Most of the older generation of Chinese scholars are more or less hypochondriasis and very unconfident in Chinese civilization.
For example, when I once watched Mr. Yi Zhongtian's program, he said: "Chinese civilization does not have a scientific spirit, including the Confucian principle of learning from things, nor is it a scientific spirit, and the purpose is to rule the world peacefully." ”
He believes that the biggest shortcoming of Confucianism: "is the whole system, everything is for the service of real life, and the philosophers of the West, even in the ancient Greek era, were all scientists, such as Pythagoras, who was a mathematician." ”
In his view, Chinese civilization and the spirit of science are incompatible, so is his view correct?
Although I have great respect for Mr. Yi Zhongtian, his statements and ideas are ridiculously wrong, contrary to facts and illogical, why?
Because all the ancient Greek philosophers who are blown up to the sky by Westerners today, whether it is Socrates, Plato or Aristotle, are basically the same as the hundred schools of thought in China, born in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and there is little difference in time.
But their contributions to the two ancient civilizations are very different. It can be said that one is in heaven and the other is on earth, why?
Because around 146 BC, the entire Greek peninsula was conquered by the Romans, and the last stronghold of ancient Greek culture, the Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt, also became a Roman colony around 30 BC.
Therefore, no matter how Mr. Yi Zhongtian exalted the ancient Greeks to heaven, he could not avoid a basic fact, that is, the doctrine of these people did not even have the ability to maintain the survival of a civilization.
The whole nation has become someone else's slave, and what is the greatness to talk about?
Of course, some people will not be convinced, and they will put forward a theory that the ancient Greek civilization was inherited by the ancient Romans.
Well, even if this is true, but the Western Roman Empire was wiped out by the barbarians in 476 AD, and it still did not survive.
Not to mention the fact that as an idea, ancient Greek thought was also uncompetitive, and in the late Roman Empire, it was replaced by Christianity.
Even if you have to say that the entire Western civilization is a continuation of the ancient Greek civilization, how do you explain the Dark Ages in Europe that lasted for more than a thousand years?
For such a long time, why did Europeans be as stupid as pigs and live like dogs?
How is it that they are not illuminated by the great ideas of ancient Greece?
If we count from the birth of the original ancient Greek thought to its demise in the late Roman Empire, it is said that there are thousands of years.
If the ancient Greek mind was so scientific, why didn't they invent modern science for such a long time?
You must know that it has only been two or three hundred years since human beings entered industrial civilization from agricultural civilization, and if ancient Greek thought is really so awesome, is it not enough for them to squander it?
Not to mention that until the twentieth century, the Greeks were synonymous with backward peoples in Europe, and they were enslaved by the Ottomans for a long time, and did not gain independence until 1821.
Therefore, in terms of contribution to a civilization, whether it is Pythagoras, Euclid, or Socrates, or Plato and Aristotle, they are not even worthy of carrying shoes for Confucius.
After all, looking at the entire history of mankind, only Confucian civilization has survived the tribulation of time and continued to modern times, so why do you say that it is not scientific?
Then some people may continue to argue, didn't the Europeans develop later? What do you say about this?
Modern civilization was indeed built by Europeans, this is a fact that cannot be denied.
But the question is, what is the real reason for their success?
Are those "great" Greek ideas? Is it the "scientific spirit" that Europeans have had since ancient times?
No, it's just a coincidence.
Because they chose to find their way to the sea, even though it was a last resort decision at the beginning.
But this unintentional choice really made them successful today, so why do I dare to say that?
Because it's also a fact.
You must know that whether it is ancient Rome, or the entire history of the European Middle Ages, in fact, like us, they all choose to develop on land.
In particular, the eight large-scale "crusades" in Europe were attempts by the Europeans to expand eastward, but in the end they were completely defeated by Islam, and they failed badly, and the entire southeast of Europe was almost swallowed by the Ottoman Empire.
At the worst time, standing under the east gate of the city of Vienna, you can hear the chanting of the imam.
The poor clanging Europeans were forced to turn their eyes to the Atlantic Ocean when they were cornered, and only then did they step on the poop and take shit luck.
Because in order to sail across the ocean in the vast, choppy Atlantic, it is necessary to develop navigation and surveying technology.
