The West is important, more important than most Chinese think. This is not because we use Apple or Android every day, but because if we don't understand the West, it is difficult for us to understand ourselves. —Li Yun, Outline of Western History
In recent years, there has been a very popular "new" view: while despising Europe as "nothing more than a bunch of barbaric Germanic peoples, the history of Greece and Rome was forged by them", while ridiculing the United States for "being only 200 years old, what qualifications do you have to point fingers at the Chinese civilization, which has lasted for 5,000 years?" ”
Although China has long been caught up in the tide of modernization, a hundred years later, we still need to open our eyes to the world.
For Western civilization, in addition to the above unbelievable "new" views, there are many similar misunderstandings
For example, it is believed that Western civilization is mainly a civilization of objects, and that beliefs and all institutional and ideological innovations are for the sake of national strength;
There are also people who believe that Western civilization is only a geographical concept, and that the language and history of countries such as the United States, France, and Germany are too different to be the same civilization.
Some people even believe that Western civilization was created by the Germanic people who drank blood and "rode on a rocket" after the Great Voyage.
Perhaps, the most tragic thing for people is that in the low-level cognition, "success" completes their own logical closed loop - according to the understanding hierarchy model proposed by anthropologist Gregory Bateson, from the analysis of "external facts" such as environment, behavior, ability, etc., only understand the problem at a low level, and only get the low-dimensional truth, and the greater tragedy is to use this cognition to guide action.
For example, in modern times, in the face of the strong attack of Western civilization, the "strong are the teachers" - obeying and learning the strength of the strong, but rejecting its value.
In fact, for any form of civilization, strength and value, the former is the surface, and the latter is the inside. In this regard, Mr. Wang Renbo's image in the book "China Since 1840" is a metaphor for "the power of a strong ship and a sharp cannon has an intrinsic relationship with the hand that made it".
Different from the misunderstanding of Western civilization, our understanding of our own history is still accurate and profound: in 1945, Huang Yanpei, who visited the high-level of Yan'an, said in a cave that Chinese history "rose and fell", and all dynasties and dynasties failed to break out of the cyclical law of rise and fall.
This regular historical evolution pattern of collapse and rise has been summarized by scholar Jin Guantao as a "super-stable-super-**" structure.
In today's post-epidemic era, whether it is to understand the direction of China and the world, or to ask the historical question of where its own transformation is going, we need to first understand the basic context and core characteristics of Western civilization.
In fact, Western civilization as a whole, its three pillars, ancient Greek civilization, ancient Roman civilization and religion, have been formed in the Middle Ages, through the Renaissance, Enlightenment, Industrial Revolution and other "system upgrades", only to grow into a towering tree.
Ancient Greece, the founder of Western civilization: "Man is the measure of all things".
In recent years, Greece was once regarded as a representative of the "failed state" due to the debt crisis, but ancient Greece has become the founder of Western civilization in 300 years of glory.
During the "Axial Age" around 500 BC, ancient Greece, along with China, India, Israel, and other civilizations, achieved a great breakthrough in the spiritual field almost simultaneously.
The German philosopher Jaspers believed that "mankind has been living on all that has been thought and created during this period".
So, what exactly did ancient Greek civilization rely on to rise and become the founder of Western civilization?
The ancient Greek understanding of the world was fundamentally different from that of other civilizations at that time that "relied on God to know the world".In the eyes of the ancient Greeks, talent was the measure of all things.
This human-centered "rational spirit" that does not rely on God to understand the world is called the "wisdom of Athens", and it has made the following major contributions to Western civilization:
Humanistic spirit- Other ancient civilizations mainly explained the world with the help of God, believing that man was only a servant of God, and God was above. The ancient Greeks freed man from the world of the gods, who were not appendages of the gods and could boldly pursue freedom, dignity, nobility, and beauty.
Ideological heritage represented by science and philosophy- The core of ancient Greek civilization is to worship truth and science, pay attention to logical reasoning, do not worship authority, do not superstitious gods, and do not grovel to power.
Theory and Practice of Democratic Politics- The Athenians saw politics as their own cause and pioneered democracy.
Historian McNeill pointed out in his book The Rise of the West that Greek civilization developed from a marginal branch of Middle Eastern culture through the "spirit of reason" to keep pace with the ancient cultural center, and then surpassed other ancient civilizations in the Middle East, which was a fundamental turning point in the history of civilization.
It can be said that starting from the "rational spirit" of ancient Greece, Western civilization has embarked on a completely different development path from other ancient civilizations. The humanistic spirit was upgraded in the Renaissance to "individualism", which is recognized as the backbone of the tree of Western civilization.
As Mr. Li Yun said in the "Outline of Western History":"The growth of the West is a process of the continuous rise of man and the complete occupation of the whole world".
Ancient Rome the Relay: the first large-scale political community that transcended race
When it comes to ancient Rome, many people will think that when it was strong, it was just a copycat of Greek civilization, and it was nothing but legions, the barbaric Colosseum, and even religion was copied from Greece. With the fall of the Roman Empire, Rome became an insignificant city, with nothing but ruins.
