How to treat China traditional culture dialectically and negatively?

On the Basic Spirit of China Traditional Culture

In essence, the basic spirit of China traditional culture is the national spirit of the Chinese nation. There are many opinions about the basic spirit of China traditional culture.

Some scholars believe that the ideological basis of the long-term development of China traditional culture can be called the basic spirit of China traditional culture. The basic spirit of culture is the subtle internal motive force in the process of cultural development and the basic idea guiding the continuous progress of national culture. The basic spirit of China's traditional culture is the basic feature of the Chinese nation's spiritual form. Therefore, (1) is strong and promising; (2) Harmony and neutrality; (3) the use of respecting morality; (4) Harmony between man and nature. "These are the basic spirits of China traditional culture." (Zhang Dainian: On the Basic Spirits of China Culture, China Cultural Studies Series,No. 1, published by Fudan University Press. ) China's national spirit is basically condensed in two famous sayings of the Book of Changes, namely, "Heaven is healthy, and a gentleman strives for self-improvement". "The virtue of a gentleman is the basic spirit of China traditional culture. Although the concept of "golden mean" was widely spread in the past, it actually failed to promote cultural development. Therefore, the "golden mean" cannot be regarded as the basic spirit of China's traditional culture. (Zhang Dainian: Cultural Tradition and National Spirit, Academic Monthly,No. 1986,No. 12. The basic spirit of China's traditional culture is also reflected in the fine tradition of replacing religion with moral education. (Zhang Dainian: China Culture and China Philosophy, published by Oriental Publishing House)

Some scholars believe that "the fundamental spirit of China's traditional culture is harmony and freedom". (Xu Siyuan: Two Topics on China Culture, Collected Works on China Culture,No. 1, published by Fudan University Press. )

Some scholars believe that the patriarchal hierarchy ethics, which is based on self-sufficient natural economy, family-oriented and blood-related, is the main clue, essence and core that runs through the five levels of social production activities and productivity, social production relations, social system, social psychology and social consciousness in ancient China. "This is the basic spirit of ancient traditional culture in China." (Yang Xianbang: Re-evaluation of traditional culture in China,

Some scholars believe that China's national spirit can be roughly summarized into four interrelated aspects: (1) rational spirit, which is manifested in the following aspects: it has a long tradition of atheism, fully affirms the unity of man and nature and individual and society, and advocates that the satisfaction of personal feelings and desires is consistent with the rational requirements of society. On the whole, it denies the religious worship of supernatural gods and saviors and the existence of the other side of the world. It is the foundation of China's rational spirit to advocate the harmonious unity between man and nature, individual and society, and to oppose the division and opposition between them. (2) the spirit of freedom, which is first manifested in the people's resistance to the rule of the exploiting classes. At the same time, in the struggle against foreign oppression, some classes, groups and figures in the ruling class also actively participated in this struggle, which shows that in the ideological and cultural tradition of the ruling class in China, there are also active legalists who love freedom, oppose "foresight", pay attention to "experience", emphasize implementation and praise merit; Taoism advocates "knowing people", "knowing yourself" and "analyzing the principles of all things". These are all manifestations of the spirit of seeking truth. (4) adaptive spirit. (See Liu Gangji: On the Spirit of the Chinese Nation, Journal of Wuhan University 1985,No. 1 issue. Some scholars believe that the basic spirit of China traditional culture can be summarized as "respecting ancestors and valuing people". Shandong People's Publishing House) In addition, China's traditional culture also has the viewpoint of development, self-improvement and tireless learning spirit. (See Ding Shouhe: An Attempt of China Traditional Culture, Exploration No.4, 1987. )

Some scholars believe that the spirit of China's traditional culture is humanism, which is embodied in the following aspects: not isolating people from interpersonal relationships, nor opposing people with nature; Do not pursue a purely natural knowledge system; It is anti-utilitarian in axiology; Pay tribute to being a man. The humanistic spirit of China's traditional culture has added luster to our nation and country, but it has also set obstacles; It spread the light of wisdom to the world, but also caused various obstacles to Chinese and foreign exchanges; This is a huge spiritual wealth and a huge cultural burden. (See Pang Pu: Humanistic Spirit of China Culture, Guangming Daily1986 65438+1October 6. )

(Li Zonggui: An Introduction to China Culture)

Human society has entered a modern civilization characterized by industrialization, popularization of education and scientificity. The fact that modern civilization dominates the world determines a country to develop its nation, and it is an inevitable trend to move towards modernization.