In order to develop navigation and measurement techniques, it is necessary to understand the laws of motion of celestial bodies and have sufficient knowledge of mathematics.
The consequences of Columbus's accidental discovery of the New World, and the enormous benefits of similar actions that followed, made this need even more urgent.
This naturally led to the inquiry into modern mathematics and modern physics, and once this path was taken, modern science was naturally born.
This was followed by a radical change in epistemology and methodology, which was the real reason why Europe was the first to enter the modern era.
China, on the other hand, did not have this good luck, although our ancestors mastered superb navigation technology very early, but this technology is essentially no different from the ancient Romans and medieval Europeans, navigation in the Mediterranean Sea and the Baltic Sea, all are shore navigation, do not require complex navigation knowledge and surveying technology.
Even more tragic is that China's production capacity was ahead of the rest of the world, and until 1840, Westerners could not find anything other than opium that could make Chinese have to buy.
Except for gold and silver, the Chinese do not have any demand for foreign countries, and these two things, foreigners will automatically send to the door.
Because whether it is raw silk, ceramics or tea, they are all things that foreigners dream of, and they have to come to buy them.
As a result, there was no urgent need for the development of ocean-going navigation technology in China throughout the pre-modern society.
In addition to satisfying political ambitions, Zheng He's seven mighty parades have been a mess economically, and have even become a huge burden on the central government's finances, which is also the fundamental reason why it cannot be sustained.
Because of this difference in choice, there is a huge gap in technology between the two sides.
The reason why Europe did not develop science before the whole Middle Ages is because they did not go to sea, and if they lived purely on land, it was easy to get lost in agricultural civilization, and it was impossible to induce the seeds of science.
This is true of all major human civilizations, without exception.
The Great Voyage allowed the Europeans to leap into the industrial civilization and make a technological leap, and the European civilization has since conquered almost the entire world by virtue of its strong military superiority, and once forced the Chinese civilization into a corner.
In essence, after the invention of stirrups and horseshoes in history, the nomads suddenly made a technological leap and developed heavy cavalry, especially during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, which beat the Central Plains civilization to the point of losing its armor and crossing to the south, and the Confucian civilization was almost replaced by Buddhism, which was just a copy of the same short-lived doom.
So since we were able to be reborn from the ashes last time, why should we say that this time, we can't fight back?
Not to mention that such signs are already emerging.
This is why, although I admire Mr. Yi Zhongtian's knowledge, I also have to point out that his views on Confucianism are neither respectful of facts nor logical, so why does this phenomenon occur?
Because there is a very important reason here, the greatest nourishment that Western civilization brings to us is scientific epistemology and methodology, although Chinese civilization has such a spirit in its genes, but in terms of systematic, it is indeed inferior to the West, which is worthy of our reference.
Among all the sciences invented by Westerners, whether it is modern mathematics, modern physics, modern chemistry, etc., all scientific knowledge and scientific methodology are priceless, and we must embrace them without reservation.
We must have enough reverence for these Western learnings.
But this kind of reverence can easily lead people astray, because among the knowledge that Westerners have transmitted, there is only one thing, but it is outright pseudoscience, so what is it?
This is the modern political science invented by Westerners, which is just a lawyer's defense for robbers written by a lawyer with a bad heart, and many people take it as the truth, why?
Because science has one of the simplest principles, which is the same principle, and anyone who does this experiment should have the same result.
For example, if you take a glass of water to electrolyze, whether you are black or white, or a man, a woman or even a shemale, the result should be the same, that is, hydrogen and oxygen will be generated, and there will be no third result.
However, this is not the case at all in Western political science, which is not only logically inconsistent, but also has a variety of results in practice.
You see, there are by no means a small number of countries in the world that imitate the US political system, not to mention hundreds, but at least dozens of them, but how many countries have produced the same effect as the United States?
Even the Philippines, a former colony of the United States, and Liberia, established by black immigrants from the United States, have almost identical political systems to these sons taught by its top leaders, but why are these two countries failed countries?
It's like two white people giving birth to a black baby, do you say it's science?
