带来紧张感的同时,借此对抗日本日益膨胀的国家主义思潮。章太炎通过翻译岸本《社会学》,将个人自由思想与中国传统思想中的"逃群"、"隐"、"废"等理念勾连,以"出世"方式抵抗清末新政,为革命提供思想和理论支持。     

试论孔德和斯宾塞社会学理论的相同点

孔德和斯宾塞都是社会学初创时期的主要代表人物,知识背景均为拥有较高自然科学素养的哲学家,两者的思想体系有着一定的联系,本文通过有机观、进化观、情感的重要性、乐观主义和实证的科学统一观等五个方面来论述两者社会学理论的相同之处。孔德和斯宾塞作为社会学初期的大家,又都是实证主义社会学的创始人,两者的社会学理论有着根本的不同,但却不能说,两者的思想体系没有任何的联系,以下就从5个方面来论述孔德和斯宾塞社会学理论的相同之处。     

斯宾塞“社会有机体”论与清季国家主义——以章太炎、严复为中心

斯宾塞的"社会有机体"学说对清季民族主义思潮的影响毋庸置疑。可问题是,此一鼓吹个人主义的学说何以会成为合群保种的思潮?对此,史华兹、冯客等学者都看到,斯宾塞的社会有机体学说与他鼓吹的个人主义有矛盾,正是前者成为中国近代民族主义的理论资源。然而,这一解释仍有未尽之处。从章太炎、严复的论述中能够看到何以斯宾塞的社会有机体学说在中国会成为国家竞争的学说,及彼时中国人自由观与斯宾塞自由观之差异所在。应当说,斯宾塞的个人自由与国家权力是对立的,而在中国,二者则具有同一性,这也决定了斯宾塞学说在中国的命运。     

现代统计知识和观念的传入与清末新史学

1897年之前,以具体统计事例为载体的西方统计知识和统计观念已经传入中国,1897年后,经日本消化吸收的社会统计学理论开始系统地引入,这对清末和民国统计的影响广泛而深远。清末时,梁启超等人把统计材料汇编为历史,陈黻宸等人明确主张以统计法来研究和表述历史,他们固然受到西方史学理论的影响,但现代统计知识、观念和外来成果所施予的直接刺激也不容忽视。当时已有人在史书编纂、地方史志纂修和具体历史问题研究方面,尝试使用统计分析法,这构成为清末中国新史学有机的组成部分。     

现代性的歧路:清末民初的社会达尔文主义思潮

自进化论传入中国,斯宾塞的社会达尔文主义提供了一条物竞天择、适者生存的富强之路。斯宾塞的竞争进化论,与中国文化传统中儒家的经世致用、法家的富国强兵相结合,形成了近代中国物质主义与功利主义的狂潮。社会达尔文主义颠覆了两千年来中国传统的礼的秩序,代之以竞争为核心的力的秩序,并产生了以强者为主导的新国民人格。然而,这一去价值、去伦理的力的秩序,在清末民初产生了严重的政治后果,它造就了民国,却毁了共和。五四知识分子痛定思痛,重新思考中国的复兴之路,开始了从富强到文明的历史转变。     

拉克伯里“中国文明西来说”在东亚的传布与文本之比较

19世纪末,法裔英国人拉克伯里自称运用"语言科学"和"历史科学"的方法发现了中国上古史的秘密:黄帝裔出巴比伦,汉人的祖先是巴比伦人。拉克伯里的"西来说"不为欧洲主流汉学界所接受,但当其被介绍到日本后,备受学界瞩目,出现了以桑原骘藏和三宅米吉、白鸟库吉为代表的反对派和支持派。1900年,白河次郎和国府种德将"西来说"写入面向大众的《支那文明史》中,此书出版后引起在东京和上海的排满知识人的积极反应,《支那文明史》转述的"西来说"被译介为若干中文文本。不过,当意识到"西来说"表征着汉人的外来性而不合排满革命政治目标时,先前的支持者便纷纷转而反对。通过分析拉克伯里"西来说"的各个中文文本可知,清末经由日本传入之"西来说"乃是一种具有政治色彩的知识。     

