Chapter 10 Naming is a means of knowing the world

Interviewer: Huang Zhaohui, Southern Metropolis Daily Time: August 27, 2004 Hello, Mr. Wu Si, in the past two years, your works have become cultural keywords.But in the eyes of some people, your greatest success lies in your naming ability, not your academic level. What do you think of this opinion? Because I have been doing news, taking headlines is my professional strength.Whether it is running a magazine or a newspaper, I am a good hand at making headlines.In terms of academics, such as pure history, my level is quite far from that of some professional masters. Some scholars have passed all the "Twenty-Four Histories".So they speak well.But naming itself is a sign of people's understanding of the world. You can feel many things and name them so that you can understand them carefully and discuss them.Naming is very important, and it is also an important content in academic activities.Moreover, if the understanding of academic activities is broader, not just the mastery of materials, but the grasp of the internal connections of things and the identification of the characteristics of things themselves, I think I can do well in this respect.

They even think that some of the concepts you mentioned, such as the law of blood rewards, have been expressed by thinkers at home and abroad, and you are not really the first to do so. The closest domestic research to the law of blood reward is Olson, an economist who has studied Chinese bandits. He proposed the distinction between sitting bandits and rogue bandits. Bandits tend to turn into political power after sitting for a long time. The so-called "successful king loses the bandit" is clearly expressed in ancient Chinese Chinese.He explained the phenomenon of "the king loses the bandit", but he has not revealed the mechanism of the formation of "the king loses the bandit".He did not propose a concept similar to "blood reward", which is the core concept of the exchange of life and survival resources, that is, the pursuit of maximizing the income from hard work, which is the key to "winners and losers".I haven't seen such an explanation in the West either. I think this is caused by the characteristics of Western social life, and their problems in this area are not as serious as ours.I currently don't see anyone doing the same level of work as I do.

You once compared your own research with "institutionalized academia". What do you think of institutionalized academia? Because I am not in an institutionalized academic institution, I can only say that I feel "outside", and my evaluation may not be pertinent enough.In our institutional studies, some questions are pseudo-questions, or the questions are not right. To answer such questions, a lot of energy is wasted.Of course, it has played a role in sorting out materials and clarifying some details, which are all beneficial.However, some of the research frameworks are distorted and may not adapt to Chinese society. It is very difficult to explain Chinese history with these established concepts, stretched to the limit, and self-contradictory.This is because academics are restricted within the system.Given these framework constraints, many issues may be unclear, and its achievements may not satisfy our readers, and cannot solve many perplexities deep in their hearts, and cannot help us better understand our history and understand our history. society.

Some people say that after reading your work, it feels like "hidden rules" are lurking around us like air. Unspoken rules can't explain everything, but what can be explained are the gray areas that are "not worthy of the name".For example, the Three Cardinal Principles and the Five Constant Principles played a great role in China's imperial era.The bureaucratic group says to replace the emperor's herdsmen, but does the bureaucratic group follow the emperor's request, or do they follow the Confucian regulations that the common people expect?No.They did it partly, but mixed with a lot of agent interests, which brought a deviation from the original system, and this part is exactly what the unspoken rules want to explain.The more reasonable and complete the system, the less room for unspoken rules to play.

Some people worry that with the popularity of your book, the concept of unspoken rules will also become popular, so that people will more consciously use unspoken rules to solve problems and bypass normal procedures. What do you think of this problem? I think what a scientific concept can do is to clarify the truth.As for how people make choices after the truth is clarified, that is their own business.Because there is a concept that can help us clarify the truth, make the choice more conscious, and the calculation of interests is more clear, even if the victim is victimized, the victim will be victimized more clearly.But ideas can’t solve all problems, ideas can only make you not confused, don’t make a fool of yourself, and don’t take detours.But whether there is this concept is very different. For the strong side, even if they don’t understand this concept, they can play like a fish in water; but for the weak side, they don’t know much about this thing, and the other party looks sacred.If the level of the former is already 80 points, after reading this thing, they will become more conscious and increase to 85 points; as for the weaker side, they have failed and only scored 50 points. After reading it, they will not be as clear as the strong side , but increased to 70 points, at least passed, their absolute increase is much larger than the strong side.

Covering up the truth, distorting the truth, and fooling people are all effective means for the powerful party to cover up improper gains.Knowing the truth is a value in itself, and for most people, knowing the truth will remove the blindness. Are there "hidden rules" in Western history, and what are the similarities and differences compared with China? Compared with nationality, the system has a greater influence on the "hidden rules".In the old Western society, there were many "hidden rules" similar to Chinese history. However, with the progress of the system, the improvement of citizens' rights, and the strengthening of supervision, the space for "hidden rules" to play a role is decreasing.

Someone questioned your "hidden rules" scalpel is more swayed to Chinese history, but seldom swayed to the West. Are you too harsh on yourself and too tolerant to others? For this question, I also wrote a special article to answer. First of all, I don’t know enough about foreign countries, so I can only talk about what I know. Avoiding foreign countries is also to maximize strengths and avoid weaknesses.Secondly, we need to understand our own history and our own problems. Why do you go to treat others?Find out what your illness is and explain it clearly. I think this is all human nature.People always care about the things around them.I think it's sick to concentrate and go on and on about someone else's illness while you're sick.

Does the rampant "hidden rules" affect the expression of our nation's character and culture?For example, what our culture likes is "saying one thing and meaning another" and "understanding". Unspoken rules are a manifestation of our national character, not the cause of our national character.If we talk about the reasons for the formation of national character, we should look for problems in the system that forms unspoken rules. Some readers believe that the quantification and comparison of interests is the main way for you to analyze problems. Your works ignore moral, emotional and other factors, and even lack the ultimate pursuit. What do you think of this criticism?

Does it mean that what I wrote is not there, or that I am not?I think I have.At the level of my writing, it can be explained clearly without introducing these contents.If you want to introduce those things, it will be a bit superfluous.According to Maslow, among the various levels of needs of people, the fifth level is self-actualization.Seek safety first, and then seek food and clothing. When these needs cannot be met, you will not think about self-esteem; and after you gain self-esteem and a sense of belonging, higher-level needs will play a more important role in your mind. big effect.In the history of China, even now, the whole society has not yet reached the highest level - it can pay more attention to spiritual life, and material problems are not a big problem.So I think to explain this situation, there is no need to bring in those factors, just explain the most basic things.

So for yourself, what is your ultimate pursuit? Intellectuals must provide society with their products, that is, products of ideas.This product should help people grasp the truth more accurately and construct a new value system more clearly.I think Chinese intellectuals have been doing this all the time.Of course, there are many difficulties in doing it: there are external restrictions, and there are also temptations from other aspects of oneself.But everyone is still working hard, including learning something from foreign countries, putting ordinary people in a more important position, building a way of thinking that grasps reality more accurately, building a new value system, and so on.

This is the starting point and destination of all your research. Yes, that's what I live with.The meaning of my life is here. Can you tell us about your writing plans for your next book? I plan to make up lessons, read some things about world history, and see how other countries have come. On the other hand, I have never touched the history of ideas because I feel that the water is very deep. One touch; in addition, I haven't finished talking about many fields covered by the law of blood rewards before, and I want to go deeper.