中國「市民社會」的歷史及其發展

Abstract

本文試圖以市民社會（civil society）作為一個概念或思考模式，來分析中國歷史及社會。在利用「市民社會」─一個源於近代西方的概念 - 來剖析中國社會與歷史時，首先會碰到一知識論的問題；即西方社會理論是否具有普遍性？作者既不採納「全盤西化」的樂觀知識論的普遍主義的立場，也放棄沿用「例外論」（exceptionality）的觀點，即所有的西方理論都不適用於中國社會。前者的立場會使研究方向墮入「削足就履」的繆誤裡去。後者則會使跨文化的比較與溝通無法繼續下去。作者所採用的中間之道，乃是修正理論來迎合現實，即「市民社會」如何發揮對中國歷史與社會的解釋力而使之取得當代的意義。其次，由於 “civil society”內涵豐富，在選擇其中文翻譯的時候，不同的譯法則代表了對「市民社會」的不同理解與著重點。本文作者對“civil society”所介紹的三個譯法與詮釋：文明社會、市民社會與公民社會，則是對“civil society”一詞的意義作最大程度的囊括。最後，作者強調，每個社會都有它強調的文化價值與理念，當西方概念進入中文的語言論述中，它起的作用是激發中國文化內部固有的價值，來滿足當代社會的需求。

The paper seeks to use “civil society” as a model in order to analyze Chinese history and society conceptually. One of the very first questions being raised, when the term “civil society”, a Western born concept since modernity, is applied upon the Chinese socio-history is that of epistemological one: that is, if Western social theory is universalizable？The author discards both the stances of “total Westernization”, which claims optimistically the universal validity of Western knowledge, as well as the exceptionality of China, being used as a shield of depending most of the critics against China’s situation, arguing that most of the Western theories cannot explain essentially the matters in China. Instead, the author adopts a third and mid-way path in order to refine the theory of civil society for the sake of gaining more insightful understanding of Chinese socio-history and endowing “civil society” with a more explaining power. Secondly, since the term “civil society” carries a rich meaning, when it is translated into Chinese language, it can be represented in more than one kind of phrase of words. Thus different translated versions presuppose different accentuations from the interpreters. The author introduces three kinds of literal translation: i.e. “civilized society”, “city people’s society” and “public people’s society”, arguing that they encompass most of the understanding originated from “civil society”. The paper concludes by stressing each society is embedded with its particular cultural values and ideals. When the Western concepts were brought into China and expressed themselves in Chinese language, they have succeeded in revitalization of the proper Chinese values, previously latent in its tradition, to order to meet its contemporary needs of the society.