However, what kind of social state is "developed and organized"?
It got into an endless quarrel.
For a long time, when talking about the word "civilization", many people always use prefixes such as "ancient" or "modern", "east" or "west" to discuss the division of civilization.
The embarrassing reality is that even if we step into modern civilization, hundreds of years of history have been full of blood, coercion and slavery, so this kind of "civilization" and barbarism are always intertwined and inseparable.
On the contrary, in the so-called "dark middle ages" in Europe, there were a large number of free city-states, private property and judicial authority were fully respected, people's potential was brought into play beyond imagination, and the achievements of some geniuses have not been surpassed so far.
From this perspective, it seems that the process of human civilization does not always evolve in stages, but there are some elements that run through it and are shared by all mankind.
There are two things that are beyond doubt: civilization is unique to human beings and there is no civilization in the animal kingdom. Civilization and barbarism have diametrically opposite value orientations and social consequences.
The concentration of violence in civilized society is low.
Since written records, the concentration of violence in human society has been getting lower and lower.
For thousands of years, human beings have killed fewer and fewer similar people, which is the most important symbol of the continuous progress of civilization.
Human life is getting better and better, which first benefits from the increasing sense of security. War and violence are the first major reasons that affect human security.
For example, during the British rule in India, the widow martyrdom system was abolished. Therefore, we can say that the British system in the19th century was much more civilized than that in India.
For another example, in some areas, people will stone derailed women to death; In some tribes in Africa, the custom of circumcising underage women is still maintained. This custom is usually mandatory and usually does not require anesthesia and disinfection ... These are extremely barbaric acts.
The leaders of the European Enlightenment believed that when the banner of freedom, equality and fraternity was planted all over Europe, barbarism and violence would disappear forever.
As Zhao Lin, a professor of philosophy at Wuhan University, said, the Enlightenment itself bred barbarism and violence-when the masses of the French Revolution held high the banner of justice and thought that their actions were the only justice, this radicalism would inevitably lead to the degradation of civilization and a wider range of barbarism.
He believes that barbarism and violence are part of human nature, and civilization can make people use it as little as possible, and even one day they don't need to use it again, but it is impossible to destroy it.
It can be said that even in this highly developed society where we live, barbarism has not disappeared, and we will see its traces in various social news.
For everyone living in this society, how to guard against the savagery of others and how to restrain their own savagery, the former determines our sense of security, and the latter determines our sense of morality, which is an essential practice for every modern person.
Civilized society has stable property rights,
The boundaries are clear.
Mises said that if the meaning of freedom can only be condensed into one word, it is private property.
Private property is a unique concept of human beings.
In the animal world, two ants compete for a piece of bread, and cheetahs and hyenas compete for a piece of meat, following the jungle law of the jungle.
In human society, the state protects citizens' private property through legislation, because property is inviolable, which is the basis for human beings to obtain other freedoms.
When everyone owns inviolable private property, market exchange and division of labor can become possible, and human beings can bid farewell to the cruel jungle law.
The clearer the boundary of property rights, the more people can be encouraged to be honest and trustworthy. It can be said that the higher the degree of fair protection of private property, the higher the degree of civilization of society.
History textbooks once told us that Britain was the first country in the world to enter modernization, because the industrial revolution first occurred in Britain, which shaped Britain's strong industrial manufacturing capacity.
The measure of a country's civilization depends on what it believes most.
He believes that Britain is a highly civilized country even without the industrial revolution, because their respect for private property is deeply rooted in the bone marrow, and even the king knows that he can't step into the people's door without permission.
So there is a popular English proverb: "The wind can enter, the rain can enter, but the king can't."
Latin America gained independence almost at the same time as North America, but it is still in the abyss of poverty and turmoil because it did not inherit the British property right system like the United States.
Zhao Lin further pointed out that Utopianism, which originated from Thomas Moore, was very popular during the European Enlightenment. Utopians have a social ideal, that is, to build an equal society without private property rights and all kinds of evil phenomena. This trend of thought gradually evolved into the hatred of the poor against the rich, and the ideological roots of many disasters in the 20th century were also related to Ogawa Utopianism.
Although Hume, Burke, acton, Tocqueville, Montesquieu, Hayek and other ideological giants have already demonstrated the importance of property rights to freedom, the charm of Utopianism is too great, and it still lingers in the hearts of politicians who claim to be God and those who want to "fight local tyrants and divide fields".
Whether a person is civilized or not, how many people in China today can be called qualified?
Civilized society is open and highly cooperative.
