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参考资料
TRADITION, MODERNIZATION AND
HUMAN EXISTENCE
WANG PING
The aim of this paper is to approach the issue of tradition and modernization from the point of view of human existence or life. Its main points can be summarized as follows.
(1) Tradition and modernization both are rooted in the needs of human life and are the means which meet such needs. Thus, human existence is the only criterion by which we weigh and evaluate tradition and modernization.
(2) The historicity of human life has determined that of tradition as well as the need for its transformation and renewal. Tradition is not an abstract stance beyond change and develop-ment; its vitality lies in its development.
(3) Modernization has met the needs of human existence at a high level. It is not only the a requirement in order that human beings pursue better conditions of existence, but also the key path through which transformation and renewal are realized. Hence, tra-dition should be subordinated to the requirements of modernization.
(4) Modernization is a synthetic process which includes po-litical, economical, cultural and social content.
TRADITION, MODERNIZATION AND HUMAN EXISTENCE
Tradition and modernization are so closely associated with the problem of human existence that only from the point of view of this existence can we really grasp the impetus and goal of tradition and modernization, and find the criterion by which to weigh and evaluate them.
Tradition is the product of the practice of human existence in which human beings transform nature, society and themselves. It is the unity of the various elements of culture created by human beings, which is handed down through the continuity of history. As the product of the practice of human existence, tradition is subordinated to the needs of this existence and the activities in meeting such needs. All traditions present or past are created in the activities by which human beings meet their needs for existence. Therefore, it can gain energy and vitality for its existence and development only from the needs of human existence. In a sense, history is a process in which tradition and the needs of human existence, as well as the activities in meeting such needs, interact on each other, but the impetus of this interaction comes from the activities of human life. Once a tradition separates itself from such needs and activities it loses the foundation of its existence.
All traditions try to explain the essential problems of human existence and to explore a path which can lead to a solution, no matter whether one take an optimistic or pessimistic attitude. We can regard this phenomenon as ultimate concern regarding the problems of human existence. Different traditions are characterized by their varied attitudes towards these problems.
The tradition of Buddhism sees human existence as endless pain: birth, senility, illness and death are all pain, and human life itself is a sea of pain. What caused the pain of human life is the desire to pursue secular pleasure. The tradition of Buddhism, how-ever, does not mean a simple denial of human life because it has a great spirit of mercy and sympathy for the human beings. Its goal is to point out the path through which human beings can escape such a sea of pain; it is to break from the seduction of secular pleasure in order to achieve tranquility and harmony of mind. Whether or not the Buddhistic solution is correct, it expresses ultimate concern for human life through its great concern for the pain in that life.
Christianity established the notion of God. This is aimed at finding a fulcrum for the world in which human beings live, and at providing a goal and ideal for human life, as well as a system of values which makes it possible to realize this goal. According to Christianity human existence is sinful and decadent, but it is also a process of salvation for human beings: sin and salvation make up the subject of history. The tradition of Christianity scorns the corporeal existence of human beings because it sees the salvation of the soul, the ultimate goal of human life, as of dominant signi-ficance.
Confucianism has no deep religious notions as do Buddhism and Christianity. In its own way, however, it shows a great concern for the problem of human existence, focusing on its secular side. It pays great attention to the practice of human life and tries to provide for it a perfect system of ethical and political norms. On the other hand, Confucianism does not lack an ontology of human existence, which is embodied in the notion of the "unity of the cos-mos and human beings." Unlike the Christian tradition that regards the relation between human being and nature as one of opposition, the Confucian tradition sees it as a unity.
In a word, the three traditions which have the greatest influ-ence in the world all are closely associated with the problem of hu-man existence, though this concern is embodied in different ways. Other traditions cannot avoid this.
