On the Vision of Social Evolution
As we know, before 1500, the progress speed of human society is somewhat slow, while after 1500, due to the comprehensive impact of many factors like science, technology and business, the evolution speed of human society greatly accelerates, and now the society we live in changes into one kind of progressive society. Therefore, as one aspect of it, we need to somewhat systematically probe into the progressive mechanism of modern society; on the other hand, though human society is continuously progressing, the impact of tradition in various aspects is still deep and strong, namely, modern society also has stable side, and its various aspects all show stable and orderly. Consequently, it has become a quite meaningful research topic to comprehensively probe into the complex connotation of human society’progress and tradition these two major aspects.
Firstly, what we need to explore is the progress mechanism of modern society,and it is naturally a very broad and complex issue; in them, the deep impact of science and technology is the most evident basic element.
(I) The Development of Science and Technology and Triggered Various Reactions
Since 1500, science and technology’smulti-faceted progress is naturally very broad, and in them, a basic fact weneed to recognize is, science and technology is not a single coherent element,but a complex thing constituted by many different subjects. On one hand, thesedifferent subjects have somewhat strong internal connections, for example,there exist somewhat strong and extensive interactions between mathematics andphysics, physics and chemistry, physics and electrical engineering, and etc; onthe other hand, these subjects also have independent side, for example, theconnection between biology and mathematics, physics is not very close, whilemedicine has close connections with chemistry and biology, but except medicalequipments, the connection between medicine and mathematics. physics is notvery evident. To sum up, the above two facts all belong to the basic feature ofscience and technology.
Because science and technology contain dozens of different subjects, and every field also continuously progresses in its owndiscipline track, and thus, in modern society, new discoveries and newtechnologies massively emerge. For example, there appear mobile hard disk andcloud computing in computer field, in electrical engineering, computer chip andserver are also constantly updated, in biological agent, new drugs also emergeone after another, in physics, many branches such as condensed matter physics,cold atom physics, quantum communication also ceaselessly progress, inchemistry, various new polymeric materials and plastic products rapidly appear,and in statistics, there are also many new-type statistical software, and inmechanical engineering, technologies such as robot are also constantlyinnovating. In these many fields, on one hand, they mutually impact, forexample, the revolutionary breakthrough of quantum mechanics in physics leadsto the rise of semiconductor and electrical engineering, while the computerhardware provided by electrical engineering is foundational for the developmentof computer, on the other hand, they are also relatively independently discoveredin their own discipline area. Therefore, even for scientific workers, the newdiscoveries they touch also can be divided into two levels: firstly, newdiscoveries in their own discipline, and they are new papers many people needto read or new techniques they need to learn in their subject, and these newdiscoveries, new techniques and new papers in their own subject are very many,and every technician needs to closely care; secondly, new discoveries in otherscience and technology fields, for example, for workers in chemistry, they willalso touch and know some important new breakthroughs in physics, computer andmechanical engineering. In them, for scientific workers, what they mainly careis naturally new discoveries at the first level; obviously, the new discoveriesat these two levels both have various kinds. To conclude, in our seeminglyordinary and simple everyday life, there are actually massive high-techproducts, and they come from many different fields such as chemistry, biology,mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, physics, computer and medicine,and these tens of hundreds of scientific products have been naturallyintegrated into our life, and we even don’t feel their existence (certainly, tosomewhat deeply know these products, we also need some scientific and technicalcultivation).
Broadly speaking, the impact of science andtechnology can be divided into two levels: direct impact and indirect impact. As for directimpact, science and technology’s value is naturally enormous, for example, theequipments and tools bred by the development of electromagnetism such asalternator, electric motor, light, refrigerator, television, washing machine,radio, air-conditioning, telephone, mobile phone have a comprehensive andstrong impact on every modern man’s life, and they are also all majorcomponents of every modern family. Because science and technology can directlycovert to productivity, and thereby, its deep impact in this aspect is hard tocompare by things like institution and organization, because what the lattergenerates is not direct productivity; for instance, I think the impact ofMaxwell equations created by Maxwell in 1865 on human society’s material andspiritual life is over 10 times than John Dewey’sExperience and Nature or Hegel’sShorter Logic (though Dewey’s and Hegel’s these two classics alsohave a far-reaching impact on human’s spiritual life).