Xunzi, a thinker at the end of the Warring States Period, said in Xunzi's On Soldiers: "The people are strong." The so-called people's harmony refers to the unity and cooperation between the people.
In the biological world, although animals can cooperate, the degree of cooperation is far less than that of humans who invented the market. Relying on market exchange, the division of labor has become highly specialized.
Globalization since modern times has made the degree of human cooperation unprecedented, and the total wealth and living standards of all mankind have accelerated.
For example, during the Southern and Northern Dynasties in China, northern minorities invaded the Central Plains, robbed, killed and even ate human flesh. Compared with the Han nationality in the Central Plains, these brutal and bloody acts are of course barbaric.
Later, influenced by the Central Plains people, some tribes gradually learned how to do business with the Han people, exchanging livestock products for tea and iron, which is a barbaric civilization.
Those who insist on closing their own races will eventually be eliminated by history.
In an article about the development of civilization, Zhao Lin regarded the migration and integration of civilization as a higher-dimensional division of labor and cooperation, such as the integration of Roman civilization and Greek civilization, which eventually created an unprecedented powerful Roman Empire.
In recent years, the anti-globalization trend of thought has risen in the world, and a number of nationalists have appeared in many countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. They believe that closing the door to the outside world is more conducive to protecting their own interests in the western-led globalization.
In this regard, Zhao Lin believes that the reason why Chinese civilization has been in the leading position of several ancient civilizations in the world for a long time lies in the opening up established in the Tang Dynasty, and it was not until the late Qing Dynasty that it fell into the trap of "closed door" and even declined.
Although China has made remarkable achievements in reform and opening up, and people's living standards have improved qualitatively, there are still stubborn voices, and even voices calling for a return to the planned economy era. One of them is shouting "three exemptions".
For ordinary people, how to adapt to the development trend of China, an ancient civilization and an emerging power, and not be abandoned by the times is a closely related issue.
Civilized societies generally abide by contracts.
Although the word "contractual spirit" comes from Europe, its spiritual core has been expounded by ancient sages in China.
Mozi said: "Honesty is the knot of the world." It means that honesty is the spiritual bond of interpersonal relationship.
Doing everything wrong is also true, saying that small dependence is big dependence. It shows that the spirit of contract is not unique to Europeans, which is a civilized value generally recognized by both East and West.
Man is a creature with memory and foresight. When he has accumulated enough game experience, he will understand a truth sooner or later:
Relying on endless killing each other will never get out of the prisoner's dilemma, and eradicating the root causes will not bring long-term stability. The best way to maintain a sense of security is to establish a bottom line and a contract with clear responsibilities.
Yuval Harari said that it is this powerful "* * * imagination" that makes human beings jump out of the category of animals and become the spirit of all things.
For example, monetary credit is purely based on imagination, but it is this imagination that guarantees its value and makes human market exchange more convenient and efficient-where the financial market is open and developed, it must be a place with a high degree of civilization.
In today's market economy, people who keep their promises will certainly gain the most in the environment of multiple games, because this will form a virtuous circle of mutual benefit.
However, as an inherent value concept of human beings, the spirit of contract does not come from instrumental rationality under the market economy, but from transcendental irrationality.
Zhao Lin pointed out that the contract spirit of Europeans actually comes from God. Believers have made a sacred contract with God-only by not doing evil can they do good. Therefore, when people make promises to each other, this contract is always "blessed" by God.
For a highly secular country, honesty is more of a secular value, and its practice is highly dependent on people's moral standards and social punishment mechanism.
Morality is always a requirement of a few people, and the social punishment mechanism often comes too late and lacks deterrence, so those who maintain long-term integrity will always be a minority.
Only when everyone in a society realizes the value of honesty and has a sense of shame about his commitment can this society be said to be a highly civilized society.
Civilized society follows the rule of law,
The law protects the freedom of all people.
In a civilized country, the only king should be the law.
Everything strictly follows the principle of rule of law, and anyone and any organization must be restricted by law. Due to the universal establishment of contract, the spirit of rule of law with constitutional contract as the core appeared in civilized society.
In a typical country ruled by law, the separation of powers and checks and balances fully restrict public rights, enabling people to gain a long-term sense of security, freedom of speech and freedom to create a happy life ... The Constitution guarantees citizens' basic human rights, and there is no universal and systematic arbitrary punishment (hunger, sleep deprivation, extorting confessions by torture, etc. ).
Even heinous criminals have to go through strict judicial procedures before they can be convicted and punished.
