Is the rise of western countries accidental?
melancholy
Speaking of it, this topic is not new. Max Weber has long discussed in the preface of his Essays on Sociology of Religion, why didn't the development of science and economy go to the rational road peculiar to the West outside Europe? He explained the development of western rational capitalism with "Protestant ethics".
Later, Joseph Needham, a British scholar who is famous for studying the history of science and technology in China, also raised a similar question. China's ancient science and technology were very great, but why didn't China's ancient civilization develop modern science and technology? We call it "Needham puzzle" because all the answers to this question are unsatisfactory.
the west from the perspective of world history
in Why Europe? In the book, Jack GoldSi Tong, an American scholar, still deals with similar problems, but he has changed the research perspective, broadened the research horizon, and reconsidered the myth of the rise of the West from the perspective of world history.
To some extent, Weber's research is also a worldwide perspective, but it is a local cosmopolitan. He first studied Calvinism in Protestantism, and then extended it to world religions, such as Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam, but only answered the development of rational capitalism in the West from the perspective of religion. Needham only studied the history of science and technology in China, and neither of them put the so-called difficult problem into a broader and grand research field of world history. Gold Si Tong's book has a subtitle that well explains his question "The Rise of the West from the Perspective of World History", so the main message conveyed by this book is that the rise of the West is not because Europe is superior and richer than other parts of the world, but also more advanced in technology and better in business.
On the contrary, we have learned that before the 18th century, there was no indication that religion, technology and trade in Europe would have distinctive advantages in the future. In other words, the development of European economy, which we used to call the British industrial revolution, is not as natural and distinct as we thought. From the development direction of the whole world at that time, progress was not an inevitable trend as Darwinists thought, and contingency and repetitiveness occupied the main characteristics of world economic development.
generally speaking of ancient China, we habitually cite four great inventions to prove the high-tech level that China could reach in ancient times. However, from the perspective of world history, technological innovations have been available in many countries. The Romans invented concrete and perfected the design of arches and aqueducts. Indian and Islamic civilizations invented windmills, clocks and observatories; Not to mention Greek philosophy and mathematics.
For every country, a series of inventions often herald a golden age and a period of rapid economic growth. However, this period must be interrupted by political crisis and the chaos of war, and society will fall into stagnation and decline again. The development of history often develops in this cyclical mode, rather than a spiral rise as suggested by dialectics. Some scientific and technological inventions can promote economic development in a short time, but this role cannot be exaggerated.
In this sense, GoldSi Tong believes that what really changes Europe and the world is the "long-term, expanding and interrelated innovation" in various basic fields such as agriculture, transportation, manufacturing, finance, machinery processing, education and marketing. The trend of change did not start from a specific period, but never stopped. "When we say that the innovative model has created the rise of the West, we are not talking about some discrete inventions, but wave after wave of contact changes that are taking place in many fields, and they promote each other, and each change is amplifying the impact of other changes." As the economic historian Abbott Ersh said, the industrial revolution is characterized by "continuous novelty".
the rise of the west and the east
Mr. Lu Xun mentioned in an article in the 193s that foreign countries used gunpowder to make bullets to defend their enemies, but China used it as firecrackers to worship God; Foreign countries use compass to sail, but China uses it to see Feng Shui; Foreign countries used opium to cure diseases, but China used it as a meal ... His original intention was of course to satirize the Chinese people's lack of enterprising spirit, but from another perspective, if there were no four great inventions, the West could not use gunpowder to make bullets, sail with a compass and cure diseases with opium, not to mention the future navigation adventure, trade aggression and colonial plunder, which undoubtedly accumulated original strength and resources for the subsequent rise of Europe.
Of course, it doesn't mean that the existence of the East contributed to the rise of the West, but the rise of the West must be inseparable from the existence of the East. Only on this basic factor can we talk about the accidental factor of the rise of the West. In his book, GoldSi Tong lists some technical factors that led Europe to enter a new development path in modern times. For example, a series of important scientific discoveries prompted Europeans to question the authoritative knowledge of classical ideas and religious texts; Europeans have developed a method that combines experimental research with mathematical analysis; Bacon's empiricism and the popularization of induction formed a simple materialistic concept; The invention of various advanced instruments has promoted the development of experiment and observation methods; The rise of relative tolerance and pluralistic culture; The formation of close social relations among entrepreneurs, scientists and craftsmen ... In other words, the rise of the West in modern times needs so many different factors to promote a big qualitative change, and the formation of so many factors is very accidental, so we can't make a reasonable analysis and induction with a viewpoint of predicting regularity. Only honestly admit that this is a difficult problem and an eternal one.
We are used to explaining a difficult problem with an ultimate reason in our research. This idea is ridiculous in practice. Max Weber kept mentioning when he wrote "Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism". Although he investigated the influence of the rise of Protestantism on the development of capitalism, this investigation was only a fragment, which did not mean that there were no other factors affecting the development of capitalism. This is why he turned to a more grand religious study after that, and explored the influence on western capitalism from the perspective of world religions.
But when we read, we always misunderstand that Weber's Protestant ethics is the only reason for rational capitalism.
gold Si Tong in "why Europe? "analyzes the reasons for the rise of the West, and his greatest contribution is not what factors are put forward, but to study the West with a global perspective and an interconnected (and continuous) method. The East is not just a mirror image of the West as "Orientalism" thinks, but a close mutual subject relationship in the globalization system.