Compared with the Chinese people who love grand narratives, the creed of Western scholars is that only geniuses and fools dare to talk about everything. In Western academia, the vast majority of people devote their lives to a narrow field of expertise, and only a very small number of peerless geniuses dare to stand on the high ground of human thought and overlook the history of civilization.
Born in the United States on November 5, 1885, Will Durant is such a genius who overlooks human civilization. He was a Pulitzer Prize and Medal of Freedom, a giant in the history of American thought, and one of the most prominent philosophers and historians. People are familiar with his "Lessons from History", but they do not know that this book is nothing more than a condensed version of the monumental "History of World Civilization".
Mr. Ji Xianlin commented: "He and Mr. Hu Shi were both students of the great philosopher John Dewey. He became famous for his book The Story of Philosophy, and reached the pinnacle of his 60-year academic career with The History of World Civilization. Dr. Durant is open-minded, brilliant, knowledgeable, and adventurous. He braved all kinds of criticism from professional historians and rushed into the deadly depths of human civilization with indomitable courage. ”
Mr. Liu Junning, a political scientist, said that Durant is a rare well-known historian with a conservative stance. Durant joined Dewey's discipleship earlier than Hu Shih, but completely surpassed Dewey's pragmatism and became a defender of the concept of civilization - the 15-volume "History of World Civilization" vividly shows these ideas.
What is the reason for the cultural differences between the East and the West?
There are two major traditions of human civilization, the Athenian tradition represents the commercial civilization and the Spartan tradition represents the agricultural civilization.
In 480 BC, the combined Greek forces defeated the Persian Empire at the Battle of Thermopylae, which heralded the defeat of the old East by young Europe. Since then, the Athenian navy has been transformed into a commercial fleet, and the free city-state has become a bustling commercial center.
In stark contrast to this, Sparta disbanded the army and returned to a closed agrarian society. The Oriental world, led by China, has inherited the tradition of "valuing agriculture and suppressing business".
Is civilization designed?
Or is it naturally grown?
How was the system of civilization born? There are two kinds of thought that try to explore the source: one is based on the utopian design of collectivism, which believes that civilization is designed by scholars and politicians, which is the ideal state of Plato and Marx. One is the evolutionary theory based on individualism, which believes that civilization is accumulated and evolved in the commercial tradition and the free market, which is the spontaneous order advocated by Lao Tzu and Hayek.
Durant doesn't like Imaginary Nation, he saidThe ideal country is an immutable society, an old-fashioned world that is rigid and averse to innovation. It has only science, not art; There is only order, no freedom. It nominally worships beauty, but it banishes the artists who create it. This is not really an ideal country, but Sparta or Prussia
Durant believes that the spark of civilization originates from a free marketplace of ideas, good laws come from the conflict of customs and interests, and speculation originates from the communication, cooperation and competition of individual human beings.
Therefore he insisted that:It is only in a fully open business that ideas collide and spark. The first skeptics were born out of the well-informed businessmen, who refused to believe anything easily, and it was because of their spirit of daring to doubt everything that science and philosophy were born.
Sadly, however, when China opened its eyes to the world in modern times, it was in an era when nationalism and utopianism were rampant in the world.
All utopias in history
All ended in tragic failures
Utopianism promises the best possible future: all-round welfare, equal social ......
Later generations often believed that utopianism was a product of a particular era, "the inevitable result of the defects of capitalism".
However, Durant has eloquently proved with historical facts that the impulse of utopia has always been buried deep in human nature throughout the ages, so it will always accompany human society.
Durant tells us that in order to realize the ideal of "heaven on earth", countless people look to the "Holy Lord and Emperor" and look forward to a perfect social system; Some rulers even try to reform human nature and eliminate evil in ......However, from the ancient Roman Emperor Derrick to Wang Mang's New Deal in the late Western Han Dynasty, from Hong Xiuquan's Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, to the utopian experiments of the 20th century, they have all revealed an irrefutable fact: utopianism only brings scarcity, chaos, corruption and great power....
He lamented the loss of modern China
From the perspective of a human philosopher, Durant spent eight years examining the legacy of ancient China, hoping to restore the "paradise of philosophers, poets, and historians that have disappeared."
He lamented the loss of modern China. After the old gods were removed, the new religion used to fill this emotional void was nationalism, just like the utopianism of Soviet Russia.
He pondered China's destiny and cultural roots: Chinese traditions had been uprooted so thoroughly that no one knew when it would take new roots to save a culture-rich life.
Yang Xiaokai, an economist, thinker, and disciple, predicts "where is China going?"
"Our understanding is clouded by three shadows".
In Durant's view, the past history is wrongly written, and our understanding is clouded by three shadows: first, contradictory historical evidence; Second, historians generally lack ideological height, which brings about various prejudices; Third, patriotism has brought about ethnic and religious distortions. "Most of history is guesswork, the rest is bias," he said.
Therefore, he is determined to rewrite history, with rigorous historical conclusions, a thinker's vision, and a global citizen, so as to correct the historical memory of mankind and establish a universal view of history.
As soon as I put pen to paper, it took half a century.
For 50 years, he and his wife, Ali, had been compiling this world-class history book, but when it was time to finish, they both fell ill. When she learned that her husband's condition was irreparable, the 83-year-old wife chose to go on a hunger strike.
The 96-year-old Durant had miraculous surgery**, however, he finally learned of his wife's death, and a few days later, he also passed away.
Most of their manuscripts were lost, and after three migrations and a great flood, they were finally rediscovered.
Mr. and Mrs. Durants: Of the 3,421 years in recorded history, there have only been 268 years without war!
Durant's life's work
Half a century of ascetic scholarship, the martyrdom of a pair of soulmates, and the ultimate exploration of human thought by a great philosopher.
This is Will Durant's "History of World Civilization" as "hero worshippers without scruples."Rather than dwelling on trivial details, he devoted himself to "writing biographies of the greatest thinkers, interpreting their intellectual legacies and imprints of life."
This 15 million-word masterpiece is not only a great history of mankind from a philosophical perspective, but also a collection of wonderful stories, beautiful essays, and extremely beautiful works of art in the bindings and **, which can be read from any page of the book, and every paragraph will not disappoint. I sincerely recommend Durant's "History of World Civilization" in all 15 volumes, which is a must-have for family collections.