Like tradition, modernization also is rooted in the needs of human existence and is the embodiment of human beings’ desire to pursue a high level of existence. According to Max Weber, moder-nization is a tendency toward rationalization, that is, various uses of reason to control and overcome nature and the environment. The process of modernization begins in the Western world; it is a broad historical process of changes that takes the birth of industrial civili-zation as its origin and impetus, and contains political, economic and social contents. The needs of human life have different spheres which are finite in quality but infinite in quantity. The realization of the needs of a lower sphere will arouse the needs of a higher one and the realization of the latter will give birth to the needs of a yet higher sphere; the process is endless. We can treat history, in this sense, as the process in which the needs of human existence un-ceasingly are met, and as progressing from lower to higher needs. Modernization is a historically significant revolution which has revolutionized the conditions of human existence in many aspects and has met its needs at a very high level.
These needs are not only the impetus, but also the goal of modernization. The history of modernization in Western and the Eastern countries fully proves this point. Modernization in the West began during the period of bourgeois revolutions, the aim of which was to provide a certain condition of human life which could transcend that of medieval society, and to strengthen the nations’ ability to exist. German history from 1871 to 1914 was a good example. The problem of modernization in the Asian world was the crisis of the existence of nations. Hence, the goal of modernization was to free the Eastern nations from the predicament of conflict with the West. The situation of China was typical; its contemporary history since the Opium War has been the pursuit and practice if modernization so as to strengthen the power of the Chinese nation to exist and to meet the needs this entails. Japan has effectively practiced modernization and achieved great success because it was very clearly and early aware that modernization is essential to resolving the crisis of national existence. Modernization made Japan into a powerful country which could even match Western countries in the late years of the nineteenth century. As a result, in the conflicts between East and West, the Western great powers took a very different attitude towards Japan and China, respectively. In the World War II allied nations were able to win the final victory not only because their goal was just, but also because by moder-nizing they had greatly developed their power to exist; in a sense this latter factor was the more important. The great strength pro-vided by the modernization of most of the allied nations played a very important role in the war. The Soviet Union, whose social system differed from other allied countries, was not destroyed by the German invasion, largely due to the fact that it persistently practiced modernization in its own way, though some of its modernization policies were unreasonable and even barbarous.
THE HISTORICITY OF HUMAN EXISTENCE AND OF TRADITION
The needs of human existence and the activities which res-pond are not abstract, but concrete and historical. Hence, they have different expressions under different historical circumstances be-cause human life itself is concrete and historical, that is to say, it is always associated with a certain historical condition. Human exist-ence is a dynamic process in which the needs of human life are met unceasingly. As human existence and its needs are not an abstract and unchangeable metaphysical essence, but a dynamic process, tradition regarding human existence cannot be an ossified and absolute dogma or a metaphysical substance which completely transcends and controls the activities of human life. With changes in the conditions and needs of human life tradition must be trans-formed and renewed accordingly so as to help human beings cope with the new conditions and problems faced by human existence. Therefore, tradition should not be unchangeable, otherwise it will not have the tenacity and adaptability necessary for its existence and continuity. Rather, it would lose its vitality and become an obsolete artifact of history, like a dry corpse hermetically sealed in a vacuum which would crumble into dust were it to come into contact with fresh air.
With the changes of the conditions of human life, the tradi-tions of both East and West have undergone several transformative renewals whose degree of adaptability to the needs of human exist-ence has determined the tenacity and vitality of their existence and continuity.
The Western tradition is a union of Jewish and Greek cul-tures. Jewish culture gave the West the Old Testament by which Westerners obtained a faith and ethical rules, and find a fulcrum for the world in which they live and a goal and meaning of their exist-ence; Greek culture gave the West science and reason by which the Westerners probe the secrets of the universe and nature. Therefore, faith and reason, revelation and science, are dual basic factors which form the Western tradition. To a certain extent, the history of the continuity of the Western tradition can be regarded as the one of the conflict and compromise between these two factors.
During the Middle Ages faith held the dominant place in the Western tradition; Christianity controlled every aspect of social life, and only under the guidance of faith could reason and science be legitimate. According to Christianity, secular and corporeal existence was insignificant, and concern for secular advantage was sinful. Only in ascetic efforts could human beings achieve salva-tion and the eternal life of the soul.
