The Evolution of Chen Duxiu’s Ideas About Patriotism: A Computational Analysis of His Writings, 1897-1942

Abstract

本文主要以R 語言資料統計方式進行文本探掘，追蹤陳獨秀從1897 年至1942 年「愛國」觀念的演變。在研究方法上，本文透過計算貫穿陳獨秀寫作生涯的六個關鍵字詞所出現的頻次：國民、青年、民主、革命、民族和愛國，認為陳獨秀的愛國主義思想成熟化的歷程，是從一種渴望熱愛國家的普遍感性出發，發展至提倡西方式民主、擁戴馬克思社會主義，並且對中國政治意識形態進行理性批判的「愛國主義」。然而，陳獨秀晚期也開始質疑蘇維埃社會主義的獨裁政權，認為相較之下，資本主義式的民主反而可提供給個人更好的保護。本文的另一重要貢獻也在於嘗試將數位人文方法運用在歷史學分析上，並論證其中的優缺點。

This paper uses the method of text-mining by way of statistical analysis (using R programing) to trace the evolution of Chen Duxiu’s idea on patriotism from 1897 to 1942. The methodology centers on the calculation of the frequency of appearance of six keywords, 國民 (citizen), 青年 (youth), 民主 (democracy), 革命 (revolution), 民族 (people) and 愛國 (being patriotic) throughout Chen’s writing career. I conclude that Chen’s thoughts on patriotism matured from a generic, sentimental desire to love one’s country, to advocating Western style democracy, to championing Marxist socialism over time. However, toward the end of his life, Chen argued that Soviet style dictatorship was not socialism, and that capitalist democracy afforded better protection of the individual than Soviet-style dictatorship. An important aspect of the paper is to demonstrate the pros and cons of using a digital humanistic approach to historical analysis.