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写了时间很长,很郁闷,xdjm给我指点指点不足吧,谢了
. The greatness of individuals can be decided only by those who live after them, not by their contemporaries.【36】
一个人是否伟大是由后人评定的而非他同时代的人。
When people come across this question : Who can decide the greatness of individuals , it is those who live after them or those of their contemporaries, they are easily misled into a dilemma. Because they would mistaken the question as : it is the time that the commenters live in that matters when evaluating the greatness of individuals .And they are forced to make a choice between the alternatives, which may keep them from unveil the mask of the truth. I propose that since the system of our cognition develops in a gradually way, and the system of our knowledge is accumulating bit by bit , if the greatness of individuals could be realized by the temporal knowledge and criterion, their greatness could be valued by their contemporaries ;otherwise, a process must be needed to recognize their greatness as the development of human cognition system.
On the one hand, the greatness of individuals could be recognized if their contributions could be understood within human beings' cognition system. Any evaluation indeed is based on the agreement of a number of people that are experts in the relevant field ,if is not recognized by the most populace. What is the exact course that these people criticize on the contributions of the individuals? And To what extend that the contribution could be recognized as greatness ? According to our own experiences, when one appraises the contribution of an individual, there must be a criterion that comes from the present system of his or her knowledge .Then after a comparison with the criterion , one finally acquire the idea about the very thing ,and a conclusion is available . If the contribution happens to be qualified as greatness , that is because it counts for the models that represent the greatness in his or her criterion. For instance, as a great writer , Shakespeare has been greatly valued from his period till now, not only in that his works are classic masterpieces no matter in terms of mastery of rhetoric or in terms of his harshness of the dramatic conflictions ,but also for the humanism that complied with the groundswell during the Renaissance are emphasized throughout his works. In another words, from the form to the content of his works all can resonate his contemporary readers. Therefore, if the system of cognition and knowledge of the commenters could develop to the extent as to understand the contributions or works of these individuals , these individuals' greatness could be decided at that time.
On the other hand, what if the system of cognition and knowledge of the contemporaries are confined to certain degree at the same time those individuals ' contributions are beyond. History has been fraught with such cases. A case in point is Bruno, who used Copernican principles in formulating his cosmic theory of an infinite universe. Condemned by the Inquisition for heresy, immoral conduct, and blasphemy, he was burned at the stake. A heretic he was seen at that time, his viewpoint is accepted widely nowadays and himself has been thought of high now . What makes such a big difference must be because of the difference in the structures of knowledge system of people of the two times. At that time ,people's minds and bodies are confined and supervised by the Inquisition , as well as the knowledge were only limited in theology and philosophy while science was only a baby in the cradle. The idea of Bruno that drastically impacted on the contemporary system of knowledge shattered the very basis of value system into pieces. Because of the idea is so alien to their traditional one, it is antagonized , however, what he held on has become the common knowledge of everyone of our era. In this case, though the greatness of such kind of individuals as Bruno cannot be recognized at their time, with the development of human being's knowledge and cognition system, sooner or later they’ll deserve a fair evaluation.
Moreover, the evaluation on the greatness of individuals may not always be disinterested and fair and there must be a tortuous process for the greatness to gain the righteous judgment in that the structure of cognition system differs from time to time. After all, as a social creature, human beings cannot transcend his or her limitation imposed by the time , and few have the ability to foresee the future.
In sum, the process of human being's cognition is a gradually one and the cognition system varies from time to time as the development of knowledge. If the greatness of individuals could be realized by the temporal knowledge and cognition system, it is more likely that their greatness could be valued by their contemporaries; otherwise, there must be a period of time to recognize the greatness with the ever-enlarging knowledge system of human beings. |
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