Between Neo-Confucianism and Historiography:Generative Logic and Inner Structure of Song Neo-Confucian Historiography
Studies in the history of historiography show that historiography in Song Dynastywas influenced by emerging Neo-Confucian thought,resulting in the formation of the paradigm"Neo-Confucian historiography".However,these studies are generally correlational rather than causal.There is still a lack of discourse on why and how Neo-Confucianism acts on historiography to form the new paradigm.To address this gap,this paper adopts an interdisciplinary perspective integrating Chinese philosophy and the history of historiography,and conducts research from the following two aspects.Firstly,it demonstrates the causal relationship between the theoretical connotation of Neo-Confucianismand Neo-Confucianhistoriography.Based on the overall theoretical framework of Neo-Confucianism in the Song Dynasty,specifically the concepts of"essence-function(ti-yong)with a shared origin"and"principle-phenomena&essence-function"(li-shiti-yong).It clarifies the theoretical position of Neo-Confucianism as"principle"and"essence"and historiography as"phenomena"and"function".Based on this theoretical framework,the absolute truth or ultimate nature of Neo-Confucianprinciples must be implemented and demonstrated in historiography.It organizes the diverse and scattered historical events into a cohesive whole,thereby forming the"historization of Neo-Confucianism".Historiography must also be integrated into the Neo-Confucian system,fulfilling the role of explaining and verifying Neo-Confucianism,and becoming an inherent part of the holistic,continuous,and integrated ideological system of Neo-Confucianism,thus forming the"Neo-Confucianization of historiography".Consequently,Neo-Confucian historiography embodies the relationship between classics and history-"Classics provide the principles,whereas history applies them;classics and history are inseparable,and they are of the same origin."It also highlights the intrinsic spirit of"integrating essence with function,governing phenomena with principles,prioritizing the classics,and not neglecting history".Secondly,it analyzes the substantial impact of the theoretical structure of Neo-Confucianism on Neo-Confucian historiography.Drawing on the views of Wang Fuzhi in the Qing Dynasty,this article divides the theoretical models of Song Neo-Confucianism into two categories.One is"viewinghuman from the principle of heaven"influenced by the philosophical tradition of the Book of Changes,while the other is"viewing Heaven from the perspective of human"developed from the philosophical traditions in the Spring and Autumn Annals and the Doctrine of the Mean.Corresponding to the first theoretical model is the narrative-oriented Neo-Confucian historyrepresented by Hu Hong's The Grand Annals of Emperors and Kings.This work,adopting the cosmological theory and the doctrine of heavenly principles in Neo-Confucianism as its temporal framework,reinterprets Confucian classics as ancient historical materials into this framework,thus constructing a Confucian-style narrative model for early Chinese history.What relates closely to the second theoretical model is the evaluative Neo-Confucian history represented by Hu Yin's Insights from Reading History.This work,based on the ethical cultivation theory and political and social analyses in Neo-Confucianism,evaluates historical figures and events from the Warring States period onwards comprehensively and systematically.It is in this sense that we can say the theoretical structure of Neo-Confucianism has had a decisive influence on the categories of Neo-Confucian historiography.This article demonstrates the internal logic of the formation of Neo-Confucian historiography from the generative perspective,and the correspondence between the structure of Neo-Confucianism and the categories of Neo-Confucian historiography from the perspectiveof typology.The two representative works of Neo-Confucian historiography in the Song Dynasty,written by second-generation scholars of the Huxiang School,reveal that this school attempted to go beyond mysticism and empiricism and construct a metaphysical and speculative philosophy of history from the perspective of rationality and humanism.Their efforts,not only promoted a leap forward in traditional Chinese historiography,but also occupied a leading position in the development of world historical philosophy.
Neo-Confucianismhistoriographyhistoriography of Neo-Confucianismrelationship between classics and historyHuxiang School
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维普
