Page 136 - 《社会》2024年第6期

风俗变迁与时代精神：伏尔泰的风俗史及其社会学意涵

provided France and indeed Europe， with a new vision of what constituted its own
civilisation， its processes， and the historical positioning of other civilizations.
Henceforth， the history of civilizations ceased to be a display of divine providence，
but a history of m覺urs that chronicled the continuous advancement of human spirit
and mind. Through a historical and empirical narrative of the changes of m 覺urs，
Voltaire’s philosophy of reason， natural theism， progressive historical view， and
his notions of human nature and social theory are made into a unified whole. For
Voltaire， “M 覺urs” emerged not only as a pivotal concept for accessing and
comprehending issues of civilization and order， but also as a novel perspective for
analyzing the times and the spirit of the nation， the rationality of mankind and the
progress of the mind. While Voltaire’s contributions were not fully absorbed into
the subsequent sociological tradition of the study of m 覺urs ， his history of m 覺urs
retained a significant place within the field of sociology of m覺urs， and was duly
preserved and transformed. It became an important foundation for the theory of
m覺urs since Montesquieu and for the science of m覺urs that Durkheim sought to
establish， and it contributed a historical鄄comparative method of examining and
analysing the zeitgeist of the times through the lens of the changes of m 覺urs .
Overall， the sociological significance of the history of m 覺urs lies not only in the
unique connotations of customs as a concept that encompasses character， psyche，
and spirit， but also in its ability to capture the essence and fluctuations of the
spiritual landscape of an era through the depiction of such customary elements as
religion， law， science， and art. In short， the study of “m 覺urs ” or “history of
m覺urs ” provides an important conceptual and methodological foundation for
understanding both the formation of Western sociology and the construction of early
Chinese sociology，
Keywords：Voltaire， history of m覺urs， changes of m覺urs， spirit of the age，
sociological study of m覺urs

西方社会学的形成与西方社会文明化的进程密不可分。 因应这种
文明化，早在社会学经典理论诞生之前，就已经开始出现一系列可被视
作社会学“前身”（渠敬东，2021）的学问或思潮。 在这些学问中，除了我
们已经非常熟悉的那些，如被马克思批判继承的英国古典政治经济学、
法国空想社会主义和德国古典哲学， 被涂尔干所吸收的孔德的实证社
会科学、孟德斯鸠的法与政体类型学说以及从事实出发寻找“法则”的

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