How exactly is Ancient Rome different from Ancient Greece? How did Rome inherit Western civilization?
In history, the edge of ancient Rome has always been overshadowed by ancient Greece, but in fact, whether it is the posture of the country or the degree of development of civilization, ancient Rome is not inferior.
In the 1st century B.C., Rome conquered not only Greece but also the Greek city-states in a series of wars – conquering almost all of Europe, with the Mediterranean Sea being nothing more than its inland sea.
The historian Gibbon once said in "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire": "The power of Rome did not lie in expanding its territory and winning victories in conquests quickly. Rather, it lies in the foundation of wisdom and experience, and the unity of law.
1. The brilliance of art, the wisdom and simplicity of governance, and the benefit of the people, and the honor and interests of the citizens are almost the same as those of the conquerors. ”
The greatness of Rome lies in the fact that it transcends race and class, and to a large extent Rome means the world, and it is the first large-scale political community in human history that transcends race and class.
The system that achieves this goal is a metamorphosis rebirth of the Greek heritage
Open citizenship- The city-states of Greece expropriated only money from the conquered and never granted them citizenship. Rome carried forward the Greek concept of citizenship and did not hesitate to grant it to the vanquished.
Mixed form of government: Republic-- The Romans, who realized that democracy needed checks and balances, mixed the three forms of government into a "republic" system, giving full play to their respective advantages, overcoming the shortcomings of the monarchy, aristocracy, and divergence of democracy.
Roman law systemThe intrinsic structure of Roman law, the beauty of logic, condensed like Euclid's formula, permeated with the spirit of Greek reason. In the eyes of the Romans, as long as they believed in the same laws, even if they were different in ethnicity, religion, culture, and language, they were "citizens" of Rome.
"We are all Romans" has become an unbreakable source and model of consensus for Western civilization, and has become a great ideal for breaking blood ties and ethnic relations and establishing a unified political entity among different ethnic groups and strata.
Countless Western countries have tried to re-establish the ideal of ancient Rome - the Germanic peoples united the divided barbarian peoples by creating the "Holy Roman Empire". Russia, which called itself the Third Rome, expanded into a great empire across Europe and Asia. The United States, also known today as the New Roman Empire, attracts immigrants from all over the world.
It can be said that without the community spirit of ancient Rome, Western civilization is likely to remain a geographical concept, like Greece, thousands of states each doing their own thing, each with its own pursuits. Without cohesion, it is impossible for a civilization to go beyond Europe and gradually expand its civilization to the whole world.
Conservative & Founder **Religion: Western Civilization Went to a Low Point in the Middle Ages?
In 476 AD, the Germanic people deposed the last emperor of Western Rome, the Western Roman Empire collapsed, and Western civilization entered the Middle Ages with the rise of barbarians.
It is generally believed that the Middle Ages was a dark age of decline, barbarism and backwardness of Western civilization, and the civilization traditions of ancient Greece and Rome were destroyed and suppressed by the church.
However, the place of the Middle Ages in the history of Western civilization is clearly underestimated and even stigmatized. The classical spirit of Greece and Rome has not disappeared because of ** religion, but has been resurrected from the shell of ** religion and given a new meaning, and has always been kept in the core of Western civilization.
Through the wisdom that comes from God, the "wisdom of Jerusalem", *religion has reshaped Western civilization:
transcending the stateReligious bondsThe wisdom of Jerusalem is about the wisdom of faith and morality, which compensates for the question of where morality, which cannot be explained by reason, and is more concerned with how people can live better together with each other.
Conservative antiquityClassical civilizationFrom the political system, laws, and administrative methods of Greece and Rome to philosophy, language, and writing, as long as they were excellent achievements of civilization, they were all accepted and taught to the barbarian Germanic peoples, and the barbarian warriors gradually became gentlemen and knights.
The Protestant EthicIn the Reformation after the end of the Middle Ages, ** religion broke the narrow view of religion and gave birth to the ethical spirit of modern capitalism - making money is not only not ashamed, but also glorifying God. The Protestant view of wealth is "to make money hard, to save money, and to actively donate money."
As the sociologist Weber said, "Capitalism is not about material abundance, on the contrary, capitalism is a business ethic." ”
Without the conservatism of the classical heritage, Western civilization may be stillborn, and it is impossible to continue the entire ancient Greece and ancient Rome. The source of civilization can only be found in the reckless forests of the Germanic people.
The Evolutionary Logic of Western Civilization
Harari said in A Brief History of Mankind: "Evolution is based on difference, not equality." ”
If the evolution of Western civilization is a relay race to modernity, we can find that the first stick of ancient Greece has figured out the method, the second stick of ancient Rome has explored the system, and the third stick has taught the value.
Therefore, the complexity and pluralism of the underlying system of Western civilization make Western civilization have a completely different evolutionary logic from other ancient civilizations
The "binary" structure avoidsInvolution and stagnation
In the monistic structure of civilization, secular politics and power are the core, and all the political, economic, social forces, beliefs, cultural and educational aspects of the entire country revolve around it and serve it.
