文明 西方是曆史嗎？Civilization Is the West History?

文明：西方是曆史嗎？

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization:_Is_the_West_History%3F?

《文明：西方是曆史嗎？》是一部 2011 年英國電視紀錄片，講述了西方文明如何在五個世紀內轉變為世界主導文明。

該節目由尼爾·弗格森主持，揭示了西方成功的“殺手級應用”——競爭、科學、財產所有製民主、現代醫學、消費社會和新教工作倫理——真正解釋了五個世紀以來，少數人類如何設法獲得地球大部分資源。[1]

描述[編輯]

根據曆史學家的說法，西方文明崛起為全球主導地位是過去五個世紀中最重要的曆史現象。全世界越來越多的人上大學、在公司工作、選舉政府、服用藥物、穿衣服、參加體育運動，所有這些都受到強烈的“西方”影響。然而，六百年前，西歐王國似乎是悲慘的窮鄉僻壤，飽受戰亂和瘟疫的蹂躪。明朝中國或奧斯曼土耳其才具有世界文明的麵貌。西方是如何超越東方對手的？西方權力的巔峰是否已經過去？

在《文明：西方是曆史嗎？》一書中，英國曆史學家尼爾·弗格森認為，從 15 世紀開始，西方發展出了其他地區所缺乏的六個強大的新概念：競爭、科學、法治、現代醫學、消費主義和職業道德。這些成為讓西方領先於其他地區的“殺手級應用”；開辟全球貿易路線、利用新的科學知識、發展代議製政府、提高預期壽命、引發工業革命，以及大幅提高人類生產力。 《文明》準確地展示了十幾個西方帝國如何控製了五分之三的人類和五分之四的世界經濟。

然而，弗格森認為，西方占主導地位的日子屈指可數，因為其他國家終於下載了西方曾經壟斷的六大殺手級應用——而西方實際上已經對自己失去了信心。[2]

集數 標題 描述

1 競爭 第一集開始於 1420 年，當時明朝中國有可信的宣稱自己是世界上最先進的文明：“天下”。相比之下，玫瑰戰爭前夕的英國似乎相當原始。[1][3]

然而，中國在技術上建立的領先地位並沒有轉化為持續的經濟增長。在中國，一個龐大的帝國扼殺了殖民擴張和經濟創新。在歐洲，政治分裂滋生了競爭。

我們這個時代的問題是，我們是否已經失去了這種競爭優勢，而亞洲正在迅速崛起。[1]

2 科學 1683 年，奧斯曼帝國軍隊圍攻了歐洲最強大帝國的首都維也納。東方統治西方是一個令人震驚的可能場景。但奧斯曼帝國軍隊被擊敗了；與其說是被火力打敗，不如說是被科學打敗了。[1][3]

弗格森問道，為什麽伊斯蘭世界沒有參與科學革命和啟蒙運動，以及在科學學科教育水平下降的時候，西方是否仍然能夠保持其科學領先地位。[1]

3 財產 弗格森問道，為什麽北美成功了，而拉丁美洲卻落後了這麽多世紀。兩者有很多共同之處（尤其是征服土著人民和歐洲移民使用奴隸製），但在個人財產權、法治和代議製政府方麵存在著巨大的分歧。[1][3]

1776 年至 1820 年間，發生了兩次反對王室統治的革命，但西蒙·玻利瓦爾始終無法成為喬治·華盛頓，即使美國崛起為全球霸主，拉丁美洲仍然政治上四分五裂、社會上分裂、經濟上落後。

然而，尼爾·弗格森提出了一個問題：今天，南北在語言和經濟上是否正在趨同。[1]

4 醫學 法蘭西帝國有意識地著手通過改善公共衛生和建設現代化基礎設施來文明非洲。醫學科學與種族偽科學之間有何聯係？[1][3]

帝國主義者談論著他們的文明使命，但他們的競爭最終引發了危及西方全球主導地位的世界大戰。

今天，西方援助機構是否從過去吸取了教訓？還是中國正在建立一個新的非洲帝國？[1]

