社會科學與歷史研究聯系緊密。西方社會科學在19世紀形成的三種方法論傳統——孔德的實證主義、馬克思的唯物辯證法與韋伯的闡釋學,都旨在理解與解決現代性問題,對社會科學的發展影響深遠。基于不同的歷史觀念,三種方法論傳統在指導社會科學與歷史研究的結合時呈現三種關系形態:孔德實證主義傳統的"歷史的社會科學化",把歷史視為社會科學的論證材料之"用";韋伯闡釋學傳統的"社會科學的歷史化",以歷史為"體",把社會科學視為理解歷史個體及其行動的方法;馬克思的"歷史科學"超越體用之爭,從物質生產關系出發,揭示自然與社會的歷史統一。隨著西方學術重心以實證主義為主導,并轉向缺乏歷史感的美國,非歷史性、精確性、實用性的個體行動分析成為西方社會科學的標準,徹底拋棄了歷史研究在社會科學方法論傳統中的重要位置。二戰后,西方社會科學以"轉向歷史"為名,選擇性糅合三種方法論傳統的歷史之維,但僅把歷史作為材料與方法,納入社會科學范疇,沒有走出實證主義的窠臼。21世紀以來恐怖主義危機、經濟危機的全球性蔓延,"歷史的終結"已成過時論斷,西方社會科學面臨新的挑戰與變革。解決人類命運共同體面臨的重大問題,重建作為整體的社會科學需要重申馬克思的"歷史科學"傳統,批判實證主義傳統的無歷史意識,抵制闡釋學傳統的知識碎片化趨勢。

The social sciences are closely related to historical research.The three methodological traditions that took shape in Western social sciences in the 19 th century—Comte‘s positivism,Marx‘s materialist dialectics,and Weber‘s hermeneutics—all aimed at understanding and solving the problem of modernity,and have all had a profound impact on the development of social sciences.The three traditions were based on different historical concepts and appeared in three different relational forms as they showed the way to combining the social sciences and historical research.Comte‘s positivist tradition of"making history a social science "regarded history as the"application" of the demonstrative material of the social sciences,while Weber‘s hermeneutic tradition of"historicizing the social sciences "took history as the"substance" and the social sciences as a way of understanding historical individuals and their actions. Marx‘s"science of history, "transcending the dispute between substance and application,started from the relations of material production to reveal the historical unity of nature and society.As positivism came to dominate the Western academic horizon and shifted toward the United States,which lacked a historical sense,an ahistorical analysis of individual actions that sought precision and practicality became the standard for Western social sciences,completely abandoning the important role of historical research in the social science methodological tradition.After the Second World War,Western social science,in the name of a"historical turn," selectively combined the historical dimensions of the three methodological traditions,but their incorporation of history into the social sciences took a simplistic approach to history as material and method,and failed to escape the stereotypes of positivism.In the face of the global spread of terrorism and economic crises in the 21 st century,the"end of history "has become an outdated argument,and Western social sciences are encountering new challenges and changes.To solve the major problems faced by the community of mankind and reconstruct the social sciences as a whole,we need to reiterate Marx‘s tradition of the"science of history," denounce the ahistorical consciousness of the positivist tradition,and resist the hermeneutic tradition‘s tendency toward the fragmentation of knowledge.