In a barbaric society, procedural justice is often trampled on. Many obvious crimes are even committed in the name of law.
Therefore, we can say that the spirit of contract is the cornerstone of civilization, and the rule of law is a building based on contract. The higher the level of rule of law in a country, the more fully the protection of people's rights, and the more stable and prosperous the country will be.
Montesquieu once said that freedom is the right to do everything permitted by law. If a citizen can do what is forbidden by law, there is no freedom, because other people also have this right.
In an article about Christianity, Zhao Lin pointed out that law is the lowest moral requirement, and people can abide by the law because God has endowed people with these moral laws as the inner "light of reason", which is the essential difference between people and animals.
Civilized society has universal sympathy.
Compassion is one of the biggest differences between humans and animals.
Adam Smith, the originator of economics, said in "On Moral Sentiments" that selfishness is the nature of living things and the basis of survival and reproduction, but human beings are compassionate. The higher the similarity with themselves, the more we can arouse our sympathy.
For example, we are most concerned about ourselves, relatives and friends, the same kind, animals and plants. ...
The more societies individuals choose, the more they can stimulate creativity. When the rules of a society allow people to be "selfish" and encourage people to be mutually beneficial, people will spontaneously sympathize with the weak and think of them everywhere.
Because this just shows that the general state of this society is that you can live well enough on your own, and you can spare no effort to help the weak and extend your sympathy to strangers, animals and even all living things.
If the weakest existence in a society can live happily with dignity, then we can say that this is a highly civilized society.
On the contrary, if you always stay in Maslow's "lowest level needs"-people must try their best to meet the lowest level needs of appetite, sexual desire and security, even at the expense of others.
In such a society, people have no extra energy and motivation to pursue higher goals, and virtue and quality of life will become scarce goods.
Civilized society is not a castle in the air and will never fall from the sky. She is built by every individual who loves freedom and longs for himself and his descendants to embrace civilization. -Civilized people first, then civilized society. Foreign scholars put forward "seven characteristics of civilized people":
1. Cognition and persistence in freedom, equality and trustworthiness.
2, the distinction between good and evil, the consciousness of pursuing truth.
3. Consciously safeguard the impulse and action of justice and fairness.
4. Curiosity for knowledge and the ability to keep learning.
5, goodwill to the same kind or compatriots.
6. whine and resist evil.
7. Compassion or help for the weak.
The most profound question,
It is expressed in the most superficial way.
In the process of modern civilization, the west is the first region to enter modern civilization, so people in China are often more accustomed to reading books written by westerners.
From the perspective of understanding modern civilization, this is understandable, but whether it is to understand the direction of China and the world, or to understand where its own transformation is going, it is more important to look at modern civilization with China's unique problem consciousness, because this perspective is closely related to China people.
Among many foreign scholars who study modern civilization, the philosophy professor of Wuhan University has a unique perspective. With the unique problem consciousness of China scholars, he grasped the three most critical main lines of modern civilization, allowing readers to get a glimpse of the core of modern civilization in the context of China.
Therefore, Wei Luoting Tao and Prophet Bookstore sincerely recommend Zhao Lin's signature work Trilogy of Modern Civilization, which is not a comprehensive history, but fortunately it is not. As soon as Mr. Zhao Lin came up, he grasped the three core issues in modern civilization-both the overall situation and vivid details-and unfolded them in turn: politics, economy, culture and thought.
Teacher Zhao Lin is a famous philosopher in China and the first of the "four famous mouths" of Wuhan University. About him, there is a saying that "if you haven't listened to Mr. Zhao Lin's class, you haven't attended Wu Da". Because, no matter how difficult the problem is, it can be explained in simple terms in his works and become vivid and interesting.
A civilized society should be rich in materials, people can live and work in peace and contentment, there are more knowledgeable people in the society, people can live in harmony, the crime rate is very low, children can grow up happily, and the elderly can spend their old age peacefully, without war and famine! If you are in trouble, you can help each other without hurting each other!
Civilized society can only be accomplished by men. Men should not be too involved in family affairs, at least family education (male chauvinism) can make children more pure and kind. The root of the decline of human morality is the pursuit of modern education, just as Confucius asked Laozi that "respecting benevolence is far from human nature"! Because the more knowledge you learn, the easier it is to produce bad ideas and the farther away from civilized society.
Therefore, the moral index of children educated by male-dominated families is closer to the matriarchal era. They are pure and kind, not evil. Don't worry that children will become stupid and backward, because there is a school and a society that will gradually teach children how to be modern people.