啟蒙的真諦

任才淇 王靜靜

“啟蒙”的本義是開啟蒙昧，識字讀書，明白事理。在中國古代，人們從小要接受“蒙學”，才能成為有教養的人，否則就是“教化未開”。據說，早年被啟蒙到了什么程度，決定其日后可達到的智力高度。

同樣，人類社會從傳統向現代轉型的過程，也與啟蒙相伴隨；沒有啟蒙就沒有現代化。

然而，作為現代話語的“啟蒙”，卻源自于近代西方。在人類歷史上，近代啟蒙思想和啟蒙運動首發于17世紀后期的英國，后傳播到法國、德國等歐洲國家，波及北美，19世紀后期又影響到日本、中國等亞洲國家。

正是由于西方有了洛克、斯密、伏爾泰、盧梭、狄德羅等啟蒙思想家，才有了之后歐美的工業革命、市場經濟和憲政體制。在中國，自晚清時期出現近代啟蒙思想后，中國知識分子在“救亡圖存”的背景下，借助西方近代思想，改造中國傳統文化，塑造新型國民，引發了洋務運動、戊戌變法、新文化運動等。特別是在當代，1978年關于“實踐是檢驗真理的唯一標準”的大討論，極大地解放了人們的思想，帶來了之后“改革開放”的巨大成果。由此，思想的力量可見一斑。

長期以來，人們對于啟蒙運動有一種誤解，認為那是先知先覺的知識分子和哲人啟發、教育、訓導被啟蒙者，因而“啟蒙”成了及物動詞，其賓語是未開化的蕓蕓眾生。其實，根據現代啟蒙思想家康德的解釋，啟蒙的本質不是“他啟”而是“自覺”，即人們從由自我原因的不成熟狀態（在缺乏指導下無力運用自我理性的狀態）中覺醒，其根源并非是人們缺乏理性，而是缺乏對理性的運用。

這種真知灼見至今閃爍著理性的光芒。

在西方，啟蒙思想的支撐源于人們對于客觀規律的認知，如哥白尼的“日心說”、牛頓的“萬有引力”、伽利略的“宇宙論”等，認為整個宇宙中的一切物體都遵守同一定律，進而沖破千年的宗教束縛，將這一理性思考引入了人類社會，從而開創了一個不斷進取的新時代。在中國，幾千年的封建農業社會，使得科技落后、法治傳統缺乏，只是受到近代西方啟蒙思想（包括馬克思主義）的影響，才引入了科學、民主、法治的概念，開始與世界文明接軌。

在這一歷史大潮中，中國現在比歷史上任何時期都更接近中華民族的偉大復興。正如“一帶一路”被越來越多的國家認識到不是中國的獨角戲，而是沿途民族的大合唱，每個中國人對于客觀與主觀世界的深刻、自覺的理性開發，最終將匯集于前所未有的“中國夢”的實現。

譯文：

The Essence of Enlightenment

The original meaning of “enlightenment” is to enlighten someone so as to make him literate and sensible.In ancient China，educated people were those who received enlightening education from an early age.If not，people were considered unenlightened.It is said that the degree of enlightenment in ones early years is a determinant of his intelligence level in the future.

Enlightenment has likewise accompanied the transformation process of human society all the way from traditional to modern society.Thus，there is no modernization without enlightenment.

However，the contemporary word “enlightenment” originated from modern western times.In the history of mankind，the modern enlightenment thoughts as well as the Enlightenment Movement firstly sprouted in Britain in the late 17th century，and then spread in such European countries as France and Germany，causing ripples throughout North America as well.Japan，China and many other Asian countries had been affected since the late 19th century.

Those western enlightenment thinkers including Locke，Smith，Voltaire，Rousseau and Diderot contributed to the breakout of the Industrial Revolution，the emergence of the market economy and the establishment of constitutional system.Since the late Qing Dynasty when modern enlightenment thoughts appeared，Chinese intellectuals found themselves in a state where people salvaged China from subjugation.In this context，they transformed Chinese traditional culture and developed new citizen with the aid of the western thought.Additionally，they triggered the Westernization Movement，the Hundred Days Reform，the New Culture Movement and so on.In particular，the great discussion in 1978 about “Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth” greatly emancipated peoples mind and brought huge success of “Reform and Opening up”.Therefore，it provides a glimpse of the power of thoughts.

For a long period，people misunderstood what the Enlightenment Movement should be since they thought that people were enlightened，educated and taught by those far-sighted intellectuals and philosophers.Therefore，the word “enlighten” was used as a transitive verb while uncivilized ordinary people were its objects.On the basis of the explanation of Kant，a contemporary Enlightenment thinker，people are enlightened by themselves，namely，they awake out of self-immaturity.The root lies in the lack of application of reason rather than the lack of reason itself.

This sort of penetrating judgement blazed with reason.

In the western countries，what drives enlightenment thoughts forward is peoples cognition of the objectivity that all objects in the universe obey the same law.Copernicuss Heliocentric Theory，Newtons Universal Gravitation and Galileos Cosmology set a good example.Thus，fetters were removed and rational thinking was introduced into human society，creating a new era of entrepreneurial spirits.China，a country that has a history of thousands year of feudalism，featured the backwardness of science and technology and the lack of law tradition.Nevertheless，influenced by Marxism and other modern western enlightenment thoughts，it started to integrate with world civilization since science，democracy and rule of law were introduced.

Never has China in this period been so close to the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation than at any time in our history.An increasing number of countries have realized that the Belt and Road Initiative is not Chinas own business，but it needs the cooperation among all countries along the road.Hence all Chinese peoples profound and conscious development towards objective and subjective world will finally lead to the realization of unprecedented “Chinese Dream”.

作者簡介

任才淇（1992年-），女，漢族，山西孝義人，首都師范大學外國語學院，碩士研究生，英語筆譯方向。

王靜靜（1992年-），女，漢族，山西晉城人，首都師范大學外國語學院，碩士研究生，英語筆譯方向。

（作者單位：首都師范大學）