强者的特权与弱者的话语:“治外法权”概念在近代中国的传播与运用

近代西方的"治外法权"概念由外交豁免权与领事裁判权两种性质有别的域外司法管辖权组合而成。这一矛盾含混的内涵结构及其在日常使用中后者遮蔽前者的语用强势,导致中国知识精英有关认知的长期分歧;而中日汉字构词习惯的差异,又曾一度引发国人对"治外法权"的误读。清末时,即有人试图将"治外法权"两层矛盾含义予以分离,甚至加以对立,宁愿选择以"领事裁判权"来明确指代列强在华司法特权,以避免含混的"治外法权"名义。北洋后期特别是国民政府时期,此一认知倾向经由政府提倡和实践,得到进一步强化。但抗战全面爆发后,又因故出现某种逆转。尽管存在认知分歧,"治外法权"由领事裁判权所代表的不平等的司法特权内涵,却一直主导着社会上的传播。作为一种概念工具,"治外法权"在清末主要被用于唤起危亡意识、鼓吹变法维新,有效充当了效法西方和日本的改革舆论之话语组件;五四运动及其后,则成为帝国主义罪恶的象征符号和动员国人进行反帝斗争的话语武器。     

地理书写与国家认同:清末地理教科书中的民族主义话语

清末地理教育在传授知识的同时,也成为知识分子借以建立国家认同的工具。清末由国人编著、出版的地理教科书,通过对中国在世界上的位置、中国的自然资源以及近代西力东侵背景下中国所遭受的屈辱与苦难三方面内容的叙述,对中国的国家形象和学生的国家认同进行塑造。清末的"史学革命"在时间维度上重塑了中国形象,而民族主义思想影响下的地理教科书则在空间维度上建立起个人对国家的认同。     

《英国所藏甲骨集》缀合四例

笔者在研读《英国所藏甲骨集》拓片时,发现有四版可以和《甲骨文合集》相缀合。本文简要介绍了这四组缀合,作了相关说明及考释,并对"保"、"同"等甲骨字词进行了详细的讨论。     

Migratory movements: evolutionary theory in the works of J.M. Synge

Synge's interest in evolutionary theory is well-documented, and his plays are often viewed as representations of an Irish culture in decline. In response, this article argues that Synge's tramps, tinkers, and outcasts function as figures for species migration and cultural renewal. To demonstrate that Synge's drama has a footing in the science of speciation, the article details the extent to which Synge was directly familiar with works of evolutionary theory. Although he read Darwin and Herbert Spencer at about the same time, their respective influences show up at much different stages of his literary career. While Synge's earliest prose is most strongly influenced by Spencer's progressivist interpretation of evolution, Synge's Spencerianism soon gives way to a Darwinian interest in the bizarre affinities between the human and animal worlds, as well as to an appreciation of difference rather than a fetishisation of fitness.     

Shakespeare as a method. Carl Schmitt’s reading of Othello and Hamlet

While in the 1960s Allan Bloom suggested to read William Shakespeare’s works through the prism of political philosophy, a decade earlier Carl Schmitt used the works of English poet in a reverse way: he read political philosophy and history through Shakespeare. Deprived – under the influence of Leo Strauss – from the possibility of considering Thomas Hobbes a decisionist thinker, Schmitt in his ‘Hamlet or Hecuba’ used Shakespeare’s most famous work to interpret origins of disappearance of the state of emergency from English soil. Shakespeare was seen by Schmitt as a writer who captured the Sixteenth and seventeenth century changes in thinking about sovereignty and the state. Interestingly, Schmitt did not use Shakespeare as method for the first time: in first decades of twentieth century, in his diary, he made ‘Othello’ a prism through which he read his love life. Because the author of ‘The Concept of the Political’ is one of the less methodologically cohesive writers of twentieth century, his usage of Shakespeare twice, in different circumstances, is interesting. In an article, author links ‘Hamlet or Hecuba’ with Schmitt’s geopolitical works and presents Shakespeare’s works as the coherent method of interpretation in Schmitt’s philosophy of decisionism.     