If you want to say that the Philippines and Liberia are a matter of ethnicity, and their qualifications are a little worse, but if you look at the entire South American continent, how different is the number of European descendants there from the United States?
Why is it that the polities are so similar, the races are so similar, and yet South America is always the joke of the whole world?
Then you have to say that most of the immigrants in the United States are Protestant culture, and most of the immigrants in South America are Catholic culture, which is a difference in cultural genes, then how do you explain France?
France is a standard Catholic culture, and it has always been an exporter of "universal values", so what new reasons should you find?
A theory full of holes, loopholes, and cannot stand the test of practice is not a lie?
To put it mildly, if you test it according to scientific standards, you will see another surprising result, all the countries and regions that have been impregnated by Confucian civilization have all entered modernization and come to the forefront of the world, without exception.
Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan, all of which are among the best in the world, and even China itself is now the world's second most powerful country.
You have to say what is the result of science, which is actually closer to the statistical results of science.
When I was in college, there was a time when I was very obsessed with modern Western political science, but the more I studied it, the more confused my brain became, and it was not until later that I realized that the purpose of modern Western political science is to make our brains into a paste and lose our basic judgment of facts and logic.
Most of the older generation of Chinese literature and history scholars are die-hard fans of modern Western political science, so it is difficult for them to look at the world objectively, and they have completely lost the ability to think independently, and finally become parrots of Chinese language.
Western modern political science, not only in practice can not stand the test, in the basic logic is also not self-consistent, as long as you are really willing to ask one, two, three, you will find that it is a rotten sieve that cannot be self-rounded, why do I dare to say that?
Let's take the democracy system advocated by Westerners as an example, it does not stand up to scrutiny.
First of all, we have to mention, what does one person, one vote really represent?
Does it represent correctness? Does it represent fairness and justice?
Obviously neither!
Is there a dime to be right and upright?
Of course not!
It's as if we are sailing on the sea, and the point of view of a group of passengers can be more professional than that of a captain?
Does that number of people bring fairness and justice?
Obviously not.
The result of the vote is only to impose the will of the more people on the less side, so that they are forced to submit to the rule of the more people, which is unfair to the less people.
What's more, as early as the birthplace of democracy, people in ancient Greece have discovered that democracy will evolve into the tyranny of the majority in most cases, and even Plato, the philosopher of ancient Greece, also held this view.
How did Socrates die? Why could Hitler persecute Jews? Why did the Americans kill so many Indians? Aren't these the results of the vote?
A political system that is not self-consistent in theory and practice can be blown into the ultimate system of human civilization by the American political scientist Francis Fukuyama.
Even with all the absurdity of modern Western political science, there are many people who try to defend it, such as one of the most common phrases I hear, which is to quote Churchill as saying, "Democracy is the worst system, but the other systems that have been tried are even worse." ”
This may sound sober, but it is actually a slander against our human intelligence, because we have better options, so what?
Of course, it is the Confucian doctrine of Chinese civilization!
It is not only the greatest contribution of Chinese civilization to mankind in the past, but it will also be the best path for mankind to move towards the future, why?
If you read through my book, you will know that Confucianism is essentially an operating system on which all kinds of applications can be generated.
Whether it is Dong Zhongshu's induction of heaven and man, Zhu Xi's invention of science, or Japan's modernization of Confucianism based on Wang Yangming's mind since the Meiji Restoration, these are all application software, but all kinds of revisionism in Confucianism.
Removing these dazzling fogs and returning to the origins of Confucianism, we will find that its theoretical basis is self-consistent and scientific.
The logic of Confucianism is actually very simple, it believes that the family is the most perfect form of human organization, and we only need to find out all the virtues that a perfect family should contain in the current era, and generalize it to the governance of the whole society, then we can get a perfect political system.
This starting point of Confucianism, which is based on facts, is also scientific, why?
Because we must never deny that in the real human society, people are different.
There are wise men and fools in our society; There are strong and weak; There are good people and there are evil people.
The wise and the strong are equivalent to the father and the eldest brother in the family, the good are equivalent to the loving mother in the family, and the foolish and the weak are equivalent to the children in the family.
In order to prevent us from being harmed by evil people, we need to choose the right people to take on leadership responsibilities, we need brave people to protect us, and we need capable people to help us in times of crisis.