In the process of modernization, due to different national conditions, countries encounter different problems and obstacles. China is an ancient civilization with 5,000 years of traditional culture. In the process of China's modernization, there have been repeated debates about whether China's traditional culture can be modernized. This historical phenomenon clearly enlightens us: Can China's traditional culture be modernized? How to modernize? This is a problem of great practical significance and must be understood.

First, denying traditional culture is also denying history.

Culture, in a broad sense, refers to the sum of material and spiritual production capacity and wealth created by human beings in the social practice of transforming the world, including material civilization, spiritual civilization and institutional civilization. Culture in a narrow sense mainly refers to spiritual production capacity and spiritual products. Traditional culture is the cultural heritage of material civilization and spiritual civilization accumulated by a nation in long-term social practice. It is also the spiritual embodiment of the nation's unique way of thinking. Traditional culture has both essence and dross, which can neither be completely denied nor absorbed. Only by standing at the height of the times, through practical tests, absorbing the essence and eliminating the dross can we play its role correctly.

When a country moves towards modernization, it must have a culture based on a certain economic and political foundation. To deny traditional culture is also to deny history and national spirit. It is possible to artificially cut off your "roots." White, an American cultural philosopher, said: "Culture is a continuous unity, and every stage of cultural development comes from an earlier cultural environment." "The present culture depends on the past culture, and the future culture is only the current cultural trend". The development history of a nation is also a history of developing and enriching traditions. Similarly, the national spirit, as an important force to unite people and inspire people, is also the result of long-term edification and cultivation of traditional culture and the crystallization of traditional culture. It is not terrible for a nation to get into any difficulties. It is terrible to lose the pillar of national spirit and have no spiritual support. Therefore, how to treat traditional cultural issues is by no means a cultural issue. It is related to the development of national destiny. Many historical facts have proved that a country's national rejuvenation and modernization start with carrying forward the national spirit. National spirit is the soul of a nation. The denial of traditional culture will inevitably obliterate the national spirit. It is wrong to think that China's modernization can only draw strength from foreign cultures. The process of trying to replace China's traditional cultural model with western cultural model is called Westernization. From the perspective of epistemology, it is mainly caused by the following three reasons:

First of all, there is a lack of profound understanding and knowledge of the rich connotation of China traditional culture. China's traditional culture is not a pile of worthless rubbish as some people say, but has rich connotations in many aspects. Its outstanding part is the precious spiritual wealth of mankind and one of the renewable resources of all new and higher civilizations. The rich connotation of China traditional culture is mainly reflected in the following aspects:

A spirit of self-improvement. China culture has always been concerned about real life. Confucius said that "I don't know life, I don't know death", and that "a gentleman strives for self-improvement". It is this philosophy of life after China's entry into WTO that has cultivated the Chinese nation to fight tenaciously against all natural and social harms and injustices. China people have the spirit of not believing in evil and not afraid of ghosts since ancient times, emphasizing that happiness in life should be created by themselves. Realize modernization.

Second, the concept of unity of knowledge and action. The Confucian culture in China said that "doing is close to benevolence", to a certain extent, embodies the epistemological thought of "emphasizing doing but neglecting knowing", which is consistent with the practical character. Practice is the source of knowledge. To realize modernization, of course, we must study foreign advanced things hard, but what is more important is our own socialist practice.

Third, pay attention to people's spiritual life. China's traditional culture attaches great importance to people's inner cultivation and this spiritual world, and despises greedy and vulgar material desires. Mencius put forward that "wealth is beauty", "wealth can't be lewd, poverty can't be moved, and power can't be compromised", which is the fundamental requirement for personality. This traditional virtue is also very valuable for shaping modern personality.

