Some people say that the history of human society is a history of progress, and modern society is the society with the highest degree of civilization: it not only includes developed science and technology, sound democracy, and the legal system, but also a relatively high degree of happiness in the lives of citizens. Therefore, whether there is faith or not is neither important nor necessary for modern people. Is this really the case?
▌Buying and returning pearls - the biggest regret of modern China
Looking back at the history of China in the past 100 years, it is not difficult to find that we learn from Mr. De and Mr. Sai, but there is one thing that we always deliberately exclude, and that is faith. This stems from the deep misunderstanding of modern civilization among the Chinese people—they think that the civilized world does not need faith.
Behind this view, however, there is conceptual confusion and an oversimplification of modern civilization – always seeing the most superficial things of the Western world, but ignoring its civilizational core.
Although democracy and the sound rule of law are the hallmarks of a civilized society, the concepts of these two terms are not only difficult to define, but also have a polysemy at the practical level. Not all legal systems are called legal systems, and not all kinds of democracy are democracies, and the famous modern thinker Sartori said, "As long as liberal democracy dies, democracy is dead." ”
For example, a country ruled by man can use propaganda to convince the public that they are a country ruled by law. At the same time, people's happiness can also be created. When the Nazis came to power through the rule of law and democracy, and when the Nazis were in power, the vast majority of Germany dominated reason with passion and lived in a kind of "blind and hyper-happiness".
▲ Goebbels, Minister of Nazi Propaganda Department, and Germany teenagers
In the view of Locke, the "father of liberalism", a civilized society should not only be a society governed by the rule of law, but also ensure that the specific way to implement the law is to protect private property, defend freedom and other means, and the source of the existence of law is not the arbitrary will of some individuals or groups, but the spirit of contract based on faith.
Therefore, it is not that a civilized society does not need faith, but that faith itself is contained in a civilized society. The Nazis launched a world war and slaughtered innocents, which was the appearance of its evil, and the deep reason was that the Germans at that time ignored God and turned to worship specific people. When faith is missing, dictatorship takes its place, and disaster is not far off.
However, in reality, it is easy for some Chinese people to fall into the frenzy of "blindly defending the law" and "blindly defending democracy", while ignoring the spirit behind them - law and democracy cannot be simply based on "the consent of the majority", but also need moral force based on faith.
▌"Three Books of General Knowledge of Modern Civilization" - understand the intrinsic connection between faith, reason and civilization
In the view of Professor Zhao Lin, an "expert in the study of Western civilization", in Western civilization, Christianity is not only a religious belief in the traditional sense, but also a cultural system in the modern sense. However, there are often two dimensions to the neglect of faith by Chinese people:
●Chinese people attach too much importance to "non-faith":
From 1840 onwards, the Chinese people were forced to start the tradition of learning from the West: from learning advanced technology to trying to learn advanced systems, and then realizing that "science and institutions based on reason are the key to development", which led to a special emphasis on rationality.
However, Zhao Lin emphasized in the book "Towards Reason" in the "Three Books of General Knowledge of Modern Civilization" that the rationality of many Chinese people is still practical rationality, which is applicable to the world, meritorious achievements and interpersonal relationships, rather than speculative rationality derived from ancient Greece philosophy. Only when we have both speculative reason and practical reason can we truly have reason.
● The vast majority of Chinese people still do not understand the real reasons for the West's prosperity and strength:
Also in "Farewell to the Flood and Famine" in the "Three Books of Modern Civilization General Knowledge", Zhao Lin mentioned that the real uniqueness of Western civilization lies not only in inheriting the rational spirit of Greece civilization, but also in completely integrating the spirit of contract and struggle of Christianity.
Whether it is the historical tradition of Western civilization or the "prosperity of the country and the strength of the people" brought about by the modern transformation of Western society, they are inextricably linked with religious beliefs: it makes up for the problem of where the morality that cannot be explained by reason comes from, accepts and preserves the excellent achievements of classical civilization, and on this basis, creates a modern ethical spirit, legal concept and democratic system.
In the "Three Books of General Knowledge of Modern Civilization", we can not only understand the beginning and end of modern civilization, but also, like Mr. Zhao Lin, with a strong sense of problems, realize that many "innovations" that do not know faith but pretend to be faith end in scarcity and suffering not only in the West, but also in the whole world.
As a large eastern country that was precocious in history but was later surpassed by the West, Chinese people are often accustomed to "seeing the world from China" rather than "looking at China from the world". Therefore, although China has long been caught up in the tide of modernization, a hundred years later, we still need to reopen our eyes to the world.