觀念改變一切It’s All About Ideas

林巍

中外媒體，喜歡定期評選2出最具影響力的人或發明。其實在我看來，真正改變世界的，是觀念。古往今來，莫不如此。

在西方，“觀念”一詞最早源于希臘文的“觀看”“理解”，從14世紀起便用該概念表達事物和價值的思想類型3。簡單而言，觀念是表達典型思想的關鍵詞和基本要素。觀念的社會化，便導致社會行動和變革。

典型的，如15世紀的歐洲，正因為改變了對“人”的觀念，才有了著名的文藝復興運動;而后經過洛克、斯密、伏爾泰、盧梭、狄德羅等一批啟蒙思想家對相關概念的深刻分析、理性發揮4，又產生了歐美的工業革命、商品經濟和憲政體制等等。

然而，20世紀40年代的德國，希特勒的一個歪曲了的進化論觀念——必須不惜一切代價滅絕“次等民族”，導致六百余萬猶太人慘遭殺害，世界也為此付出沉重代價。有西方學者指出，在歷史的關鍵時期，由幾頁紙闡述的某個觀點5便可把世界搞得天翻地覆6。

中國歷史上，由外來觀念引領的社會文化洗禮，主要有兩次：一次是魏晉南北朝時期佛教觀念的傳入，使得中國原有文化發生了結構性的重組，形成了儒釋道的基本文化格局7;另一次則是鴉片戰爭之后的“西學東漸”，形成了“中體西用”的策略，使得中國社會開始與現代國際社會接軌8。

突出的9，如“科學”，該詞在中國古已有之，指“分科之學”和八股取士，但完全不同于西方的science，對該詞的翻譯自明末至晚清一直是“格致”。隨著10中西方科學技術交流的加強，“格致”逐漸被現代意義上的“科學”所取代，廢科舉、辦新學成為勢不可擋的潮流。進而，又引發了洋務運動、戊戌變法、新文化運動等。

1898年的戊戌變法，對于具有傳統“統治”觀念的慈禧太后而言是大逆不道11的，勢必血腥鎮壓。但是十年之后，經過外國列強的欺凌、革命黨人的起義、立憲派的驅動及五大臣的考察等，她逐漸（哪怕是部分地）接受了現代統治觀念，于是由她批準的《欽定憲法大綱》，其新政內容包括政體、法制、經濟、軍事、教育等諸多領域，在廣度與深度12上都遠遠超過了之前康梁主導的戊戌維新。可惜，歷史沒有給她留下付諸實踐的時間，不久她便去世了。

1978年，那場關于“實踐是檢驗真理的唯一標準”的大討論極大地解放了人們的思想，帶來了隨后“改革開放”的巨大成果。

就人與自然的關系而言，自從人類找對了自己在宇宙中的客觀位置，才有了真正的“學問”和“智慧”。同樣，我們今天所以關注氣候變暖、生物多樣性，也是因為我們看待13地球的方式改變了——不再相信“人定勝天14”“唯我獨尊15”，而是將其看作是一個相互影響和依存的動態系統。

處在日益全球化的今天，我們不但要從中國看世界，更要從世界看中國，這樣會有許多觀念上的不同16，從而采取許多明智之舉。

Although the most influential figures and inventions periodically appear in domestic and foreign media， the most powerful thing in changing the world is， so at least it seems to me， ideas. It has been the same in all ages.

In the West， the word “idea” ori-ginated from the Greek iδ?α， meaning to observe or understand. Since the 14th century， the term has been used to denote “ideal type”. Ideas， in a simple definition， are thus key words and essential elements to present a typified thought. The socialization of ideas will result in social action and social reform.

Typical examples can be found in the 15th century Europe， where the famous Renaissance was caused by a renewed understanding of humans. The profound analysis and rational knowledge of Enlightenment thinkers in the West， represented by Locke， Smith， Voltaire， Rousseau and Diderot， bred the Industrial Revolution， commodity economy and constitutionalism in Europe and America.

However， in Germany of the 1940s， a distorted idea of Darwinism possessed Hitlers head—eliminating all the “inferior ethnicities” from the earth at all cost—and resulted in the massacre of over 6 million Jewish people， while the world sacrificed a great deal as well. As some western scholars point out， at certain crucial junctures in history， several pages of ideas are capable of turning the world upside down， or even destroying it.

In Chinas history， two great events introducing foreign ideas to the country transformed Chinese culture： One was the introduction of Buddhist ideas， reconstituting the cultural landscape with Confucianism， Buddhism and Daoism. The other emerged from the trend of “the eastward transmission of western learning”， which gave rise to the strategy of “employing western techniques based on Chinese Culture”， initiating the process of connecting Chinese society with the modern international community.

A classic example is the term ke xue （science）， which was part of classical Chinese， referring to classified subjects and the eight-part essay examination， but had nothing to do with the idea of “science” in the West. In translating the western concept， the term ge zhi had always been used from the late-Ming to the late-Qing Dynasty before it was replaced by ke xue in its modern sense， as a result of the increasing exchanges of science and technology between China and the West. Correspondingly， the abolition of imperial examinations， the establishment of schools of western learning， the Westernization Movement， the Hundred Days Reform， and the New Culture Movement followed.

Sticking to the traditional idea of ruling the country， the Empress Dowager Cixi considered the Hundred Days Reform in 1898 extremely offensive and to be bloodily suppressed. Ten years later， however， having gone through the bullying and humiliation from foreign powers， revolutionary revolts， the Constitutional Movement as well as an investigation trip abroad by five ministers of the monarchy， the Empress Dowager gradually accepted the modern idea of government （if only in part）， and issued the Imperial Constitution Outline， which was substantially more progressive than the previous proposals of Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao （two representative personages of the Hundred Days Reform） in the areas of political and legal systems， the economy， the military， education and so on. Pitifully， history did not allow enough time for her to accomplish these reforms before her death.

In 1978， the mass debate on “Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth.” was widely launched， emancipating people tremendously from their ideological confinement， hence the enormous outcome of the “reform and opening up to the outside world”.

As far as the relations between man and nature are concerned， human beings did not establish their knowledge and wisdom， so to speak， until their proper position was located in the universe. By the same token， global warming and biological diversity capture our attention only after we have altered the way we approach nature from “mans fixed purpose is superior to Heaven” and “supremacy over all” to a more balanced view of the universe， to treat it as an interdependent， interactive and dynamic system.

In todays increasingly globalized world， we should not only view the world from Chinas perspective but view China with a global vision. In that way， many wiser decisions will be made using such transformed ideas.