From the 14th to the 16th century, with the emerging deve-lopment of economic relations in capitalism, the tendency toward secularization in the West became increasingly obvious. As the Christian tradition regarded such a tendency to be a sin and blas-phemous because it denied the positive meaning of the spiritual existence of human being, traditional Christianity became a yoke impeding people’s pursuit of secular existence. The humanism of the period of the Renaissance was a critique and correction of such a tradition, and a secularization of human existence. With the deve-lopment of the tendency toward secularization and the emergence of nation states, the Reformation in Christianity resulted in Prote-stantism which criticized decadence in the Catholic Church and its interference in secular affairs; it looked down on external forms and attached importance to internal faith. Protestantism approved the tendency to secularization which it implemented in religion, thereby adjusting the religious tradition of the Middle Ages to the secularization of human life. With the bourgeois revolution, this trend was fixed in the form of law.
The industrial revolution and the beginning of modernization engendered tremendous changes in the conditions of human existence which were a great shock to the world. Reason and science in the Western tradition gradually assumed dominance and controlled almost all of Western thought from the 17th to the 19th century. Philosophy also assumed the rigor and accuracy of science to be the goal that it should pursue, so that in the Enlightenment reason became almost a substitute for God.
By the end of the 20th century the achievement of moder-nization gives birth to the post-modern society in the Western world and human existence finds itself in a completely new situa-tion. On the one hand, the needs of material existence have been met to an unprecedented degree and the power to control nature has greatly developed; on the other hand, the image of God lost the aura it always possessed, individuals sank into a mass, and reason surpressed the emotions, freedom and desires of human being. How can the human being exist under such a condition? The cries of relativism and "God is dead" resounded through the Western world. Modern Western thought now is newly greatly concerned with the situation of human existence and the problems it faces; profound introspection and critique of the Wester tradition is underway.
In China, tradition has shown great tenacity, but it could not be insensitive to the new situation faced by the Chinese nation. The most influential among the cultural factors making up Chinese tradition was Confucianism which tried to provide a political-ethical ideal and a series of principles for its realization. In its history of more than 2000 years Confucianism has undergone several transformations and renewals in a process from Confucius and Mencius to the Neo-Confucianism of the Song and Ming Dy-nasties, and thence to contemporary Neo-Confucianism. All these transformations and renewals followed changes in the life situation of the Chinese nation, the former being a response to the latter.
But Confucianism is not a synonym for the Chinese tradition which includes also such other schools as Taoism, Mohism, Lega-lism, Buddhism and Logicianism, etc. With Confucianism these formed the body of the Chinese tradition which, like the Confucian tradition, also has undergone several transformations and re-newals. Typically these were expressed in the prosperity of the various schools of thought from pre-Qin times to the early years of the Han Dynasty, and in the spread of Buddhism during the period of the Shui and Tang Dynasties as well as in the process by which the Chinese people have been attempting to overcome the predi-cament of the Chinese nation.
The above discussion makes it clear that tradition always develops along with changes in the situation of human beings, indeed only in such unceasing transformation and renewal can a people find the vitality for its existence and continuity. No tradition that can meet the needs of human existence absolutely because no tradition can be absolutely perfect. Only a process of continuous improvement is possible, though this can never arrive at an abso-lutely perfect state. Once a tradition becomes absolutely perfect, it loses its vitality, for the absolutely perfect state fully excludes the possibility of development, whereas the vitality of tradition lies in development.
It must be pointed out that there is a notion that once a tradition has come into being, it transcends and controls the human being who is seen as a result or a tool that tradition can manipulate absolutely. Thus the activities and existence of human beings can be only a means for realizing the intrinsic principles of a tradition they can never transcend. Tradition in this sense seems to cor-respond to Hegel’s Absolute Idea. Nevertheless the Absolute Idea is logically prior to nature, society and human beings, whereas tradition cannot be beyond history. The notion in question com-pletely neglects and forgets the subjective creativity of the human being and the tremendous influence of his or her activities on tra-dition, that is, it forgets the very important fact that tradition is also the result of the activities of human beings.
