方以智的史学思想

方以智是明清之际的思想家。在历史观上,他从易道变化之理入手来论证社会人事,认为从自然界到人类社会都是一大物理,因而都是人们认知的对象,历史研究是一门"以实事求实理"的实学;历史是不断发展变化的,历史的发展有"常"有"变",有"理"有"则";人是天地万物的主宰,古今以"智"相积,因而今必胜于古。他的史学思想的显著特征是实证精神,主张"待证乃决"、"扩信决疑";同时提倡寻委溯源、通相为用的通变意识,并以推理与归约为通变基本方法。

Fang Yizhi's Views of History

Fang Yizhi was a thinker in the turn from the Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty.His historical viewpoint is that nature and the human society are both physics from Yi Tao.History is to prove them,which are the target for humans to understand.History is a theory to seek the truth from facts including "regularity" and "Change";"reason" and "principle".Humans are the master of everything.The society is the accumulation of knowledge,so the present society is better than the past.The main characteristics of his historical ideas are seeking truth from facts,maintaining to judge from evidence,to believe based on suspicion.He also maintained to trace back to the sources and understand the laws of change in order to apply them.He adopted the basic methods of change by inference and induction in studying change.