1923年“科玄論戰”前張君勱對歐戰四個看法之嬗變及其批評

Abstract

One of the big difficulties in the study of the thought of Chang Chun-mai lies in its variety, confusion and even contradictions. The causes for these are not simply to be attributed to the complicated elements that he derived from both traditional Chinese Confucian (especially new Confucian) and Western (especially German) thoughts, but also that he was not able to make clear what he wanted to hold onto among various conflicting thoughts. Thus, when he was faced with tremendous change in trends of thought in a short period, the varying, confusing or even contradictory state tended to deepen. This is a point that has been neglected unintentionally or even on purpose by scholars in the study of Chang's works, and thus deserving emphasis. The purpose of this article is to show that the sort of variety, confusion or contradictions that are to be found in Chang's thought are also found in his views on WWI. In rough chronological sequence, and in brief, Chang's first view on WWI was to regard it as a god-sent golden message and lesson to impel China to seek out ways and means to become a rich and powerful nation (this may be called ”the key to the nation's strength and power); his second view on WWI was to regard it as an opportunity to join the world of nations with equal status and dignity (this may be called ”the necessity to declare war on Germany and Austria”); his third view on WWI was to regard it as a crisis of European civilization and as a harbinger to socialist society (this may be called ”the advocacy of 'socialism”); his fourth view on WWI is contained in his book ”On National Constitution” informing an attempt to collapse socialism with the chance to revive China's civilization through regeneration of Confucianism (this may be called ”the future of socialism and Confucian world”). His fifth view on WWI can be regarded as the question of ”the polemic on science and metaphysics”. This article only deals with the first four views, as the last one has already been dealt with in another article. Chang's first view on WWI is in diametrical opposition to his fourth view on WWI, not to say the fifth one. In his first view on WWI, he was not critical at all about the application of science, not to mention the spirit of science. While in his fourth view on WWI, not to say the fifth one, his criticism of both the application and the spirit of science reached its peak. Moreover, in his first view on WWI, though he was appreciative of socialism, this stopped short at the stage of attention and understanding, but when he reached his fourth and fifth views on WWI, he had reversed his praise of the application of science for a glorification of socialism. We notice that between the two contradictory views on WWI, there were his second and third views on WWI. His second view on WWI was confined to an larger extent than the other three views by the contingency of the time and place, for obvious reasons, and was thus a sort of judgment intended to take full account of the circumstances China was then in. So was his third view on WWI, though it already contained fledging elements of the fourth view on WWI. In sum, though we may argue that the changes as found in Chang's four views on WWI were all attributable to the situation and currents of thought of the time, the question remains that there was no necessity accountable fo Chang's holding those four views on WWI, in fact, as the development of the situation and currents of thought unfolded, Chang's views could not endure fo long, each being qualified, replaced, or contradicted either by the one immediately succeeding it or by a combination of those he subsequently held As judged by the standard of a thinker, it is shown that Chang did not have foresight on what were to come.