|
|
|
| Researches on the American Enlightenment: Multiple Perspectives |
| Ren Yuhai |
| School of Foreign Studies, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China |
|
|
|
|
Abstract The American Enlightenment in the 18th Century both reflected the general features of the Enlightenment and had its unique contents and significance in view of the particular social and historical contexts. The American Enlightenment has generated certain ideological patterns and values persisting to constitute the leading principles of the political governance, social and cultural life of the United States today. A proper knowledge of the American Enlightenment is essential for understanding the characteristics and formation of American modernity and conducive to in-depth exploration of the variety and diversity of the Enlightenments as well as the relevant paths to modernization. The historical process of academic studies of the American Enlightenment can be roughly divided into three stages. The first stage from the early 19th Century to the 1960s was a period in which the proposition of an American Enlightenment became finally established. The second stage from the 1970s to the 1990s witnessed a growing number of influence studies and comparative studies across national borders. The third stage which covers the first two decades of the 21st Century is characterized by an increase in the multiplicity of dimensions featuring less generalized discourses and more specialized social and cultural aspects of the Enlightenment in America. Since the 19th Century, some shifts have taken place for the research on American Enlightenment from being peripheral to acquiring a prominent status in the academia, with this study not merely as an intellectual backcloth but a crucial topic in intellectual, social and cultural history, not focusing solely on a few philosophers and political elites but concerning the enlightened practices of the populace, not seen only as the fulfillment of European Enlightenment thoughts in America but treated as the product of intellectual and cultural interaction in global history, not limited to the effects of American Enlightenment in political and religious realms but involving various dimensions such as science and technology, education, communication and urban growth. Based on the retrospect of the research history, the special character of the American Enlightenment can be summarized to comprise at least the following three aspects: (1) the selective appropriation of the global (European in particular) intellectual resources in accord with the practical needs of the Americans, embodied in the Enlightenment spirit as the driving force in American social transformation, empirical reason, and the American national identity; (2) the American founding and the ratification of the US constitution under the influence of the Enlightenment thoughts, reflected in the design and construction of the republican and federal system of the United States; (3) the coexistence and synthesis of reason, science and religion in American society, exhibited as the blending of religious enthusiasm and secular knowledge in American culture. To further the research in this field, the author of this article deems it necessary to alter the simplified and homogenized conception of the Enlightenment and refer to the historical context for its appropriate definition so as to provide an accurate interpretation of the American Enlightenment. Moreover, research needs to be conducted not only in terms of the availability and communicative channels of the intellectual resources of the American Enlightenment but also into the concrete process regarding how these resources were selected, absorbed and integrated by the American philosophers and populace. The American Enlightenment, anything but an isolated event, occurred and evolved in the extended context of the global history. Therefore, a broader, more interactive and international perspective should be adopted in the study of the American Enlightenment by locating it in the context of the global interaction of the 18th Century for more effective work of comparison and analysis to be carried out with due attention to and better illustration of both the originality and uniqueness of the American Enlightenment and the significance of the enlightened experience of the American nation for the Enlightenment at large.
|
|
Received: 19 October 2021
|
|
|
|
1 Miller S.， A Brief Retrospect of the Eighteenth Century， New York： T. & J. Swords， 1803.
2 Riley W.， American Thought： From Puritanism to Pragmatism， New York： Henry Holt & Company， 1915.
3 Schlereth T. J.， “Focusing the American enlightenment，” The Review of Politics， Vol. 39， No. 3 （1977）， pp. 441-444.
4 Morais H. M.， Deism in Eighteenth-Century America， New York： Columbia University Press， 1934.
5 Ellis J.， “Habits of mind and an American enlightenment，” American Quarterly （Special Issue： An American Enlightenment）， Vol. 28， No. 2 （1976）， pp. 150-164.
6 Schneider H. W.， A History of American Philosophy， New York： Columbia University Press， 1946.
7 Boorstin D. J.， The Lost World of Thomas Jefferson， New York： Henry Holt & Company， 1948.
8 Curti M.， The Growth of American Thought， New York： Harper & Brothers Publishers， 1943.
9 Dixon J. M.， “Henry F. May and the revival of the American enlightenment，” The William and Mary Quarterly， Vol. 71， No. 2 （2014）， pp. 255-280.
10 Colbourn T. （ed.）， Fame and the Founding Fathers： Essays by Douglass Adair， New York： Norton， 1974.
11 Winterer C.， “What was the American enlightenment？” in Isaac J.， Kloppenberg J. T. & O’Brien M. et al. （eds.）， The Worlds of American Intellectual History， Oxford： Oxford University Press， 2017， pp. 19-36.
12 May H. F.， “The problem of the American enlightenment，” New Literary History， Vol. 1， No. 2 （1970）， pp. 201-214.
13 Cassara E.， The Enlightenment in America， Boston： Twayne Publishers， 1975.
14 Meyer D. H.， “The uniqueness of the American enlightenment，” American Quarterly （Special Issue： An American Enlightenment）， Vol. 28， No. 2 （1976）， pp. 165-186.
15 Commager H. S.， The Empire of Reason： How Europe Imagined and America Realized the Enlightenment， Garden City： Doubleday， 1977.
