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Are China's ancient books still worth reading?
Let's talk about the first sentence you said: Looking at historical records, I feel that ancient literati played "word games" all the time, which did not help to improve their thinking ability.

I think this "word game" should mean making good use of allusions or spring and autumn brushwork.

why is Historical Records good at it? Describe the past and the present, not empty beauty and not hidden evil, and practice literary talent. These are all moral and literary accomplishments. How can they compare with detective logic novels? Want to improve your thinking ability by reading Historical Records? It can be seen that you can't read well. If we talk about the spring and autumn brushwork, I think it is really necessary for history books. In ancient times, China was very particular about morality and ethics. People with a certain status were given a nickname when they died, usually in order to summarize their personality, implying praise and criticism, and the purpose was to promote the good and demote the evil and popularize education.

Of course, the purpose of history books is not just to record facts. Confucius wrote the Spring and Autumn Annals, but the rebels and thieves were afraid, so it can be seen that his purpose was also to judge right and wrong, promote good and belittle evil. When describing the facts, the historians themselves have to use words to conceal the truth, not to conceal the evil, and not to distort the history because of their personal views or emotions, so that there will be a concise and well-judged historical account like "Zheng Boke's paragraph is in the air", which is called a subtle and subtle interpretation. This kind of brushwork is often used by future generations, and it is not over-interpreted by future generations.

(Actually, I think there may be something wrong with it. As we all know, the pen of history is like iron. However, such a thing that needs to be fair is often killed because of taboo, and it can only be the revision of the history of the previous dynasty, so it will produce words that are similar to avoiding the censorship of speech. )

Many people don't distinguish the meaning of the word "reading", but simply think that it is to acquire knowledge, and they don't know that there is a theory of cultivating one's morality and building a foundation.

If reading is only based on utilitarian efficiency, just use Google search directly and acquire knowledge purposefully, which seems to be the most valuable method.

"Is China's ancient books worth reading?" This form of question has been discussed many times in other places. For example, someone will ask, "Is Latin ancient books still worth reading?" "Is Thucydides History still worth reading?" "Is Homer still worth reading?" . If we ignore the need for literary accomplishment, we can change it to this: "Is Geometry Elements still worth reading?" "Is Nine Chapters of Arithmetic Still Worth Reading?" and "Is Aristotle Still Worth Reading?" If history jumps to the future 5 years later, it is estimated that someone will ask, "Is Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy still worth reading?" "Is Lattice Dynamics Theory still worth reading?"

in the final analysis, this kind of question is actually a question: when we study knowledge, is it still worth knowing its history?

This is especially true for science, especially for math textbooks, which directly tell you the formula results, but we know little about its historical process, because they think it is unnecessary for students to understand the detours that past masters have taken.

obviously, I belong to support learning and understanding together with academic history. My argument is not novel, it has already been discussed. When I read Elementary Mathematics from a High Viewpoint and Technology Monopoly-Culture Surrender to Technology, the educational viewpoints in them were even more cited as bosom friends.

It takes someone who tied the bell to solve the problem. Do you want to ask "Is China's ancient books worth reading?" Then look for the answer from other modern critical books, which can be used for reference.

To quote a passage from "Technology Monopoly-Culture Surrender to Technology" and "Love Fighter": Let's first examine history, because in several aspects, history is the core of education. I don't need to argue this point, as Cicero said, "If you know nothing about what happened before you were born, it means that you will always be a naive child." Just mentioning one thing is enough to illustrate the importance of history: history is the most powerful ideological means for us to "improve our consciousness." However, there is still one thing to emphasize about history and history teaching, because they are often ignored in schools. History is not one of many courses that must be taught; Every subject has a history, and biology, physics, mathematics, literature, music and art all have their own histories. I suggest here that every teacher must be a history teacher. For example, to teach only the biology we know today but not the biology we know in the past is to devalue knowledge into pure consumer goods, which will make it impossible for students to understand the importance of our knowledge and how our knowledge was obtained. If we teach students atoms without mentioning Democritus, electricity without mentioning Faraday, politics without mentioning Aristotle and Machiavelli, and music without mentioning Haydn, we will not let students participate in the "great conversation". Moreover, that is to cut off the foundation of their knowledge. At present, other social organizations are not very interested in the origin of knowledge. Knowing your roots is not only knowing where your grandfather came from, but also knowing what he suffered. You also need to know where your ideas come from and why you believe in these ideas; You should also know where your moral sense and aesthetic experience come from; You also need to know where your world comes from, not just where your family comes from. In order to fully show Cicero's thought at the beginning of the above, we quote another sentence from him: "Unless people's lives are integrated into the lives of their ancestors, and unless people's lives are placed in the historical context, what is the value of life?" Of course, Cicero's so-called "ancestors" do not refer to his mother's aunt or aunt.

accordingly, I suggest that every course should be taught as history. In this way, students know that knowledge is not a solidified object, but a certain stage of human development, with a past and a future; Unfortunately, today's students don't understand this. Let's go back to the problem of creationism. We want to make it clear that the ideas generated 4, years ago have not only been uploaded to today in time, but also changed in meaning. These ideas have changed from science to religious metaphor, and from religious metaphor to science. How intimate and profound is the consistent connection between the ancient Hebrews' magical speculation in desert tents and the magical speculation in modern MIT classrooms! What I want to say is that the history of the subject makes us learn the connection; History teaches us that the world is not recreated every day. Everyone stands on the shoulders of others. Off-topic, I quote a passage from "On the Dual Functions of China's Historiography" to summarize the importance of historiography to the humanities:

Generally speaking, a person with a sense of morality is naturally a person with a sense of inner awe. On the contrary, a fearless person, a truly thorough materialist, an unbeliever, is naturally a person who lacks moral sense.

It can also be seen from here that the former's religious consciousness and the latter's historical consciousness have different objects, but their functions are similar.

Some China scholars (mostly young and middle-aged scholars) sigh when comparing western culture with China culture: China people lack religious sense; He also appealed that China people should be close to religion and cultivate a sense of religion.

In my opinion, this statement is somewhat biased:

I only see that China people lack sincere religious sense, but I don't see that China people have a mellow sense of history, that is, they can replace religious sense in some aspects;

I only see great differences between China people and westerners, but I don't see that China people and West Renye Fang have some * * * characteristics, that is, they both have a sense of inner awe.

One of the most important and simplest facts is that China culture is based on ethics and has lasted for thousands of years. It is impossible not to cultivate a rather mellow sense of awe in the hearts of China people, but this rather mellow sense of awe has become somewhat weak today.

(Our nation maintains social justice through writing history, which has different manifestations at different social levels, official history in mainstream society, genealogy, epitaph, rap in folk society ...-omitted)

According to the above views, we can also draw many other views, at least the following ones.

First, traditional China historiography includes both fact judgment system and value judgment system-the most abundant fact judgment system in traditional China and the most basic value judgment system in traditional China, so it has the deepest spiritual resources of our nation.

For this reason, our nation has a famous saying that other nations are unlikely to have: "History will not perish the country, nor will it perish", that is, history is the foundation of the country and history is the foundation of the national spirit.