在歷史學與政治學之間的中國外交

Abstract

中國外交研究分別隸屬於崇拜史料的歷史學與對理論狂熱的政治學，是否中國外交研究可以超越既有學術分工，而將兩個學科領域加以整合？本論文辯稱，視中國為一個文明整體而具有特殊性的漢學，可以提供一個視中國為特例的知識框架，整合外交史與政治學的中國外交研究。

藉由對歷史學與政治學這兩個領域有關中國外交的文獻進行象徵分析，論文對所欲提出的論點進行了可否證的檢驗。正如初步的發現所示，這種漢學的知識框架，非但出現在外交史家對中國外交的敘事中，也見於政治學者對中國外交的經驗分析中。這也就是說，視中國為特例的作法，由於不受歷史學重視史料與政治學注意理論的方法論限制，足為兩個學科彼此整合的一個可能共同基礎。此一漢學的途徑因此也就揭露了一種介於歷史學與政治學之間的中國外交。

Is it possible to integrate two disciplines of studying Chinese diplomacy, say, Historiography with the fetish of historical materials and Political Science with the cult of parsimonious theory? Yes, it is. The thesis argues that Sinology, which has long considered China as a distinctive or even unique civilization, could offer an epistemological framework of treating China as a special case, integrating Historiography and Political Science. A falsifiable research is designed to test the argument by symbolic analysis of literature on Chinese diplomacy or foreign policy in two fields. As the preliminary finding demonstrates, such a Sinological epistemological framework is not only appeared in diplomatic historians’ narratives of Chinese diplomacy, but also available in political scientists’ empirical analysis of Chinese foreign policy. That is to say, treating China as a special case is a possible common ground for two disciplines with different methodological concerns to integrate with each other. This Sinological approach thus uncovers the Chinese diplomacy lost between Historiography and Political Science.