Fourth, we should be patriotic. Patriotism is one of the deepest feelings we have consolidated for our motherland for thousands of years. Patriotism is a fine tradition of our Chinese nation. As the saying goes, every man is responsible for the rise and fall of the world. "Today, a country can only prosper if it embarks on the road of modernization. To realize modernization, it depends on the unity of the people of the whole country.

5. The spirit of pursuing truth and being brave in dedication. China's traditional culture despises villains who are afraid of death, ungrateful and pursue fame and fortune. When talking about the pursuit of truth, the ancients thought that "learning the truth has a long way to go, and you can't die overnight." The spirit of "I will pursue from top to bottom" is a powerful driving force to promote modernization.

6. Ethics of unity and mutual assistance, respect for the elderly and love for the young. The ancients said, "Old people are old, young people are old, and young people are young." Only when a society is strict with self-discipline, tolerant to others and forms a social atmosphere of unity and mutual assistance, respecting the elderly and loving the young, can a society be full of warmth and harmony and bring hope and strength to people. These are just a part of the essence of China traditional culture, which can reflect the profoundness of China traditional culture.

Secondly, traditional culture opposes modernization. Traditional culture is not a stagnant pool, but a dynamic system. Human beings create traditional culture in their own social practice and innovate and enrich traditions in practice. Otherwise, it will not become a realistic cultural tradition. Therefore, we should not simply attribute traditional culture to "past history", but should realize that it is related to the present and the future at the same time. We should regard development as "anti-tradition". Its way of thinking is to use modern culture to fight against traditional culture. In fact, any modernization can only proceed from the realistic traditional culture, otherwise it will become passive water and a tree without roots. Mr. Chen Yinque said: "People who can really systematize their thoughts must absorb and introduce foreign theories on the one hand, and not forget the status of their own nation on the other." Popper once tried to "clean society thoroughly"-to create a social whiteboard. Then draw a brand-new social system on it and point out: "Nothing is more dangerous than destroying the traditional framework. This kind of destruction will lead to cynicism and nihilism, and will make all human values indifferent and disintegrate. Moreover, once the tradition is destroyed, civilization will disappear. " Therefore, we must never take a completely negative attitude towards traditional culture, but must seek truth from facts, analyze specific problems, test them in practice and eliminate those outdated things.

Thirdly, judging from the dialectical relationship between national culture and world civilization, world civilization is not the result of the national role of a certain country, but created by people all over the world. Of course, due to different specific conditions, the role played in the world is also different, but this is only a question of the size of the role, not the existence of the role. Therefore, the cultures of all ethnic groups should be equal and need to respect each other, learn from each other and learn from each other's strengths. There should be no sense of superiority. As a part of the human world, no country is isolated. Its existence and development cannot but have an impact on other countries. It cannot but be influenced by other countries in one way or another. China's four great inventions in ancient times made great contributions to world civilization. Many ancient China cultural craze in the contemporary west also shows that China's traditional culture is still playing a role. Therefore, only by giving full play to the characteristics of its own national culture and making due contributions to human society can the development of world civilization be reliably guaranteed. On the contrary, regardless of its own national characteristics, a country blindly imitates or copies other cultures, which will not only fail to develop well, but even lead to extinction. There is such a lesson in world history. In fact, western culture is also divided into two parts, good and bad. You can't "pick all the dishes in the basket", such as "money worship", even in the west, it is criticized by people. Western culture is not equal to the world advanced culture, which are two different concepts. The world advanced culture is advanced, scientific and of great significance to human society. Therefore, learning and introducing foreign cultures must be analyzed in detail, and a successful modern country must never proceed from its own reality. On the basis of our traditional culture, we should learn from foreign advanced culture, innovate our own culture and constantly improve our modernization level. Because whether traditional culture can be modernized and developed under the new historical conditions depends on the way people treat it.

Second, traditional culture is a great spiritual force.

