西方古典修辞学与史学——以修昔底德为例

历史学的编纂写作必须依赖于某种交流与传播的载体或中介 ,诸如语言、图示、影像和文字等 ,其中最基本的形式便是由文字、词汇、语法、文法等构成的文本。西方古典史学的兴起正是凭借文本的革命而确立的 ,即由诗歌或韵文向散文的文体转变。在此过程中 ,作为散文体基本文法之一的修辞学对历史学产生了重要的影响 ,其中修昔底德的历史堪称修辞与史学的完美结合。     

The Rhetoric of Rhetoric: A Review Essay of McCloskey's The Rhetoric of Economics

The homeostatic method, which was developed to reconstruct the number of inhabitants of a city or even a country in pre-statistical periods, has yet to receive much attention from demographic historians. Applied first to Amsterdam during the years from 1586 to 1865, the method has subsequently been used to compute the population of other places, including England from 1541 to 1871. The author reviews major schools of thought in historical demography and shows that the homeostatic method, with its emphasis on fertility regulated by marriages, logically extends some schools and is both simpler and more accurate than others. He then explains the method in detail, applying it to Dutch and English cases, and compares its estimates with those obtained through the use of other techniques.     

The Ubiquity of Rhetoric and Hermeneutic Philosophy

This essay examines how hermeneutic philosophy, particularly Gadamer's, recovers rhetoric, less as the art of speaking well than as a statement of a truth of the sensus communis, that which communicates veracious content through argumentation. This is the sense in which Gadamer acknowledges the ubiquity of rhetoric and hermeneutics as components of linguisticity (Sprachlichkeit). Conceived in the context of non-methodical wisdom and phronesis, Gadamer's rehabilitated rhetoric is concerned with pragmatics and ethics. Rhetoric is no longer viewed as a technique of verbal manipulation and becomes relevant for dialogic communication. Gadamer thus joins the Habermasian criticism of formalized reason that is detached from values. Both of them reject instrumental reason, because it has colonized communicational reason. However, since Gadamer's view of rhetoric has also been criticized by Habermas and Ricoeur their objections cannot be overlooked in a discussion of his hermeneutics. The essay concludes with a brief consideration of the implications of the debate on rhetoric, hermeneutics, and communication for the twenty-first century.     

论《大公报》和平裁兵言论的民本主义倾向

作为20世纪20年代主导性政治化的和平裁兵思潮,对社会政治生活的影响至为深远。《大公报》这一时期的言论也充分表达了,其对于和平裁兵的热诚期盼,并带有明显的民本主义倾向。首先,《大公报》主张实现的真正意义上的主武从之政治,与儒家以君为本位、依靠圣君贤相为民作主的民本思想相碰撞;其次,导源于战争一触即发的裁兵呼声始终是以出民水火、解民倒悬作为该报的首要出发点;再次,《大公报》主张废除私兵与实现军队国家化,将爱民与重民有机地结合在一起,尤其是看重民众对于社稷江山的捍卫作用,正是“民惟邦本”意识的体现。     

The Tide of History

Two stories are told simultaneously: one that may have been, and one that yet might be. The story of the voyage that might have been is based on archaeological evidence provided by the earliest shipwreck discovered in the New World. These two stories are set in different eras to demonstrate certain constants in the human drive to explore the unknown, in the methods used, and in the consequences encountered.     

Rhetoric of economic rationality: The foundation of Norwegian transport planning

Planners often present their recommendations as the result of a rational choice process. The appeal to rationality ranks among the planners’ most prominent rhetorical practices. National level Norwegian transport plans convey the impression that environmental problems can be solved by rational economic allocation. Apparent harmony between potentially conflicting goals simplifies the image of society and facilitates the formulation of a consistent and thus convincing policy. The idyllic account of the relationship between economic efficiency and environmental protection is therefore an effectual rhetorical move. Furthermore, the equilibrium solutions of neoclassical economics make it seem like no special interests are favoured at the expense of others. Finding planning solutions seems to be a question of balancing the utilities and costs of small adjustments, purportedly without involving power relations in any explicit way. Hence, the rhetoric of economic rationality serves to present politics as virtually apolitical, transforming it into expert solutions defended by academic jargon which the public is expected to accept rather than digest.