5 消費主義 當今世界正變得越來越同質化，除了越來越少的例外，大品牌主宰著世界各地的主要街道、商業街和購物中心。[1][3]

我們穿同樣的衣服；我們想要同樣的最新技術裝備；我們開同樣的車。但這種一致性從何而來？答案是工業革命和全球化的結合。

消費社會。

大眾消費起源於英國，但在美國最為繁榮，它的出現改變了世界的運作方式。在日本的帶領下，一個又一個的非西方社會采用了同樣的模式，接受了西方的製造和消費方式。

隻有穆斯林世界抵製了。但是，罩袍能抵擋李維斯多久？尼爾·弗格森研究了我們現在是否看到了對西方消費主義全球主導地位的第一次有效挑戰。[1]

6 工作 使西方能夠主宰其他地區的第六個要素是職業道德。馬克斯·韋伯將其與新教聯係起來，任何文化，無論宗教信仰如何，都能夠通過努力工作、儲蓄和隨著時間的推移積累資本來擁抱資本主義精神。[1][3]

問題是為什麽這種道德現在似乎在西方逐漸消退。歐洲人不再長時間工作，美國人幾乎完全放棄了儲蓄。如今，世界上真正的勞動者和儲蓄者是孔子的繼承者，而不是加爾文。然而，這些擔憂可能低估了西方文明解決世界問題的能力。

在最後一集中，尼爾·弗格森認為，對我們生存的真正威脅不是我們對宗教的信仰喪失，而是對我們自己的信仰喪失。[1]

反響[編輯]

《悉尼先驅晨報》的布拉德·紐瑟姆寫道：“挑釁、支持殖民主義的弗格森不會是每個人的心頭好，但至少這個係列表明，英國廣播公司確實傳播了多種觀點。”[4]《獨立報》的湯姆·薩特克利夫寫道，弗格森“以一種非常發人深省的方式令人惱火”。[5] 《衛報》的山姆·沃勒斯頓寫道：“弗格森的寫作方式很嚴肅：事情就是這樣，你最好相信。這不是特別迷人，但肯定不無聊——這是一次穿越時空的過山車之旅，非常有趣，甚至感覺不像是在學校。”[6]《每日電訊報》的克裏斯·哈維寫道：“他發展中的論點令人愉快，並以弗格森風格的確定性向前推進。”[7]

Civilization: Is the West History?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization:_Is_the_West_History%3F?

Civilization: Is the West History? is a 2011 British TV documentary that tells how Western civilisation, in five centuries, transformed into the dominating civilisation in the world.

Presented by Niall Ferguson, the show reveals the 'killer apps' of the West's success – competition, science, the property owning democracy, modern medicine, the consumer society and the Protestant work ethic – the real explanation of how, for five centuries, a clear minority of mankind managed to secure the majority of the Earth's resources.^[1]

Description

[edit]

According to the historian, Western civilization's rise to global dominance is the single most important historical phenomenon of the past five centuries. All around the world, more and more people study at universities, work for companies, vote for governments, take medicines, wear clothes, and play sports, all of which have strong 'western' influences. Yet six hundred years ago the kingdoms of Western Europe seemed like miserable backwaters, ravaged by incessant war and pestilence. It was Ming China or Ottoman Turkey that had the look of world civilizations. How did the West overtake its Eastern rivals? And has the zenith of Western power now passed?

In Civilization: Is the West history?, the British historian Niall Ferguson argues that, beginning in the fifteenth century, the West developed six powerful new concepts that the Rest lacked: competition, science, the rule of law, modern medicine, consumerism, and the work ethic. These became the "killer apps" that allowed the West to go ahead of the Rest; opening global trade routes, exploiting new scientific knowledge, evolving representative government, increasing life expectancy, unleashing the Industrial Revolution, and hugely increasing human productivity. Civilization shows exactly how a dozen Western empires came to control three-fifths of mankind and four-fifths of the world economy.