As a social spiritual form, traditional culture is a reflection of a certain social existence, a huge spiritual force, and has a long-term role in society.

In addition, there are negative factors in China's traditional culture, which is not conducive to the development of modernization. The negative factors of its traditional culture are as follows:

1. Lack of democratic spirit. China has been in a feudal society for a long time, and the feudal consciousness has a deep influence on people. On the one hand, feudal autocratic thought severely suppressed and bound the development of personality, on the other hand, it caused privileged thought. To this day, the people of China still lack democratic consciousness.

Second, the concept of legal system is weak. China's traditional culture does not attach importance to the rule of law, but implements the rule of man. If the imperial power is supreme, the monarch's words are the law. In today's socialist society in China, the people have become the masters of the country, and all the laws of the country reflect the fundamental interests of the people. However, the feudal privilege is serious, with power greater than law and affection greater than law.

3. Poor commodity awareness. China is an agricultural country, and the phenomenon of valuing agriculture over commerce is very serious. In the past, doing business was looked down upon. I don't know that commerce is an important link in product circulation, which plays an important role in promoting the development of social productive forces and economic prosperity. Especially in modern times, modernization could not be realized without the high development of market economy.

Fourth, the old-fashioned consciousness is serious. China's small-scale peasant economy is vast and individualized, relying on the weather to eat, "work at sunrise and rest at sunset", and it is easy to be satisfied with the status quo. Unless absolutely necessary, we will not rebel and accept new things by self-study.

Three, from traditional culture to modernization, is the spiritual power to promote the continuous development of socialism.

Distinguish the essence and dross of traditional culture, get rid of its dross, and absorb its essence to serve socialism, that is, modernize traditional culture, so as to better serve the society. Under certain conditions, traditional culture can be transformed into a new culture that meets the needs of the times, but this transformation requires social practice and the combination of traditional culture and modern life to meet the requirements of the development of the times. The socialist market economy is a fundamental combination point.

First, the need to develop a market economy. In the past, the planned economy was implemented, and this economy was ruled by people. Everything is under the unified management of the government, regardless of government and enterprise, and everything is done according to the will of the Chief Executive.

Reasonable distribution leads to long-term economic backwardness in China. The current market economy is an economic management system established in accordance with the laws of market economy movement, which uses market mechanism as the basic means to allocate social resources. Therefore, it can effectively encourage enterprises to play their initiative and competitiveness, mobilize the creativity of the broad masses of the people, and become a powerful driving force for modern economic development. A certain economy is always associated with a certain culture. Economy and culture permeate and influence each other, and today's economy is tomorrow's culture. Tomorrow's culture will also be the economy of the day after tomorrow. People are the main body of social activities, and any economic activities are carried out by people with certain concepts and cultures. Without certain scientific and cultural knowledge and concepts, people will not be competent. Therefore, the development of modern economy will test people's existing cultural concepts and make new choices. On the other hand, it will encourage people to study all advanced things hard and constantly improve their spiritual quality.

Second, it is the need to build a complete socialist rule of law. The socialist market economy is an economy ruled by law, which means legitimacy, authority and fairness. The functions of the rule of law in the market economy are: first, to guide the market economy to develop in a healthy direction; The second is the role of supervision-regulating the behavior and order of the government and market subjects through laws; Third, the role of protection-to protect the equal competition and legal rights of market players. These are the embodiment of modern civilization and culture, and the traditional culture of China has great defects in this respect. The traditional culture of China emphasizes the rule of man in the legal system. Law is only an auxiliary means to govern the country, and this traditional culture lacking the awareness of rights is difficult to exist and develop in the market economy.

Third, the market economy is an interest economy, which requires the denial of the old values of "a gentleman seeks the Tao without seeking food" in China traditional culture, thus enhancing people's pragmatic spirit and enterprising spirit. In fact, people's practical activities are inseparable from the principle of interest. To ensure the realization of the value pursued by the market economy, not only the individual's practical activities should conform to the laws of the market economy, but also he should learn to act according to the laws.