兰克在新中国史学界的境遇

马克思受德国左翼知识分子的影响,曾对兰克作了否定性的评价,后经苏联学者的进一步发挥,兰克被定格为反动派。马克思的兰克评语早在1945年即已通过苏联学者的论文译介到中国,但最初似无影响,至1960年代初借助各种译著的传布,始被中国史家所熟知,深刻影响了他们对兰克的认知。1958年开始中国史学界推行"兴无灭资"的史学革命,开展两条路线斗争。为了更好批判中外资产阶级史学,1960年代初大陆史学界密集译介兰克的资料,有些史家积极批判兰克,但所凭借的文献多为二手著作,很少有人直接阅读兰克作品。进入"文革"时代,兰克话题已然进入禁区。     

Cerebral Automatism,the Brain,and the Soul in Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Neither literary critics nor historians of science have acknowledged the extent to which Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897) is indebted to late-Victorian neurologists, particularly David Ferrier, John Burdon-Sanderson, Thomas Huxley, and William Carpenter. Stoker came from a family of distinguished Irish physicians and obtained an M.A. in mathematics from Trinity College, Dublin. His personal library contained volumes on physiology, and his composition notes for Dracula include typewritten pages on somnambulism, trance states, and cranial injuries.

Stoker used his knowledge of neurology extensively in Dracula. The automatic behaviors practiced by Dracula and his vampiric minions, such as somnambulism and hypnotic trance states, reflect theories about reflex action postulated by Ferrier and other physiologists. These scientists traced such automatic behaviors to the brain stem and suggested that human behavior was “determined” through the reflex action of the body and brain—a position that threatened to undermine entrenched beliefs in free will and the immortal soul. I suggest that Stoker’s vampire protagonist dramatizes the pervasive late-nineteenth-century fear that human beings are soulless machines motivated solely by physiological factors.     

论中国哲学人生

阴阳是中国哲学最基本的观念,中国哲学人生的三大流派,即渊源于阴阳观念。法家的人生哲学,强调个人奋斗,自我扩张,以坚强的毅力与意志,以实现既定的目标。所谓吃得苦中苦,方为人上人,便是法家哲学人生的真实写照。道家的哲学人生,以阴柔为主,强调因循自然,清静无为,不要追名逐利,不汲汲于富贵,人生的目的是逍遥与自在。儒家的哲学人生,以阴阳协调,刚柔并济为重,讲究中庸之道,强调以仁爱与礼节,完善自我,走修身、齐家、治国、平天下之路,从而成为中国人生哲学的正宗,对中国文人产生了巨大的影响。本文将根据历史的实例,对中国三派的哲学人生作出具体的分析     

The Curse of Civilised Woman: Race,Gender and the Pain of Childbirth in Nineteenth‐Century American Medicine

Accounts of the easy, painless childbearing of ‘primitive’ non‐white women in comparison to their ‘civilised’ white counterparts were ubiquitous in early modern travel literature. In the nineteenth‐century United States, such narratives were increasingly taken up in medical and scientific literature, catalysing the production of new forms of knowledge about race and bodies. This article analyses several key medico‐scientific theories produced to explain racialised parturient pain and argues that this knowledge dynamically interrelated with both racial ideas and racial practice in nineteenth‐century society. The shifting character of this knowledge implicated changing ways of defining race, including the anchoring of racial identity in the physical body; the role of the physician as an arbiter of racial truth; and the imbrication of gender in racial classifications. Moreover, knowledge produced to explain racialised parturient pain – for instance, about race‐specific sensory physiology, muscular mechanics and skeletal anatomy – circulated within numerous social institutions, among them slavery; gynaecologic and obstetric care; medical experimentation; anti‐abortion crusades invoking the spectre of ‘race suicide’; and eugenic projects. In this way, medical discourse on the gendered body of the parturient was enrolled in the changing articulation of race across the nineteenth century.     

