Civilization Discussion

Author: Duan Yabing
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: Comrade Duan has long been engaged in the construction of spiritual civilization. From him, I saw the spirit of hard work and dedication to learning. He humbly stated that he was involved in the practical work of spiritual civilization and, although he had done some research on its theory, it was not deep or thorough, and he hoped I could guide him. Six months later, when we met again, he said he had organized his experiences from over a decade of research into a manuscript of several hundred thousand words. Afraid I was busy, he only showed me a few chapters, hoping for my feedback. In these chapters, he attempted to summarize and synthesize his practical work experience using some of the perspectives and methods from my teachings and writings on Chinese decision-making theory. After reviewing them, I was deeply moved. In today's society, scholars like him who are humble in learning, dedicated to research, and bold in exploration are not many; those who can commit to a field, love it, delve into it, continuously study their work, and develop systematic theoretical works are even rarer. From the book, one can see the sense of mission and dedication of a spiritual civilization worker. Ancient philosophers said, "The beginning is difficult to discern." Clarifying the concepts when studying a problem is both challenging and important. My view on "civilization" is this: "Culture" refers to the expression of subjective cognition of objective reality; "Brightness" refers to the sun and moon traversing the sky and illuminating all directions. Therefore, "civilization" is the expression of how "humans" perceive the movement, change, and development of the unity and opposition of subjective and objective contradictions. If a statement is scientific, correct, and in line with the laws of nature, it will inevitably spread far and wide, which is civilization—for example, Newton's three laws are the essence of human expression of microscopic physical phenomena. This essence, as expressed in Newtonian mechanics, spread across the world. Conversely, if it is incorrect, unscientific, or contrary to the laws of nature, it is called "uncivilized." Once the concept is clarified, we can continue to study, exploring the research object and its fundamental scientific structure.
Research Object. Based on the above axiomatic assumptions, the voidless—void rises to the concrete research object, the human—. The diagram below shows the basic structure of human practice theory—the human—.
Research Angle. Based on the above axiomatic assumptions, the research angle is clearly the perspective of subjective cognition (the researcher) of objective reality (the research object).
Research Results. From the perspective of cognizing the human—, studying the laws of movement, change, and development of the human— in practice theory, the research findings that can guide human society to peaceful, harmonious, joyful, and beneficial coexistence and progress are called civilization. Conversely, they are called "uncivilized." Uncivilization will lead to social turmoil and even the collapse of the social system. Comrade Duan discussed some ancient civilizations that perished in the book, and their causes can be explained from this perspective.
Research Process: ① Study the elements of the research object; ② Study the structure of the research object; ③ Study the contradictory movement of the research object.
Research Method. From the perspective of cognizing the human—, apply the concept system of dialectical materialism—the 1/2/8 law—to conduct a specific analysis of the human—, thereby elevating the logical axioms of the 1/2/8 law to the concrete level from the perspective of cognizing the human—. The 1/2/8 law is the scientific method and cognitive tool for understanding the world: "1" is the essential attribute of the unit, i.e., the unity and opposition of contradictions; "2" are the two basic attributes of the unit: informativity and transformative capacity; "8" is the general attribute of the unit: polysemy, isomorphism, hierarchical nature, boundary, constraint, randomness, stability, and variability.
Let me briefly discuss the concept of culture. Culture is the crystallization of the theoretical (spiritual) and behavioral practices of predecessors, as well as the sum of the spiritual and behavioral practices of modern people. Civilization is preserved, while uncivilization is lost in history. In the process of human social development, the systems that are preserved or lost are the result of learning. Taking this opportunity to publish Comrade Duan's book, I would like to offer some thoughts on the study of civilization. The theoretical research on civilization is indeed very important, concerning the rise and fall of nations and the survival of ethnicities. I hope more people will study this issue—for the revival of Chinese civilization and for the continuation of human civilization as a whole.