Indeed, human beings are always affected by tradition, but tradition is not simply the ossified norms and principles indepen-dent of human beings. More importantly tradition is also a living thing expressed in human activities. When tradition cannot cope with the new situation and the problems faced in human existence, new norms and principles appear which are expressed in one’s activities in life. In these, therefore, on the one hand, the human being is affected by tradition, while on the other hand, he or she transforms and renews tradition according to the needs of his or her existence.
If we take tradition as an eternal and unchangeable substance, we cannot explain either the transformation and renewal of tradition in the course of its development or the fact that there is not only the Western tradition in a general sense, but also particular traditions such as the German, French, British, American, etc. The reason why these different nations in the circle of the Western tradition have their own characteristics is that the situation and pro-blems which they face are different. They make different choices because of different situations and problems, which manifests the deeply subjective force that transforms and renews tradition.
TRADITION AND MODERNIZATION
How should we understand the relation between tradition and modernization? Broadly speaking, modernization also includes the modernization of tradition. If modernization is an approval of a higher sphere of human existence, tradition should be subject and adaptable to the requirements of modernization. Both tradition and modernization are rooted in the needs of human existence: the former is rooted in the historical needs of human existence, the latter in its actual needs. The historical needs of human existence should be subordinated to the actual ones because the latter contains the former within itself and therefore is the higher form of human life; hence tradition must be subordinated to modernization. A modernized tradition is the one which is adaptable to the actual needs of human existence and is vital. The modernization process of every country implies a certain transformation and renewal of its tradition.
This understanding of the relation between tradition and mo-dernization is based on the standpoint which treats tradition from the point of view of the needs of human life. In the final analysis, tradition is nothing but the means of meeting the needs of human existence. If we separate tradition from the problems of human existence and regard it as an unchangeable metaphysical substance, then we will subordinate modernization to tradition; modernization thus becomes a means by which tradition is safeguarded and main-tained. However, if we treat modernization in this way, certainly we will neither achieve authentic modernization with vitality and continuity. The Westernization movement of 19th century China provides an example of this.
In a sense the Westernization movement could be regarded as the beginning of the modernization of China, as a beginning un-doubtedly it had a notable influence on the history of modern Chinese society. But the misfortune of the movement was between tradition and modernization: they took modernization as a means to safeguard and intensify the feudal tradition of China. The guiding principle of the movement was "Chinese Body with Western Fun-ction", which was to advocate maintaining the Chinese traditional system while using the Western technology and industry. To mo-dernize China then was to introduce Western functions into China in order to safeguard Chinese Body. They did not realize that the "Chinese Body" would become the impediment and yoke to intro-ducing the "Western Function", or that "Western Function" would give the "Chinese Body" a great shock. The crushing defeat of China in the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 shattered their dream and made the Chinese people reconsider in the light of this very painful experience the relation between tradition and moder-nization, and between these two and the crisis of national existence.
It must be pointed out that there is an inclination to criticize and even deny modernization from the point of view of tradition since modernization has to some extent led to the disintegration of tradition. This critique focuses its attention on the negative pheno-mena which have appeared in the course of modernization. These can be helpful for our reflection and evaluation of tradition, which it treats, however, primarily from the point of view of tradition rather than of human existence. Even when it does treat the latter point of view, its consideration of modernization is very one-sided because it claims that modernization has brought many unpre-cedented and insurmountable disasters.
Modern civilization was the product of modernization, which brought with it an intense inclination to criticize and reject it. This was expressed typically in eulogies of the state of nature and of returning back to nature. However, by taking too simple a path one cannot understand the influence of modernization and civilization on the conditions of human existence. It cannot be denied that modernization has brought human beings many problems and puzzles which they never meet before, such as the control of people by industry, the harmful influence of industrialization on the na-tural environment of human existence (environmental pollution), the tremendous consumption of energy resources and the threat of nuclear war.