It's like a perfect family, where there are always wise and loving parents, and there are always filial and sensible children, born from generation to generation.
The core of a perfect family is family affection, so we need to establish a kind of morality, so that the whole society can produce this kind of family affection, so that everyone will be cared for and loved.
The wise and the strong have the obligation to take care of the foolish and the weak as they do their children, and ensure that they can live the same happy life as themselves, while the foolish and the weak must also show the necessary respect and cooperation for the contribution of the wise and the strong.
This moral model is what Confucius called "li", but it will have different meanings in different eras, and the result of this moral education is what Confucius said: "benevolence and righteousness".
For Confucianism, in order to complete the imitation of the perfect family, it must solve four problems:
1. How to choose the right person to take on the role of parent?
2. How to ensure that parents must practice "benevolence and righteousness" instead of misconduct?
3. How to establish a moral value that is recognized by the whole society?
Fourth, how to ensure this moral value, so that the whole society can form a family-like family affection.
And these four questions, in different times will have different answers, in the Han Dynasty, when knowledge was not yet popularized, people generally believed in ghosts and gods, Dong Zhongshu put forward the doctrine of heaven and man induction, limited the imperial power, invented the system of filial piety, and selected talents.
After the Sui and Tang dynasties, with the popularization of printing, China began to select talents for the imperial examination more fairly.
The original intention of Song Ming Theory was to try to strengthen the moral standards of all people, and use an almost religious constraint to reduce all kinds of evil thoughts in people's hearts.
As Confucianism continues to improve, Confucianism can always think of better measures to replace the outdated and backward methods of the past.
So Confucianism is an open system, it can find better countermeasures with the development of the times, it is compatible with all choices, it never ends.
Therefore, Mr. Yi Zhongtian said that Confucianism does not have a scientific spirit, then he is wrong, Confucianism is the real science, and the modern political theory of the West is the biggest pseudoscience.
Because it shouts a story that everyone sounds comfortable with, but it is the biggest lie, that everyone is qualified to participate in politics, that everyone has the ability to run the country, that is the foundation of modern democracy, but is this true?
Of course not.
In the real world, except for a few elites, most people can't even manage themselves well, and their lives are a mess.
And the management of a modern country is so professional and complex, the vast majority of people can't even distinguish telecom fraud, how can they figure out the governance of the country?
You ask him to vote, what's the difference between that and asking him to listen to pyramid schemes?
What else can he do but look at who looks good and who draws big cakes?
Western politics is, by its very nature, a lie.
Of course, democracy is not useless, and if it is used to govern the country, it is the politics of fools and liars, but it is still an effective weapon when used for political supervision.
Confucian politics is an open and inclusive system, which can accommodate all effective political means, including democratic institutions.
Of course, there are those who may be unconvinced, and they will ask why the United States and Western Europe have been so successful in their democratic systems.
That's because they have a first-mover advantage and a monopoly on the ability to plunder abroad.
Regarding this part of the discussion, I have repeatedly elaborated on "Attribution Theory" and the previous chapters of this book, and interested friends can take a look at it, and I will not repeat it here.
After reading it, you will know why I say that modern Western political science is nothing more than a defense written by a lawyer with ill intentions for a group of robbers, and it has nothing to do with science at all.
It's just that this defense lawyer is good at arguing, which makes the vast majority of people fooled.
Therefore, this article is to answer the previous question, why do we have to find a way in Confucianism?
Because only Confucianism is the only truly scientific political outlook and values in our human development so far.
Therefore, we should feel fortunate that the legacy left by our ancestors for our Chinese civilization is extremely precious, and we must not discard it, but we must carry it forward.
Therefore, the new generation of Confucianism must develop a set of new universal values that conform to modern social ethics and can be recognized by all, and create a set of the most scientific and complete organizational system, so as to lead the development of mankind.
This is the historical responsibility that Confucianism should bear in our time, and it is also the real challenge that Chinese civilization faces if it wants to achieve great rejuvenation and lead the development of the world.
So how to achieve this task, first of all, we must start with a correct understanding of ourselves, so who are we? What is the true historical meaning of China's entire modern history?