費孝通一生經歷了三次學術生命,每一次學術生命關注的主題均有所不同。這種研究主題的跳轉使得人們更多地將目光停留在費孝通學術譜系的斷裂處而忽略了其間的內在連續性。事實上,費孝通終其一生都在探究和追問一個根本問題,即在中國現代性進程中如何處理傳統與現代之間的關系,怎樣在傳統與現代之間實現融通和保持富有張力的平衡。費孝通以實地研究為基本方法,從活歷史和小傳統的雙重角度切入,對之做出了極富洞見的回答。然而,費孝通的思想深處又有著難以紓解的緊張。這種緊張不僅折射出中國現代性過程中一代知識分子的精神困境和轉型中國社會的結構性矛盾,也彰顯出人格、學術與社會之間的巨大張力。

In his whole life, Fei Xiaotong experienced three academic periods of different research themes. The changes of research themes caused people to pay more attention on the fractures than on the internal continuity of his academic pedigree. In fact,Fei Xiaotong devoted his whole life to inquiring basic questions like how to deal with the relation between tradition and modernity in the process of Chinese modernity and how to integrate the two with a balance of tension. He gave insightful answers to the questions through field research based on living history and little tradition. However,deep in his thought,there was a tension between personality,academic filed and the society which reflected the spiritual dilemma of the Chinese intellectuals of his generation and the structural contradiction of the transformed Chinese society in the process of modernity.