16 Wills G.， Explaining America： The Federalist， Garden City： Doubleday， 1981.
17 Howe D. W.， Making the American Self： Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln， Cambridge， MA： Harvard University Press， 1997.
18 Ferguson R. A.， The American Enlightenment， 1750-1820， Cambridge： Cambridge University Press， 1994.
19 Landsman N. C.， From Colonials to Provincials： American Thought and Culture， 1680-1760， New York： Twayne Publishers， 1997.
20 Aldridge A. O.， The Dragon and the Eagle： The Presence of China in the American Enlightenment， Detroit： Wayne State University Press， 1993.
21 王恩铭： 《美国20世纪末的一场文化战争：保守派与进步派的较量》，《世界历史》2011年第5期，第38-48页。
22 Caron N. & Wulf N.， “American enlightenments： continuity and renewal，” The Journal of American History， Vol. 99， No. 4 （2013）， pp. 1072-1091.
23 施诚： 《方兴未艾的大西洋史》，《史学理论研究》2015年第4期，第58-64页。
24 Schmidt L. E.， Hearing Things： Religion， Illusion， and the American Enlightenment， Cambridge， MA： Harvard University Press， 2000.
25 Reid-Maroney N.， Philadelphia’s Enlightenment， 1740-1800： Kingdom of Christ， Empire of Reason， Westport： Greenwood Press， 2001.
26 Himmelfarb G.， The Roads to Modernity： The British， French， and American Enlightenments， New York： Knopf， 2004.
27 美］格特鲁德·希梅尔法布： 《现代性之路：英法美启蒙运动之比较》，齐安儒译，上海：复旦大学出版社，2011年。
28 Delbourgo J. & Dew N. （eds.）， Science and Empire in the Atlantic World， New York： Routledge， 2008.
29 Torre J. R. （ed.）， The Enlightenment in America， 1720-1825， London： Pickering Chatto， 2008.
30 Winterer C.， American Enlightenments： Pursuing Happiness in the Age of Reason， New Haven： Yale University Press， 2016.
31 阙天舒： 《从共识建构到极化解构——当前美国国内政治思潮走向研究》，《人民论坛·学术前沿》2018年第22期，第57-67页。
32 美］亚伯拉罕·F.劳文特尔： 《衰落或复兴：21世纪初美国的走向》，《国际经济评论》2014年第4期，第141-155页。
33 美］弗里德里希·沃特金斯： 《西方政治传统——现代自由主义发展研究》，黄辉、杨健译，长春：吉林人民出版社，2001年。
34 Gay P.， “The enlightenment，” in Woodward C. V. （ed.）， The Comparative Approach to American History， New York： Basic Books， 1968， pp. 37-50.
35 Staloff D.， Hamilton， Adams， Jefferson： The Politics of Enlightenment and the American Founding， New York： Hill & Wang， 2005.
36 Goetzmann W.， Beyond the Revolution： A History of American Thought from Paine to Pragmatism， New York： Basic Books， 2009.
37 Howe D. W.， “Why the Scottish enlightenment was useful to the framers of the American constitution，” Comparative Studies in Society and History， Vol. 31， No. 3 （1989）， pp. 572-587.
38 美］彼得·赖尔、艾伦·威尔逊： 《启蒙运动百科全书》，刘北成、王皖强编译，上海：上海人民出版社，2004年。
39 Pole J. R.， “Enlightenment and the politics of American nature，” in Porter R. S. & Teich M. （eds.）， The Enlightenment in National Context， Cambridge： Cambridge University Press， 1981， pp. 192-214.
40 李剑鸣： 《美国建国者的“知识政治学”》，《世界历史评论》2021年第2期，第69-100页。
41 应琛： 《美国启蒙时期政治思想的实践特质》，《浙江学刊》2017年第2期，第188-194页。
42 May H. F.， The Enlightenment in America， New York： Oxford University Press， 1976.
43 Kloppenberg J. T.， “Knowledge and belief in American public life，” in Shea W. M. & Huff P. A. （eds.）， Knowledge and Belief in America： Enlightenment Traditions and Modern Religious Thought， Cambridge： Cambridge University Press， 1995， pp. 27-51.
44 德］伊曼纽尔·康德： 《对这个问题的一个回答：什么是启蒙？》，见［美］詹姆斯·施密特编： 《启蒙运动与现代性：18世纪与20世纪的对话》，徐向东、卢华萍译，上海：上海人民出版社，2005年，第61-67页。
45 美］罗兰·斯特龙伯格： 《西方现代思想史》，刘北成、赵国新译，北京：中央编译出版社，2005年。
46 Commager H. S.， “The American enlightenment and the ancient world： a study in paradox，” Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society， the Third Series， Vol. 83 （1971）， pp. 3-15.
47 王立新： 《中国文化在美国的早期传播及其影响》，见何芳川主编： 《中外文化交流史》，北京：国际文化出版公司，2008年，第990-1026页。
48 李剑鸣： 《从跨国史视野重新审视美国革命》，《史学月刊》2021年第3期，第24-30页。 |
|
|
|
2022, Vol. 52 
