History manifested: making sense of unprecedented change

An essential element usually passes unnoticed in recent discussion about how history as an academic discipline is supposed to be relevant for the shaping of our public life. It is the concept of history itself (history as both the course of events and historical writing) that underlies the whole discussion, which also configures the two currently most influential and fashionable efforts to reinstate the public relevance of history: The History Manifesto, co-authored by Jo Guldi and David Armitage, and Hayden White's The Practical Past. In advising to turn to the past in order to shape the present and the future, both books rely on the familiar developmental view that characterised nineteenth-century thinking in general, and on which the discipline of history became institutionalised in particular. The author's main contention in this essay is that turning to this notion of history is not the solution for the problem of the supposed public irrelevance of professional historical studies, but the problem itself. The developmental view, based on a presumption of a deeper continuity provided by the subject of the historical process that retains its self-identity amid all changes, certainly suited the discipline of history when it was engaged in the project of nation-building. However, it hardly fits our present concerns. These concerns, like the Anthropocene, take the shape of unprecedented change, and what they challenge is precisely the deeper continuity of the developmental view. The discipline of history can regain public relevance only insofar as it proves to be able to exhibit a thinking of its own specificity which can nevertheless explain such unprecedented changes. What such historical thinking could provide is what the developmental view can no longer: the possibility to act upon a story that we can believe.     

The Persian Presence in Nineteenth-Century English Poetry: A Taxonomy

This study employs keyword searches of literary databases such as Literature Online (LION) in an attempt to map the image of “Persia” in nineteenth-century English poetry as it was molded by a proliferation of thoughts and ideas in a variety of contexts. Completeness is not possible, of course, but the article aims to identify and explore some of the major categories within which the image of Persia was formed and disseminated in the nineteenth-century. The scope of the study is not confined to a corpus of poetic works that were written specifically on or about “Persia,” but takes account of a broader range of poems, and attends to the structure, texture and variations of the presence of “Persia” in nineteenth-century English poetry.     

维新之艰难兮，公缔其始--纪念李端棻上《请推广学校折》一百二十周年

1896年,李端棻上《推广学校折》,面对当时我国“时事多艰,需才孔亟”的现状,通观全局,统筹兼顾,进行了切中时弊的分析,主张“自京师以及各省府州县皆设学堂”;提出了一整套富有革新意义而又切实可行的发展新教育的方案,而且为光绪帝采纳,成为戊戌维新的主要内容之一,并较快地付诸实行,推动了我国教育走向近代化。     

CAPITALISM IN TIMES OF CRISIS

This article investigates how Danish industrialists responded to the rise of the modern state in the decades up until the Second World War, a period in which many of the basic principles of liberal capitalism were called into question, and in which the relationship between the state and the economy underwent major changes in all Western societies. It argues that the industrialists remained firm believers in classical liberalism and, on that ground, opposed growing state intervention as a slide towards socialism. The article has an emphasis on their reactions to calls for social policy initiatives, and it shows that the industrialists typically opposed such initiatives, either on pure ideological grounds or as conflicting with the economic competitiveness of Danish firms. When accommodation to selected demands for a stronger state did take place, it was typically in periods of crisis, the most important being the years just after the First World War. The interwar years did, however, see some approbation to increasing state intervention in the economy, and in the 1930s the idea of cooperation with the state entered their rhetoric. Thus, the article argues that the rhetoric and narratives gradually changed, while the ideological core did not.     

Yoshikatsu Sugiura's Contribution to the Development of Quantum Physics in Japan

Previous research in the history of physics has led us to believe that Yoshio Nishina (1890–1951) virtually single‐handedly imported quantum physics into Japan. However, there are first‐hand accounts that Yoshikatsu Sugiura (1895–1960) also played an important role. Sugiura made his name in quantum chemistry with his contribution to the Heitler‐London theory of the chemical bond. Yet, historians of physics have paid scant attention to him. This paper brings forward information on Sugiura from his letters, his scientific papers, and his own recollections until ca. 1930. By examining this material, the present paper studies Sugiura's accomplishments in Europe and his contributions to the development of quantum physics in Japan. We conclude that Sugiura was one of the most important physicists when it comes to the arrival of quantum physics in Japan. In addition, we assess why he has been under‐appreciated in the history of physics in Japan. Our historical study on Sugiura suggests that, in addition to the position Nishina and his students rightfully occupy, there still are important unexplored aspects in the history of Japanese quantum physics.     

宋朝的配隶法与厢军中的配军

宋朝的配军制度,是建立在配隶法基础上的强制罪犯充军的集兵制度,是宋代兵制中于募兵制之外又一个值得注意的特点。配隶法自宋初实行以后,逐步成为一个内容繁杂、适用于各种犯罪的刑种。两宋时期的厢军是配军数量较多的军种,配军不仅集中分布在厢军的牢城营,而且在厢军其他重役军分和一般军分中都有较多分布。由于配隶法适用范围的泛化和枉法滥配现象的大量存在,宋朝牢城等配军军分的溢额成为一种常态,配军数量十分庞大。宋统治者之所以将罪犯配隶充军,很大程度上是为了直接控制一批能够服兵役和劳役、随时听候国家调遣的人力资源,配军的存在也因此具有了其自身的社会经济价值和军事价值。     

周公"天下之中"建都理论研究

西周初年,围绕营建洛邑,周公提出并阐发了"天下之中"的概念,建构了我国古代第一个建都理论。"天下之中"建都理论,具有丰富的地理、政治、经济和文化内涵,对中国古代都城选址乃至空间规划布局都产生了巨大的影响。"天下之中"建都理论所表现的空间意识和文化观念,还影响了中国数千年间的政治伦理观念。     

宋初和平统一战略及实践

在和平建国及收兵权的基础上,宋初统一战略中,和平统一的设想前所未有地突显出来,在战略中广泛实施,并在一些地方大获成功。出现了在武力威胁下不战而降的荆南模式;没有直接的军事威胁,但朝廷做出过明确的归顺要求,最终主动归顺的吴越模式;既没有任何军事威胁,朝廷甚至也没有做出明确的或暗示的归顺要求,自觉纳土的漳泉模式。宋政府英明的统一战略和高超的政治手段,为国家的统一和历史的发展做出了重要的贡献,在分裂时期提供了和平统一的可行性,值得充分肯定。     

宋代功臣配享述论

功臣配享是古代帝王对有功之臣的最高酬劳,也是激励其他臣僚、引导政治舆论的重要方式。宋代在继承前代制度的基础上,形成了具有自身特点的配享之制。在配享功臣的选择上,宋代君臣本着尊崇宗庙和激励后继大臣的原则,采取了慎重的态度,并依据了较为严格的标准。功臣配享与宋代政治关系密切,它反映了当朝君臣的政治态度,是当权政治集团利益和要求的直接体现。     

范仲淹的“育将观”

北宋康定元年(1040),宋夏战争爆发,范仲淹挺身纾难,出任延州边帅。面对宋廷"右文抑武"国策所致军事人才匮乏之弊,范仲淹选将以智勇、育将以仁爱,成功地提拔、培养了一批勇猛善战的军事干将。而其中所体现的正是范仲淹独特的"育将观"。