摘要
Abstract
Comparative study is a method of multidimensional and comprehensive research in the context of global-ization, cross culture and cross civilization. Comparative study is intended mainly for research in areas of social sci-ences and humanities, whose purpose is to conduct comparisons among different areas, different countries, different cultures, different civilizations, etc. The trait of comparative method lies in its being a way of pluralism. Due to the subjectivity and randomness with which people make choices about specific cases and data, historical representation and cross-cultural knowledge are often imperfect, and sometimes can be biased. Researchers applying comparative approach to historical studies mostly attribute historical events to accidentalism rather than to causal determinism, and they tend to come up with different interpretations of even the same historical evidence. Therefore, distortions of historical facts become inevitable in reconstructing other cultures. The use of evidence and interpretation can ei-ther accomplish or destroy a historical comparative study. Four aspects must be considered in the study of the East and the West: context, translation, evaluation and application. Under the background of traditional culture and global cultural diversity, two kinds of characteristics, namely, the fortuity of historical culture and the particularity of the philosophical context are both embodied in comparative studies over eastern and western cultures. A similar but more complicated philosophical reflection is one in the context of today’ s society. In the trend of globalization, the development of modern culture in different countries does not mean that it is completely homogeneous. As an ef-fective means to better understand the different societies and their structures and institutions, contextualized and transnational comparisons are getting more and more intensively adopted. Contextualization in the multicultural soci-ety is necessitated by the need for self reflection, reflecting the challenge of the present and the future. Globally speaking, research on social culture should adopt a variety of methods. The study of cross culture and cross civiliza-tion may be a way of thinking and a way of behavior. In a multicultural context, research on eastern and western cultures does not mean to highlight the uniqueness, authoritativeness and advantageousness of one culture over the other;instead it pays more attention to the transcendence, diversity and deficiency of one’ s national culture in the context of self-reflection. Different cultures may share the same value. The integrity of each particular culture should be respected and maintained, and only in this way can a multicultural society avoid disintegration as a result of politics and geography. This prompts philosophers, educators and general intellectuals to engage in cultural dia-logues and in theory to explore the possibility of cross cultural philosophy. Through this dialogue and discourse, mutual understanding of the similarities and differences between cultures is made available. In this process, each culture can find its own merits and demerits;and each will reinforce their own subjectivity and autonomy. As a re-sult, philosophers, educators, and general intellectuals of multiculturalism may become cross-cultural messengers, communicators and/or translators.关键词
跨文化语境/全球化/比较方法/文化多元主义与相对主义/文化同质性与异质性/文化通约性与不可通约性Key words
cross cultural context/globalization/comparative method/cultural pluralism and relativism/cultural homogeneity and heterogeneity/cultural commensurability and incommensurability分类
社会科学