Most of the traditional ancient civilizations were monolithic, such as Mencius who said, "The world is set to be one", and the Persians said that "the king is an absolute monarch: all are subject to his power and laws." ”
Although the unitary structure is relatively stable, it is easy to fall into long-term stagnation, and it is impossible to avoid the involution of society.
"Involution" refers to the phenomenon that there seems to be development on the surface, but there is no development in reality, and can only do unnecessary internal friction under the fierce competition caused by the scarcity of resources. Just like cabbage, it can only grow inward and is not easy to grow.
China's more than 2,000 years of feudal dynasties alternate, is a "super stable-super **" state of involution-fierce competition, closed cycle of resources, in order to alleviate the pressure of population growth, can only carry out periodic dynastic collapse and reconstruction.
Western civilization has always manifested itself in a "dualistic structure": before the birth of capitalism, the duality of church and secular politics; After that, the market and society rose rapidly, and the binary opposition to the secular regime was rapidly opposed. Although, at different stages, the balance of power has changed, but it has never formed a core that can control all forces. Therefore, the "involution" is avoided, so that Western civilization has the power to keep moving forward and expand outward.
Reason destroys ignorance, faith redeems the soul, and reason should obey faith
In the book "Conservatism", Mr. Liu Junning said that the wisdom tradition of the West has two sources - Athenian wisdom and Jerusalem wisdom, Athenian wisdom represents the knowledge of bystanders, and Jerusalem wisdom represents the belief of insiders.
In short, the wisdom of Jerusalem is the wisdom of faith: it gives people a purpose in life, represents spiritual freedom, and points to how life can be redeemed.
The wisdom of Athens was the wisdom of reason: the idea that man should explore, study, and transform the world through reason.
For Western civilization, these two wisdoms are indispensable, because only emphasizing reason will become a "utopia" in which people are all "tool people", and only emphasizing faith will lead to a theocratic society with the integration of church and state.
The difference in the understanding of these two wisdoms within Western civilization has evolved into three major modern currents of thought: conservatism, liberalism, and radicalism.
Liberalism, which prevailed on the European continent, tended to prioritize reason over faith. But when rationality swells dramatically, thinking that it can rely on the rationality of a few people to radically transform society through planning and design, it will evolve into radicalism. Many radical revolutions, from the French Revolution to the 20th century, have arisen from these two ideas.
Reflections on the French Revolution gave birth to the idea that rationality was important, but that reason needed to be subordinated to faith, and that social change should follow a transcendent order.
If the wisdom of Jerusalem provides "values", while the wisdom of Athens provides "values" to prevent the abuse of "square".
The more advanced science and technology are, the more conceited people will be about reason, and the reason why conservative thought has become a fixed needle against various disasters is precisely because of its basic proposition:Reason destroys ignorance, faith redeems the soul, and reason should obey faith
The evolution of civilization needs to be conservative and, more importantly, creative
Although conservatism, as a new thought, was born in Burke's "Reflections on the French Revolution", the evolution of Western civilization has always had the "container wisdom" of conservatism to "keep the good things that have been obtained, and constantly expand and accommodate new ideas".The development of civilization is by no means simply retro or innovative, it must be compatible with the exhausted development possibilities with a greater development possibility.
The logic of the development of Western civilization is to follow the "container wisdom" rooted in the deep conceptual foundation and traditional soil, which not only preserves the most essential elements of it, such as the civilization achievements of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, but also creates new technologies, concepts, systems, constitutionalism, capitalism, the four industrial revolutions, etc.
The destruction of civilization is of course a tragedy, but what is even more tragic is that after the destruction, the achievements of the previous civilization have neither been preserved, nor have new civilizations been created, and they have been reincarnated in turmoil. At this time, it is all the more necessary to look for ideological resources from the great tradition of human civilization. Therefore, it is particularly important to sort out the basic context and core of Western civilization and grasp the "container wisdom" of conservatism.
Teacher Liu Junning once said in the book "Conservatism".
China's reform is fundamentally a change in ideology, values, and beliefs, and this requires China to rebuild its ideological foundation. Conservatism should be preferred. There are two key points to being a conservative in China: one is freedom of creation and the other is freedom of conservatism. True conservatives are not only the forces that preserve freedom, but also the forces that create them. ”
It is wise to read history, and even more so to read the history of Western civilization and the wisdom of conservatism, whether it is to improve one's intellectual knowledge, broaden one's horizons, or gain insight into the nature and tendencies of the intensifying conflict. As Mr. Li Yun said in the book "Outline of Western History":
The West has renewed the modern from its own tradition, in other words, the Western tradition has the most modern genes, and it is a ...... that grows up with the trendAlthough modernization is not Westernization, the genes of the West deserve in-depth study, and only by grasping the truth of modernization from the genes of the West, and then saying that we do not take the road of Westernization, can we really have the confidence. ”
To this end, we will recommend several works repeatedly in this article: Li Yun's "Outline of Western History".(Autographed book)., Liu Junning, "Conservatism".(4th Edition)., Kirk, The Spirit of Conservatism(7th Edition, Full Translation).and other works, made a book list, you can click **or identify the picture below *** for more information and one-click collection, purchase the book to appreciate the original.