【作者简介】彭馨妍，中山大学社会学与人类学学院

【文章来源】《社会学评论》2025年第5期

【内容提要】活跃在 20 世纪上半叶的美国语言学家与人类学家萨丕尔，在美学探索中发展了博厄斯学派的文化理论，其中“形式”与“创造性”是关键词。萨丕尔探讨形式与创造性的文化理论应被置于其艺术实践与美学探索的语境中理解，萨丕尔与本尼迪克特结合形式与创造性讨论个体与文化关系的微妙区别也值得在学术史脉络中辨析。虽然博厄斯学派的文化相对主义早已成为人类学界的常识，但细观萨丕尔、本尼迪克特这样的代表人物，其文化观念不乏与相对主义形成张力之处。挖掘博厄斯学派的理论遗产，有助于管窥 20 世纪初美国人类学何以包容科学与人文艺术、强调人之为人的整体性，对中国人类学也不无借鉴意义。

【关键词】美学 / 形式 / 创造性 / 文化理论 / 博厄斯学派

【全文链接】http://src.ruc.edu.cn/CN/Y2025/V13/I5/98

Form and Creativity :Aesthetic Pursuits and Culture Theory of Edward Sapir

Abstract: The American linguist and anthropologist Edward Sapir, active in the early 20th century, had developed the culture theory of the Boasian school partly through his aesthetic pursuits, in which“form”and“creativity”serve as keywords.Sapir’s culture theory should be understood in the context of his aesthetic pursuits and artistic practices. Moreover, the theories on the individual-culture dynamic of Sapir and Benedict should be compared in a nuanced manner, in relation to how they discuss form and creativity. Although cultural relativism promoted by the Boasian school has become common sense among anthropologists, notions of culture held by Sapir and Benedict, in some ways, contest the notion of cultural relativism held by Boas. Illuminating the theoretical legacy of the Boasian school contributes to shedding light on how American anthropology in the early 20th century embraced science and art for approaching the holism of human beings, which benefits the development of Chinese anthropology today.