WU Xiaoqun | 吴晓群

ENS, 45 rue d’Ulm, 75005 Paris

Questions and Methods of Comparative Studies

高师，巴黎第五区，乌尔姆路45号

比较研究的问题和方法

ENS, 45 rue d’Ulm, 75005 Paris

Two Main Aspects of Mourning Rituals in Archaic & Classical Greece and Pre-Qin China

高师，巴黎第五区，乌尔姆路45号

从两个方面比较古希腊和先秦中国丧葬仪式

ENS, 45 rue d’Ulm, 75005 Paris

The Mode of Herodotus Interpretation in Christian Historiographic Traditions : A Critical Issue from a Chinese Perspective

高师，巴黎第五区，乌尔姆路45号

基督教史学传统中的希羅多德阐释模式：中国视角的一个关键问题

ENS, 45 rue d’Ulm, 75005 Paris

Questions and Methods of Comparative Studies

Comparison is, in general, a common way of generating knowledge. As noted by Shankman and Durrant, ‘Thinking is itself an inherently comparative activity. Nothing exists in isolation. We are always making comparison, whether we are aware that we are in fact doing so.’ (Steven Shankman, Stephen W. Durrant eds., Early China/Ancient Greece : Thinking through Comparisons, State University of New York Press, 2002, p. 6.) As the purpose of comparison is to recognize the essence of things, it could be argued that there would be no knowledge without comparison. In any case, it is clear that human beings both understand themselves better and know others better through comparison. In other words, one culture and one people can understand their own problems more deeply through contrast with other cultures and peoples. In Geoffrey Lloyd and Nathan Sivin’s words, comparison’s ‘chief prize is a way out of parochialism.’ (G. E. R. Lloyd nd Nathan Sivin, The Ambitions of Curiosity : Understanding the World in Ancient Greece and China, Cambridge University Press, 2002, p. 8.) The self is explored through the Other, but is not subsumed by the Other ; rather, there is an interaction between them.

高师，巴黎第五区，乌尔姆路45号

比较研究的问题和方法

ENS, 45 rue d’Ulm, 75005 Paris

Two Main Aspects of Mourning Rituals in Archaic & Classical Greece and Pre-Qin China

In this research, there are two major themes : one is ritual, and the other is comparison. This lecture uses the comparison between mourning rituals in Archaic & Classical Greece and Pre-Qin China as an example to illustrate some of the principles and methods used in comparative studies. It focuses on two main aspects of mourning of the dead before burial—lamentation and mourning apparel—to demonstrate the cultural function, purpose, and social influence of mourning.

高师，巴黎第五区，乌尔姆路45号

从两个方面比较古希腊和先秦中国丧葬仪式

ENS, 45 rue d’Ulm, 75005 Paris

The Mode of Herodotus Interpretation in Christian Historiographic Traditions : A Critical Issue from a Chinese Perspective

While historical researchers inevitably create their historical narratives within a contemporary context, they must distinguish the influences received from both sides—the context in which objects are studied, and the context in which they themselves are living. Based on thinking about the tension between these two contexts, this lecture takes the mode of Herodotus interpretation in Christian historiographic traditions as its starting point. It examines Western traditions of thought and whether certain disciplinary standards and rules that have been formed, and gradually accepted, in those traditions can be directly applied to ancient historical studies and historians. This lecture also studies the roots of these modes of interpretation, trying to compare them from the perspective of thinking and possible choices. To understand the historical writings of Herodotus, this lecture draws on an ancient Chinese text (Sima Qian’s) to reflect on a historical-cognitive pattern that has been generally accepted by Westerners, and thus explores the special writing states and historical logic that people may present in their early historical consciousness. 

高师，巴黎第五区，乌尔姆路45号

基督教史学传统中的希羅多德阐释模式：中国视角的一个关键问题

Wu Xiaoqun

Wu Xiaoqun is a professor of Ancient Greek History in Fudan University. She received her Ph. D. from Fudan University in 1998. She was a fellow in Center for Hellenic Studies of Harvard University 2009– 2010 and was a visiting scholar in Yenching Institute of Harvard University 1999–2000. Recent years, her academic interests are in two fields : the study of Herodotus, and Comparative Study on Funeral in Archaic and Classical Greece and Pre-Qin China. She has published four monographs in Chinese and English, four translations books (from English into Chinese), and more than fifty academic papers in Chinese and English.

Email : xqwu@fudan.edu.cn

吴晓群

吴晓群，女，复旦大学历史系教授，博士生导师。1998年获复旦大学历史学博士学位。曾在哈佛－燕京学社（1999-2000）、哈佛大学希腊研究中心（2009-2010）、香港大学人文社会研究所及台湾大学人文社会高等研究院做访问学者。主要研究领域：希罗多德研究以及对古希腊和先秦中国的丧葬文化的比较研究。出版中英文专著四部、译著四部，发表中英文论文五十余篇。

通讯地址：中国上海邯郸路220号复旦大学历史系，吴晓群教授，博士

电邮：Email : xqwu@fudan.edu.cn