I have asked many people this question, including China people and Europeans and Americans. China and westerners have completely different answers. Most westerners have the first answer, a few have the second answer and almost no third answer. China people's answers are basically second and third, and there is almost no third. From the answer to this question, we can see the difference of values between the East and the West.
I don't think which values are better, but I feel this difference from many things. When I first arrived in Canada, in order to better integrate into the local society, I joined a club class, most of which were foreigners. Once, we organized a picnic on the beach. It is required to bring your own lunch, but many students expect to solve it on the spot. On the way, the guide asked us if we should stop in town to buy something to eat. Because of the delay in driving, many people want to go directly to the seaside, but students who don't have lunch want to stop first. So, the leader asked, "Who wants to stop in the town?" Two or three kittens raised their hands again, and I didn't bring lunch. I really wanted to stop in a small town, but looking at this trend, most people want to go straight, so they are embarrassed to raise their hands. Just as China was preparing to starve according to his consistent thinking of "the minority is subordinate to the majority", the leader said, "Since someone wants to stop, let's listen for a while, but only for half an hour." I suddenly realized the difference between western cultures, that is, "respect everyone's choice without seriously damaging the interests of the public", rather than "the minority is subordinate to the majority". Respect for minority rights seems to be deeply rooted in people's hearts here. One sentence I saw in the Capitol was * * * with everyone. Mian: "Let the majority conduct business in an orderly manner, and protect the minority's right to be heard" (ensure that the majority live in peace and order, but also listen to the voices of the minority). This sentence is engraved on the wall of the Parliament Building in Otva to remind a speaker of his responsibility (the speaker is similar to a White House spokesman).
In fact, the values of the East and the West are different in all aspects. Western natural values are developed from the traditional natural values of ancient Greece and Christianity, while China's values are developed from the natural values of Taoism and Confucianism. Binary opposition is the key to western values, which is a kind of "double binary opposition": first, the binary opposition between creator and creature, such as the opposition between ontology reality and phenomenon, and the opposition between God and everything, such as Plato's idea world and phenomenon world; Then there is the binary opposition between man and nature. This is the basic framework of the whole Greek thought and the whole western culture.
The existence of monism is the key to China's values. Both Taoism and Confucianism believe that there is a big standard, such as Taoism and Confucianism. Under this standard, there is a binary opposition of mutual transformation, such as Confucian kingliness and overbearing understanding, and Yin and Yang fish are the embodiment of this idea. There is no binary opposition between man and nature, nor between creation and creator. In the Confucian concept, human nature is also natural and will always be natural. Man is not only a son of nature, but also a dutiful son of nature. This kind of thought is vividly expressed in Zhang Zai's Mingxi: "Being a father and a mother are all hybrids who are good to you ..." What is a natural dutiful son? The so-called filial piety, "The Doctrine of the Mean" says: "Filial piety is good at inheriting people's aspirations and telling people's things." The narrator follows his parents' way. In other words, the dutiful son is good at inheriting and developing the unfinished business of his parents; Similarly, a natural dutiful son is good at inheriting and developing the unfinished business of nature. This is also the "godmother's law" and "godmother's law" mentioned in Zhouyi. From: Meteorite Station 48f.
Therefore, both eastern and western values are good, and we should learn from them in many ways. Western value system pays attention to the relationship between man and nature, while Islamic civilization focuses on understanding the relationship between man and God. China culture is more keen on pondering the relationship between people, and their respective values show this difference accordingly.
Western values about nature are closely related to this tradition of theological values. For example, the natural values in the western "enlightenment" trend of thought since modern times are related to this. The premise of enlightenment or modern natural values is the opposition between man and nature. As a "subject", people "know" nature and "transform" nature, so nature is valuable. This is summarized in the famous proposition that knowledge is power and the slogan of "conquering nature". As mentioned above, this binary opposition has long been included in the Christian theological tradition, even in the ancient Greek tradition. On the one hand, in this binary opposition, the value of nature depends on people: the value of nature lies in meeting people's needs, that is, being recognized, transformed, conquered and used by people. But on the other hand, there is a more fundamental binary opposition here: the binary opposition between creation and creator. What is natural is God's creation, and so is man. Here, the value of man, like nature, depends on God. God is the boss and holds the ownership; And people are just managers and only have the right to operate. Therefore, God is the fundamental foundation of all values.
But we suddenly remembered Nietzsche's words: "God is dead!" " Obviously, this is not only Nietzsche's own "revaluation of all values", but a "subversion" of all values, because since God is the only ultimate foundation of all values, then the death of God means the fundamental and complete collapse of all values. This is not only the same for nature, but also for people: even if we were valuable, the death of God completely lost our value. This is not only the grandstanding of western philosophers, but also the reality of ordinary people in the west to a great extent.
However, it seems that things are not so bad. God is dead and man is still alive. After the final binary opposition (creator and creator) is deconstructed, the second binary opposition (nature and man) still exists, so we still have something to say about the value, that is to say, the value of nature still lies in meeting people's needs.
In the oriental value system, the secular commitment of Confucius and Lao and his clever entry into the WTO are the keynote of the ideal realization, but in Zhuangzi's world view, the establishment of the world society is not the ideal goal, because his ideal world is characterized by a fairy figure swimming with the creator, while the Buddhist world view is a vast cosmic sea with endless origins and the truth of life is an endless cycle. Therefore, the values of Buddhism have not been implemented in the ideal organizational system of human society. If there is any friendship in the organizational system of human society, it is an activity that comes with one's own practice class. The ultimate ideal of Buddhism is that all beings enter Buddhism with the same certificate. As long as all living beings live here, everything will become clean. The social system of the human world is irrelevant. The universe is vast and the world is infinite. What we have to worry about is the net filth of life. The world can be used as a Dojo for purity, but as a Dojo for all sentient beings, it may never be clean. In fact, since human civilization, the human world has always been a place for a series of disputes between justice and evil, so the activities of practicing ideals can be endless, but the imperfections of reality can also be endless. At this time, we can use the powerful moral life of Confucianism as the central axis to stand upright, and the calm wisdom of Taoist Laozi as the positive wisdom to deal with life. However, we should take the Buddhist world outlook as the basis for understanding the darkness and fate of the world. Although sometimes we might as well have the chic of Zhuangzi, more often we should have the courage to bear our own karma with the world. Only in this way can we not question our own destiny, be disappointed in morality, hope to be optimistic and enterprising, understand without being naive, and understand without being sad. As an intellectual facing the times, we may lead the times to revive the nation. (stone editor input)