Michel Foucault

Despite his repudiation of antisemitism, Renan influenced the development of antisemitic ideologies in both France and Germany. His typology of ‘Semite’ and ‘Aryan’ was adopted especially in Germany and and combined with biological concepts of race to become the foundation of the concepts of ‘Semitism’ and ‘Antisemitism’. Renan, however, always insisted on a linguistic/cultural definition of race and regarded the biological conception, while it might have had some primitive reality, as outmoded and immoral in European civilization. After 1870 the growth of German racial antisemitism led Renan to elaborate repeatedly on race as a civilisational phenomenon that in modern Europe should have lost its biological origins. His argument that modern Jews were integral members of the French ‘nation’ and ‘civilization’ was profoundly influential on the emergence of the theory of the modern ‘nation’ as the liberal state. Gobineau's theory of race also lent itself to exploitation by racial antisemites, though it was not overtly antisemitic. Unlike Renan, however, Gobineau in his later years inclined to a vague personal antisemitism. The main difference was one of temperament as well as devotion on Renan's part to a liberal idea of the nation, as opposed to Gobineau's aversion to liberalism and modern civilization.     

Continuity,chance, and change: The character of the industrial revolution in England

This article examines the life and works of Robert Blakey, author of the first English-language history of political thought. Studies of Blakey have typically concentrated on one aspect of his life, whether as an authority on field sports or as an historian of philosophy. However, some of Blakey’s lesser-known ventures, particularly his early Radical politics, his hagiographies, and his attempts to write a biography of Charlemagne, heavily influenced his more famous works. Similarly, Blakey’s upbringing in a Calvinist tradition, rooted in the Scottish School of Common Sense philosophy helps makes sense of his philosophical and theological commitments, yet has been largely ignored. This article provides a sketch of Blakey’s life, tying these disparate strands together, and explaining their influence upon, and relevance to, the first history of political philosophy.     

'You are not a White Woman!'

During her trial for assault in Fiji in 1915, Stella Spencer was accused of improperly associating with and even making love to native Fijians, in such a way as to prejudice the order of the colony. The background to the trial was Spencer's work on behalf of the populist Fijian leader of the Viti Company, Apolosi Nawai. As well as using the trial in an attempt to vilify Nawai as a crook, the European colonists asserted a harsh racial division with regard to sexual conduct between the races. Sexual intercourse symbolised a diminution of white prestige. This article tells the story of Apolosi Nawai and Stella Spencer from contemporaneous reports, the Fijian National Archives and the Colonial Office Archives     

Between science and metaphysics: Fritz Lenz and racial anthropology in interwar Germany

This essay examines the philosophical and scientific approach of Fritz Lenz, Germany’s most eminent racial hygienist in the interwar years, toward the problem of race and soul. It focuses on Lenz’s attitude to the question of mental heredity, by examining his philosophical hypothesis concerning the mind-body problem and the antinomies and paralogisms it entails. Thus, it aims to go beyond the conventions and norms of “liberal science” and to trace Lenz’s biological reasoning by addressing the scientific and philosophical controversies of his time, highlighting the “crisis of science” and the emergence of holistic, vitalistic and biocentric language in 1920s Germany. The discussion illustrates the way in which Lenz sought to combine natural-scientific methods with metaphysical speculations, while rejecting scientific and materialistic monism in favor of an idealistic imperative of “faith in race”. Lenz’s racial anthropology serves here as a paradigmatic case study for re-examining the ideological and epistemological mechanisms, which enabled the apotheosis of race in interwar Germany and its becoming a supreme value.