How should we treat this problem? Is it logical and rea-sonable to think that such a great historical change as moderni-zation should bring only happiness without accompanying negative factors? Some problems which have appeared in the course of mo-dernization are not certainly associated with modernization itself, but are caused by human error and negligence. Moreover, the pro-cess of human existence, like that of the individual, cannot all be smooth. One may avoid many dangers by closing oneself in a safe, but no one could bear such a state of existence; this is impossible because in order to exist one has to plunge into a world filled with dangers and uncertainties. If one were to shackle oneself in pre-industrial society, even in the state of nature, one could avoid many dangers and troubles in modern society, but could not ensure having less dangers and predicaments: a terrible epidemic that pre-industrial society could not overcome could threaten equally the existence of all of humanity; the rigorous burdens of nature that modern society can bear would make pre-industrial society gasp for breath. Our forefathers who wandered in the primitive forests would not have tasted the bitterness brought by industrial po-llution, but they had to bear heavy burdens from nature.
To a great extent modern society alleviated the heavy burden born by human existence in pre-industrial society. It has extended greatly the life expectancy and abilities of people, and in an unpre-cedented manner it has displayed the wisdom and creativity of hu-man beings, opening thereby wide horizons. Indeed, some people do die in traffic and electrical accidents every day, but the auto-mobile and electricity as one of the most important means of travel and a most powerful energy resource, respectively, have brought human beings much greater advantages than disadvantages; they have made real many dreams, which were only illusions in pre-industrial society. Who can deny the reasonableness of the exist-ence of automobile and electricity, because of their harmful side effects? Some people argue that the socialized production of mo-dern society shackles the freedom and subjectivity of individual. But we would ask what freedom the individual had in Giordano Bruno’s society which brought fire and death upon those who dared to advocated science and truth? In the society in which God was regarded as absolute and omnipotent, the ultimate of values, what subjectivity had the individual? In the times of despotism in which the king was regarded as the incarnation of an absolute power, what freedom did the individual possess?
Some would disguise themselves as spokesmen for the whole human being, but they refuse to accept what they want the whole human being to accept; they display little hesitation or conflict of conscience. Is this not a very great paradox? Those who strongly eulogize the state of nature and vehemently state the evils of modern society always choose the latter without hesitation when the choice is between a thatched cottage close to nature and a luxury modernized building far from nature; they violently criti-cize industrialization but seize every chance to chase after all the comforts it provides. In China, registered permanent city residence is controlled very strictly, and the higher the degree of moderni-zation of a city the stricter is such control. The change of one’s re-gistered permanent residence in the countryside into a city gene-rally is regarded as a pleasure and glory; the life of city has very great attraction for the peasants who are close to nature and soil, but the life of the countryside has no such attraction to those living in a city. This is clear from the intense inclination of school graduates to return back to the cities where they were born and lived pre-viously. There is then little attraction by the conditions of human existence provided by pre-industrial society.
The discussion about modernization above did not argue in favor of the negative phenomena which appeared in the course of modernization, but showed that these phenomena occurred in the course of human striving. Problems and predicaments are unavoid-able because existence itself means striving, which is to face problems and predicaments. The human being can never arrive at a state in which there are no problems and predicaments; such a state is only an ideal goal which can never be embodied in any real form. When, however, it is recognized that the problems and predica-ments do occur in human activities, human beings are able to re-solve and transcend them in their exercise of existence; the history of this existence is precisely the process in which the problems and predicaments unceasingly are resolved and transcended. This pro-cess unfolds in the form "predicament -- the solution of predi-cament -- new predicament. . . ." From the point of view of the evolution of tradition it unfolds in the form "the crisis of tradition -- the elimination of the crisis (the transformation of tradition) -- the new crisis of tradition. As tradition is formed in the course of surmounting predicaments, it should be subordinated and subject to the requirements of surmounting predicaments. There is no need for us to escape the actual predicaments of human life and even to retreat into the fortress of history in order to seek protection. Modern society is born in the course of surmounting the predica-ments that human beings faced in the previous society it has transcended; likewise, modern society certainly will be trans-cended by a post modern society born in the course of surmounting the predicaments of human existence in modern society.
[ 本帖最后由 jingjingtous 于 2006-7-16 23:33 编辑 ] |
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