文明：西方是历史吗？
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civilization:_Is_the_West_History%3F?
《文明：西方是历史吗？》是一部 2011 年英国电视纪录片，讲述了西方文明如何在五个世纪内转变为世界主导文明。
该节目由尼尔·弗格森主持，揭示了西方成功的“杀手级应用”——竞争、科学、财产所有制民主、现代医学、消费社会和新教工作伦理——真正解释了五个世纪以来，少数人类如何设法获得地球大部分资源。[1]
描述[编辑]
根据历史学家的说法，西方文明崛起为全球主导地位是过去五个世纪中最重要的历史现象。全世界越来越多的人上大学、在公司工作、选举政府、服用药物、穿衣服、参加体育运动，所有这些都受到强烈的“西方”影响。然而，六百年前，西欧王国似乎是悲惨的穷乡僻壤，饱受战乱和瘟疫的蹂躏。明朝中国或奥斯曼土耳其才具有世界文明的面貌。西方是如何超越东方对手的？西方权力的巅峰是否已经过去？
在《文明：西方是历史吗？》一书中，英国历史学家尼尔·弗格森认为，从 15 世纪开始，西方发展出了其他地区所缺乏的六个强大的新概念：竞争、科学、法治、现代医学、消费主义和职业道德。这些成为让西方领先于其他地区的“杀手级应用”；开辟全球贸易路线、利用新的科学知识、发展代议制政府、提高预期寿命、引发工业革命，以及大幅提高人类生产力。 《文明》准确地展示了十几个西方帝国如何控制了五分之三的人类和五分之四的世界经济。
然而，弗格森认为，西方占主导地位的日子屈指可数，因为其他国家终于下载了西方曾经垄断的六大杀手级应用——而西方实际上已经对自己失去了信心。[2]
集数 标题 描述
1 竞争 第一集开始于 1420 年，当时明朝中国有可信的宣称自己是世界上最先进的文明：“天下”。相比之下，玫瑰战争前夕的英国似乎相当原始。[1][3]
然而，中国在技术上建立的领先地位并没有转化为持续的经济增长。在中国，一个庞大的帝国扼杀了殖民扩张和经济创新。在欧洲，政治分裂滋生了竞争。
我们这个时代的问题是，我们是否已经失去了这种竞争优势，而亚洲正在迅速崛起。[1]
2 科学 1683 年，奥斯曼帝国军队围攻了欧洲最强大帝国的首都维也纳。东方统治西方是一个令人震惊的可能场景。但奥斯曼帝国军队被击败了；与其说是被火力打败，不如说是被科学打败了。[1][3]
弗格森问道，为什么伊斯兰世界没有参与科学革命和启蒙运动，以及在科学学科教育水平下降的时候，西方是否仍然能够保持其科学领先地位。[1]
3 财产 弗格森问道，为什么北美成功了，而拉丁美洲却落后了这么多世纪。两者有很多共同之处（尤其是征服土著人民和欧洲移民使用奴隶制），但在个人财产权、法治和代议制政府方面存在着巨大的分歧。[1][3]
1776 年至 1820 年间，发生了两次反对王室统治的革命，但西蒙·玻利瓦尔始终无法成为乔治·华盛顿，即使美国崛起为全球霸主，拉丁美洲仍然政治上四分五裂、社会上分裂、经济上落后。
然而，尼尔·弗格森提出了一个问题：今天，南北在语言和经济上是否正在趋同。[1]
4 医学 法兰西帝国有意识地着手通过改善公共卫生和建设现代化基础设施来文明非洲。医学科学与种族伪科学之间有何联系？[1][3]
帝国主义者谈论着他们的文明使命，但他们的竞争最终引发了危及西方全球主导地位的世界大战。
今天，西方援助机构是否从过去吸取了教训？还是中国正在建立一个新的非洲帝国？[1]
5 消费主义 当今世界正变得越来越同质化，除了越来越少的例外，大品牌主宰着世界各地的主要街道、商业街和购物中心。[1][3]
我们穿同样的衣服；我们想要同样的最新技术装备；我们开同样的车。但这种一致性从何而来？答案是工业革命和全球化的结合。
消费社会。
大众消费起源于英国，但在美国最为繁荣，它的出现改变了世界的运作方式。在日本的带领下，一个又一个的非西方社会采用了同样的模式，接受了西方的制造和消费方式。
只有穆斯林世界抵制了。但是，罩袍能抵挡李维斯多久？尼尔·弗格森研究了我们现在是否看到了对西方消费主义全球主导地位的第一次有效挑战。[1]
6 工作 使西方能够主宰其他地区的第六个要素是职业道德。马克斯·韦伯将其与新教联系起来，任何文化，无论宗教信仰如何，都能够通过努力工作、储蓄和随着时间的推移积累资本来拥抱资本主义精神。[1][3]
问题是为什么这种道德现在似乎在西方逐渐消退。欧洲人不再长时间工作，美国人几乎完全放弃了储蓄。如今，世界上真正的劳动者和储蓄者是孔子的继承者，而不是加尔文。然而，这些担忧可能低估了西方文明解决世界问题的能力。
在最后一集中，尼尔·弗格森认为，对我们生存的真正威胁不是我们对宗教的信仰丧失，而是对我们自己的信仰丧失。[1]
反响[编辑]
《悉尼先驱晨报》的布拉德·纽瑟姆写道：“挑衅、支持殖民主义的弗格森不会是每个人的心头好，但至少这个系列表明，英国广播公司确实传播了多种观点。”[4]《独立报》的汤姆·萨特克利夫写道，弗格森“以一种非常发人深省的方式令人恼火”。[5] 《卫报》的山姆·沃勒斯顿写道：“弗格森的写作方式很严肃：事情就是这样，你最好相信。这不是特别迷人，但肯定不无聊——这是一次穿越时空的过山车之旅，非常有趣，甚至感觉不像是在学校。”[6]《每日电讯报》的克里斯·哈维写道：“他发展中的论点令人愉快，并以弗格森风格的确定性向前推进。”[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]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] |
