MYTH IN HISTORY,PHILOSOPHY OF HISTORY AS MYTH: ON THE AMBIVALENCE OF HANS BLUMENBERG'S INTERPRETATION OF ERNST CASSIRER'S THEORY OF MYTH

This essay explores the different interpretations proposed by Ernst Cassirer and Hans Blumenberg of the relation between Platonic philosophy and myth as a means of bringing to light a fundamental divergence in their respective conceptions of what precisely myth is. It attempts to show that their conceptions of myth are closely related to their respective assumptions concerning the historical significance of myth and regarding the sense of history more generally. Their divergent conceptions of myth and of history, I argue, are at the same time not simply matters of abstract speculation, but spring from fundamental presuppositions concerning myth's political significance. The present elucidation aims not only to set in relief one or another of the ways in which Cassirer or Blumenberg understood myth, nor even to present Blumenberg's critical reception of Cassirer's theories, but above all to contribute to the interpretation of the political implications of myth and of its historical potency in our contemporary epoch.     

PHOTOGRAPHS, SYMBOLIC IMAGES, AND THE HOLOCAUST: ON THE (IM)POSSIBILITY OF DEPICTING HISTORICAL TRUTH

Photography has often been scrutinized regarding its relationship to reality or historical truth. This includes not only the indexicality of photography, but also the question of how structures and processes that comprise history and historical events can be depicted. In this context, the Holocaust provides a particular challenge to photography. As has been discussed in numerous publications, this historic event marks the "limits of representation." Nevertheless there are many photographs "showing" the Holocaust that have been produced in different contexts that bespeak the photographers' gaze and the circumstances of the photographs' production. Some of the pictures have become very well known due to their frequent reproduction, even though they often do not show the annihilation itself, but situations different from that; their interpretation as Holocaust pictures results rather from a metonymic deferral. When these pictures are frequently reproduced they are transformed into symbolic images, that is, images that can be removed from their specific context, and in this way they come to signify abstract concepts such as "evil." Despite being removed from their specific context these images can, as this essay argues, refer to historical truth. First, I explore the arguments of some key theorists of photography (Benjamin, Kracauer, Sontag, Barthes) to investigate the relationship between photography and reality in general, looking at their different concepts of reality, history, and historical truth, as well as the question of the meaning of images. Second, I describe the individual circumstances in which some famous Holocaust pictures were taken in order to analyze, by means of three examples, the question what makes these specific pictures so particularly suitable to becoming symbolic images and why they may—despite their abstract meaning—be able to depict historical truth.     

浅谈战国出现言意关系探讨的原因

言意问题在战国时期引起思想界普遍的关注,是多种因素共同作用的结果。剧烈的政治经济变革、史无前例的名实之争可谓言意关系探讨在战国时期出现的催化剂。此外,汉语汉字自身的独特性,对言意关系探讨的产生也是不可或缺的。     

“近代”、“近世”,历史分期与史学观念

本文考察了古典时间名词“近代”和“近世”在清末民国时期词义的演化及其给中国史学近代化和近代中国史学发展带来的影响 ,认为清末民国时期“近代”和“近世”词义的翻新 ,改变了中国传统的历史时间分期法 ,促进了中国通史研究的近代化 ,促进了专门史、边缘史、近代史研究的发展 ,同时又相当程度上反映了清末民国时期中国史学近代化的广度和深度。     

“仑”声字意义辨析兼论《诗经》和《礼记》的两处误读

“论”伦”等从“仑”得声之字,其取义均与其声符有关。前人虽有注意于此,但因其对“仑”之本义理解有误,故在典籍训释中颇多歧误。本拟从字源上对这些字作一番辨析,并更正部分献注释上的谬误。     

论杜维明对“文化中国”的思考

美籍华裔学者杜维明自20世纪90年代以来对"文化中国"的命题进行了思考,提出了诸如"三个意义世界"、"公众知识分子与公民社会"以及"文化中国与儒家传统"等命题.杜维明对"文化中国"的思考有着深厚的历史感和文化蕴涵,不仅显现了当代新儒家"返本开新"的理念,而且也为21世纪中国社会的发展和中国文化的走向从新儒家角度提供了一家之言.尽管杜维明对"文化中国"的论证富有创意,但对这一问题的阐述仍留有广阔的思考空间,它为我们进一步研究当代新儒家在新世纪的文化诉求提供了样本.     

First large‐scale provenance study of pigments reveals new complex behavioural patterns during the Upper Palaeolithic of south‐western Germany

The use of red iron‐based earth pigments, or ochre, is a key component of early symbolic behaviours for anatomically modern humans and possibly Neanderthals. We present the first ochre provenance study in Central Europe showing long‐term selection strategies by inhabitants of cave sites in south‐western Germany during the Upper Palaeolithic (43–14.5 ka). Ochre artefacts from Hohle Fels, Geißenklösterle and Vogelherd, and local and extra‐local sources, were investigated using neutron activation analysis (NAA), X‐ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results show that local ochre sources were continuously and systematically accessed for c.29 500 years, with periodic events of long‐distance (about > 300 km) ochre acquisition during the Aurignacian (c.35–43 ka), suggesting higher mobility than previously suspected. The results reveal previously unknown long‐term, complex spatio‐temporal behavioural patterns during the earliest presence of Homo sapiens in Europe.     

《传习录》“以象达意”式论述语言鉴赏

王阳明《传习录》中“以象达意”的形象性论述语言平易近人,意象常见,善用譬喻、例证、类比等手法,简洁精炼又生动活泼,并富有机锋和审美趣味,易读易懂,可以作为把握和解读心学要义之钥。     

经世致用——侯仁之学术生涯的思想基调

“经世致用”是贯穿侯仁之学术生涯的思想基调。文章探讨了这一思想基调的发展历程,及其在历史地理学研究、地理学科普和现实关怀中的实践,阐释了这一思想对时下历史地理学发展的当代意义。