However, Ferguson argues that the days of Western predominance are numbered because the Rest have finally downloaded the six killer apps the West once monopolised – while the West has literally lost faith in itself.^[2]

Episodes

[edit]

Number of episode	Title	Description
1	Competition	The first episode begins in 1420 when Ming China had a credible claim to be the most advanced civilization in the world: 'All Under Heaven'. England on the eve of the Wars of the Roses would have seemed quite primitive by contrast.[1][3] Yet the lead that China had established in technology was not to be translated into sustained economic growth. In China, a monolithic empire stifled colonial expansion and economic innovation. In Europe political division bred competition. The question for our own time is whether or not we have lost that competitive edge to a rapidly ascending Asia.[1]
2	Science	In 1683, the Ottoman army laid siege to Vienna, the capital of Europe's most powerful empire. Domination of West by East was an alarmingly plausible scenario. But the Ottoman army was defeated; not so much by firepower as by science.[1][3] Ferguson asks why the Islamic world did not participate in the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment, and if the West is still capable of maintaining its scientific lead at a time when educational attainment in science subjects is declining.[1]
3	Property	Ferguson asks why North America succeeded while Latin America for so many centuries lagged behind. The two had much in common (not least the subjugation of indigenous peoples and the use of slavery by European immigrants), but they differed profoundly on individual property rights, the rule of law and representative government.[1][3] There were two revolutions against royal rule between 1776 and 1820, yet Simón Bolívar was never able to be George Washington, and Latin America remained politically fragmented, socially divided and economically backward even as the United States rose to global primacy. However, Niall Ferguson asks whether North and South are converging today, linguistically and economically.[1]
4	Medicine	The French Empire consciously set out to civilize Africa by improving public health as well as building a modern infrastructure. . What was the link from medical science to racial pseudo-science?[1][3] The imperialists talked of their civilizing mission, but their rivalry ultimately caused world wars that endangered the West's global dominance. Today, have Western aid agencies learned lessons from the past? Or is China in the process of building a new African empire?[1]
5	Consumerism	Today the world is becoming more homogenous and, with increasingly few exceptions, big-name brands dominate main streets, high streets and shopping malls all around the globe.[1][3] We dress the same; we want the same latest technological kit; we drive the same cars. But where did this uniformity come from? The answer is the combination of the Industrial Revolution and the consumer society. Originating in the UK but flourishing most spectacularly in the United States, the advent of mass consumption has changed the way the world worked. Led by the Japanese, one non-Western society after another has adopted the same model, embracing the Western way of manufacturing and consuming. Only the Muslim world has resisted. But how long can the burkha hold out against Levi's? Niall Ferguson examines whether we are now seeing the first effective challenge to the global dominance of Western consumerism.[1]
6	Work	The sixth element that enabled the West to dominate the rest was the work ethic. Max Weber famously linked it to Protestantism, any culture, regardless of religion, is capable of embracing the spirit of capitalism by working hard, saving, and accumulating capital over time.[1][3] The question is why that ethic seems now to be fading in the West. Europeans no longer work long hours, and Americans have almost given up saving completely. The real workers and savers in the world are now the heirs of Confucius, not Calvin. Yet these fears may underestimate the ability of Western civilization to solve the world's problems. In the final episode, Niall Ferguson argues that the real threat to our survival is our loss of faith not in religion but in ourselves.[1]

Reception

[edit]

Brad Newsome of The Sydney Morning Herald wrote, "The provocative, pro-colonialist Ferguson won't be everyone's cup of tea but at least this series shows that the BBC does air a diversity of views."^[4] Tom Sutcliffe of The Independent wrote that Ferguson is "irritating in a very thought-provoking way".^[5] Sam Wollaston of The Guardian wrote, "Ferguson's is a no-nonsense approach: here's how it is, you better believe it. It's not especially charming, but it certainly isn't boring – it's a rollicking roller-coaster ride through time, so much fun it doesn't even feel like school."^[6] Chris Harvey of The Daily Telegraph wrote, "His developing thesis was an enjoyable one, driven forward with the certainty that is Ferguson's style."^[7]