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Issue36 the greatness of individuals can be decided only by those who live after them, not by their contemporaries.
1历史上出现过很多人物,对当时的里上升影响,人民的感觉最直接
2. 但是当代人们处于自己的价值观,对历史任务的评价不是客观的
另外,社会科技发展水平让人认识上的局限性也形象
3. 对历史人物的判断是长期的,时间能解释一切
Who can act as the fair-minded judge in deciding the greatness of individuals, Their contemporaries or their offspring?(标点)Although contemporaries do possess some conspicuous merits in passing on us the fairest assessment, yet I firmly hold the opinion that their descendants’ opinions can be more impartial.
The contemporaries can directly feel the profound influence exerted by individuals, in this sense, their judgment is more advantageous. In almost every phase of historical development, there crop up numerous eminent figures whose profound impact over his contemporaries serves as the impetus to push history forward. Therefore, the contemporaries' judgment about individuals, especially some prominent figures, mirrors to some extent their brilliance and profound influence over the masses in that era. We need look no further to find the apt illustration in modern china. Lu Xun, the world-famed novelist, whose penetrating insights into the old china under the yoke of feudal ruling aroused the intellectuals at that time to fight for democracy and freedom. We can easily find the most direct judgment by merely browsing booking and newspapers at that time. Therefore, the contemporaries' direct experience of individuals' influence serve to make their judgment more direct and real.
However, the judgment about individuals from contemporaries is not always disinterested and the real reflection of historical figures’ greatness. In fact, people’s judgment about the greatness historical figures is the mixture of subjective opinions and objective assessment. Therefore, if historical figures' behaviors and words contradict against contemporaries' interests, the subjective opinions may prevail over the objective assessment in their final judgment. For example, when it comes to the judgment concerning an imperial emperor, the judgment from his subordinates is always full of praising words, while that from his subject might be differing. If this emperor is judicious and brings the society with prosperity, then the judgment from the populace is positive. Otherwise, the judgment runs contrary to that of the subordinates. Furthermore, owing to the limitations of people's cognition and level of social development, contemporaries’ judgment about individuals pales in significance. History is replete with such examples, Bell's invention of telephone was once taken as a simple toy; French chemist Basteur was recognized as a mad man for his proposal of sterilization at the high temperature. As a consequence, we run the risk of making one-sided judgment by wholly placing reliance on individual contemporary or a specific group of contemporaries.
The judgment in the greatness of individuals is in some sense a long-term process, since time will infiltrate controversies and bear just appraisal with human civilization evolution and technological advancement. It is merely because of the fact that the acquirement of knowledge and the expansion of ken will rule out the heresies wrapped the truth. Meanwhile, the descendants usually have no direct contradiction with historical figures in term of interests and profits. Therefore, the descendants tend to view historical figures from a more just perspective and provide more objective judgement in their greatness. Bell’s great invention of telephone is now highly acknowledged by his offspring as one of the greatest inventions in the 20th century, and his brilliance is recorded by his coming generations in the annals of history. Basteur’s innovation in sterilization is now widely employed in realms of medicine and food, his greatness is never dimmed by his contemporaries’ flawed judgement. Furthermore, various historical volumes and documents written by past generations are precious reference resources to help descendants achieve impartial judgement; different people’s judgements on historical figures provide later generations with mirrors placed at different angles to reveal them more accurately. Coupled with coming generations' in-depth discriminative analysis, the posterity will tend to achieve a more reliable judgement in the greatness of past figures.
In my final analysis, the later generations’ judgement in the greatness of past figures possess more merits, since evolution of human beings and technological advancement with the elapse of time add more credence and reliance to their judgement
[ 本帖最后由 meilin 于 2006-2-11 15:02 编辑 ] |
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