Chapter 4 4. West

The West took off on the platform built by the Arabs, but with a single jump, it went straight to the sky.The inter-provincial republic, the constitutional monarchy, the federal constitution, the declaration of human rights, a series of historical events are dazzling; steam engines, generators, cameras, computers, a series of inventions have completely changed the way of life of mankind.Today, can you still imagine life without the inventions of western science and technology and achievements of civilization?Almost everyone is wearing jeans, watching Hollywood, eating fast food, using computers, and talking on cell phones.

Western modern civilization is undoubtedly the most universal, the question is only why. For example, is it also because of faith? no. There is no doubt that Western civilization also has a religious background and background, and it is also monotheistic.But Western civilization cannot be called "Christian civilization", just as Latin America cannot be called "Catholic civilization", and Slavic civilization cannot be called "Orthodox civilization".Because in the western world, neither religion nor belief is the most important thing.The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution clearly stipulates that the federal Congress shall not legislate to establish a state religion, even Christianity, which has the largest number of believers.

So, what do Westerners care more about? free. ◎"American Declaration of Independence", a declaration for the thirteen British colonies in North America to declare their independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain and declare the legitimacy of this move.The original Declaration, co-signed by delegates to the Continental Congress and permanently displayed in the National Archives of the United States, is one of the most important founding documents of the United States. In fact, whether it is the government, the people, or the media in Western countries, what they put the most effort into protecting is not religious belief, but freedom of belief.This freedom includes the freedom to believe in any religion, and even more so, the freedom not to believe in anything, to believe in anything, or to join any religion.

In other words, freedom is more important than faith.If it is for freedom, faith can also be thrown away. why? Because freedom is a core value. Core values ​​are the key to Western civilization. Indeed, if Muslims promote the "Islamic spirit", then what Westerners value is "universal values".Specifically, independence, liberty, and equality.Other human rights, rule of law, democracy, republic, and constitutional government are not.Human rights and the rule of law are concepts, the republic and constitutionalism are systems, and democracy is both a concept and a system.They are not values, but the embodiment of values, and the least bad and most feasible way to realize these values.This matter has been confused in the past, but now it cannot be cleared up.

The three core values ​​of independence, freedom, and equality were rediscovered after the Renaissance.Although they have already begun to appear in ancient Greek civilization, it still took a lot of work to truly become the consensus of the whole people and the consensus of the ruling and opposition parties in Western countries.However, once established, Western modern civilization leaps into the sky. Is that right?yes. It is generally believed that the development of Western economy and scientific and technological progress is due to the advanced, superior and perfect system.For example, copyright law and press and publication law protect intellectual property rights and freedom of speech, and science and technology will of course advance; contract law and anti-monopoly law guarantee free trade and fair competition, and the economy will certainly develop.

The question is, why can these systems be established and implemented?Just because there are concepts behind the system, such as "This is my little broken house, the wind can enter, the rain can enter, and the king can't enter", such as "I firmly oppose your opinion, but I would rather sacrifice my life to defend what you said the right to express this opinion".These concepts have been widely disseminated and have long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. No matter whether government officials or gangsters, they dare not commit crimes against the wind and risk the disgrace of the world.

Behind the system is the idea, what is behind the idea? value. For example, because we respect independence, we must protect privacy; because we advocate freedom, we must protect speech; because we insist on equality, we must protect civil rights.Only then have the concept of human rights, the awareness of the rule of law, innovative mechanisms, and a guarantee system, free trade, fair competition, power checks and balances, and supervision by public opinion, and a series of concepts and systems that can be implemented and enforced. Values, concepts, and systems are a logical relationship that progresses layer by layer from the inside to the outside.Modern Western countries were able to rise up and catch up from behind, creating the most powerful, most powerful, and most powerful civilization in the world today, because they have clarified, straightened out, consolidated this logical relationship, and built it into a seamless thing.

The secrets of modern Western civilization are clearly revealed. However, it is a big mistake to regard Western civilization as "universal civilization" and describe independence, freedom, and equality as "universal values". It is undeniable that Westerners should be credited for articulating the concepts of independence, liberty, and equality.Finding the least bad and most feasible way to realize them so far is also an outstanding contribution of the West to human civilization.To say that we or other nations had these systems and methods before is just pretentious. It is also undeniable that whether it is universal orientation or universalism, in fact, most of them are out of good intentions, or even a kind of sentiment.It is not surprising to have this feeling.From a psychological point of view, good things should be shared with others, which is almost a common psychology of human beings.Good works and good products will have word of mouth, and this is the reason.From the perspective of civilization history, all representatives of advanced cultures will have more or less universal feelings.When the Chinese civilization was rising in the east, it treated the surrounding ethnic groups (Dongyi, Nanman, Xirong, Beidi) with this attitude.The saying at that time was called "Huacheng Tianxia", translated into modern Chinese, wouldn't it be "universal"?

However, no matter how advanced a civilization is, it cannot have a condescending sense of superiority, even if this sense of superiority is regarded or said to be a sense of mission.That is to say, if you have good things, you can show them, but you can't show them off; you have good ideas, you can introduce them, but you can't impose them;All decisions have to be made by others.In this way, it is in line with "independent thought, free spirit". right!Do not do to others what you desire. In fact, no matter what kind of civilization, it is only one kind of human civilization, and no one is universal.If Western values ​​can be called "universal values", then can the Islamic spirit also be called "universal spirit"?What's more, China, Slavia, Japan, India, Latin America, Africa, etc. all have their own values ​​and spirits.If everyone is a universal civilization, with universal spirit and universal values, is there still "universal"?If others are not, only you are, why?

Therefore, universal civilization is unreasonable.Universal values ​​are wrong.Universal concept, it is best not to use it. What is that called? shared value. Are there common values ​​in the world? Yes, because human nature is interlinked.For example, Confucianism talks about benevolence, Mohism talks about universal love, Buddhism talks about loving kindness, Christianity talks about fraternal love, and Islam talks about Rahman and Rahim (most benevolent and compassionate), all of which advocate love.It can be seen that love, including loving others and being loved by others, giving love and receiving love, is a common humanity.

With common humanity, there will be common ideals and common pursuits.There is the same judgment about right and wrong, good and evil.Behind the judgment are shared values ​​and values. Yes.We are hardworking, we are brave, independence and freedom are our ideals.In fact, in the 7,000-year history of civilization, all nations in the world have used different methods to realize the common values ​​of all mankind, thus forming the splendid and colorful human civilization, which can be described as "common pursuit, individual realization".Therefore, civilizations should seek common ground, and cultures can shelve differences.In the future world, there will be such a "fourth generation civilization" that seeks common ground while reserving differences.It will no longer be named by nation, region, or religion, but by "human civilization." Therefore, our principle should be—— Human civilization, common values, seeking truth from facts, and promoting consensus. In other words, what matters is not universality, but consensus.