But, besides the impact in material level,science and technology’s indirect impact on human society is also very deep andbroad, and these indirect impact embodies in many aspects such as individualthought, group notion, social culture, business model, life style, behaviorpattern, etc. Here, we give two appropriate examples; the first example is theinvention and wide spread of camera, after the emergence and wide spread ofcamera, it will lead to a series of group and individual reactions: becausecamera will be applied in traffic, thus, all individuals need to gradually knowthe traffic rules set by camera; camera will also impact judical office’sinvestigation and judgment; meanwhile, camera will also be applied in manyplaces like school and supermarket; in a word, after the birth of camera thisnew technology, it will be rapidly applied in many different fields, such astraffic, school and justice, while these fields are closely linked witheverybody’s life, thus, people will gradually grasp these new rules, and adjusttheir thought and behavior pattern; namely, the discovery of camera will leadto a series of thought and notion adjustments at group level and individuallevel. The second example is the birth of smart phone, with the constantpopularity of smart phone, people will also adjust many relevant thought,notion; as for the living experience level, now, even old people will also usesmart phone, which is a new kind of social phenomenon, and people will havecertain feelings, meanwhile, people will also frequently discuss many issueslike smart phone’s brand and price; as for the concrete operations level, peoplealso need to learn how to use smart phone to send message and surf theInternet. In conclusion, the emergence of smart phone will also lead tomany-sided gradual adjustments like thought and behavior pattern in the wholesocial scope. Through the above two simple examples, we can see, the birth ofnew technologies will have complex and extensive indirect impacts at group andindividual these two levels, and as Hayek’s summarization: “Every change inconditions will make necessary some change in the use of resources, in thedirection and kind of human activities, in habits and practices. And eachchange in the actions of those affected in the first instance will requirefurther adjustments that will gradually extend throughout the whole of society.”[1]It’sworth noting that, the emergence of these new technologies is also notisolated, but interwoven, for instance, some new technologies roughly appear atthe same time like camera, smart phone and 3D printing, and thereby, thereactions triggered by them at group and individual level are somewhat complex.
It should be noted that, the reactions ondifferent individuals triggered by new technologies are different. Forinstance, some people will quickly accept smart phone, while other individualswill be somewhat slower; some people’s understandings towards new drugs will besomewhat quick and comprehensive, while other individuals’ reactions will berelatively tardy; to conclude, for different individuals, their acceptancespeed and understandings towards new things differ. Meanwhile, what oftenoccurs is that there appears not only one new technology over a period of time,but many different new products, therefore, different individuals’ reactionstowards many different new technologies will also be different.
Through the above analyses, we can feel science and technology’s deep impact at direct and indirect levels on human society; but, on the other hand, the progress of science and technology is justone side of human society, and human society also contains many other basicparts, while these parts’ progress and creation is also indispensible for humansociety; in brief, what we experience is actually a progressive process of theoverall society.
(II) The Overall Progress of Society
It is well known that, as for the basicimpetus of social progress, Schumpeter highly praise entrepreneurship, andabout the entrepreneurs’ function in company and economic development, he oncewrites: “At first only a few see the new enterprise and are able to carry it out.This also is an entrepreneurial act, the carrying out of a new combination; andit yields a profit, which remains in the entrepreneur’s pocket.” “The promotermay indeed be, as we saw, the purest type of the entrepreneur genus. He is thenthe entrepreneur who confines himself most strictly to the characteristicentrepreneurial function, the carrying out of new combinations.”[2]Namely,Schumpeter thinks, because entrepreneurs achieve new combinations of productionfactors, and find new business opportunities, and create new business models,therefore, create profits for companies and promote social progress, Schumpeterthereby thinks that this kind of entrepreneur with pioneering spirit deservesgetting higher salary. In the practical business activities, the managers ofone company naturally play an important role in the process of company development, and they can realize which types of new products are important,and can develop commercial channels, and can understand and lead consumers’new demands, and thus, the entrepreneurs’ creative spirit which Schumpeterhighly esteem is very reasonable.
But, besides the entrepreneurs’ creativeawareness, we think, in various fields of human society we probably all needoriginal spirit; meanwhile, various fields of society also all have their ownprogress. In the above, we have briefly discussed the creative awareness inscience and technology, while in art, we naturally also need manygroundbreaking notions, and the works and creations in art are also closelyrelated with the whole society’s progress. Here, we can give some examples invarious art fields, and as the case of literature, famous writer Calvino oncediscusses the relationship between classics and contemporary works, and hewrites: “Perhaps the ideal would be to hear the present as a noise outside ourwindow, warning us of the traffic jams and weather changes outside, while wecontinue to follow the discourse of the classics which resounds clearly andarticulately inside our room. But it is already an achievement for most peopleto hear the classics as a distant echo, outside the room which is pervaded bythe present as if it were a television set on at full volume.”[3]Thewords “traffic jams”, “television set on at full volume” which Calvino describeshere are naturally social phenomena which can only emerge after the 1950s,namely, writers’ creations often embody some elements which are relevant to newthings of their own time, and thus, literature works are components of thesociety’s overall progress. As for movies, some phenomenal films, such as “TheGodfather”, “Star Wars”, “Saving Private Ryan”, also embody their own era’sfeature in many aspects (such as clothing, transport, electrical technology,social customs, etc), while many elements in these features are what the pastsocieties (like the 18th-century society) do not have. Take themusic as another example, some classical songs are also naturally marked withtheir own era’s characters, and they will also incorporate many newtechnologies and new notions of their own era. To conclude, various art fieldsall need broad groundbreaking ability, meanwhile, various art works also haveclose relationship with the progress of various fields in society.
In the meantime, the media also needs muchoriginal sense, and media’s various works also embody the whole society’sprogress and changes. As we know, what the media reports are all recent eventsin various fields, such as politics, economy, society, culture, science,technology, entertainment, athlete, etc, and every era all has its own thoughtsand social awareness, and thereby, the practitioners in media also need to haveinitiative spirit; meanwhile, the media’s rich reports also naturally show thewhole society’s progressive process, and many media reports also reflect everyera’s many-sided new changes and spirit temperament in scientific products,business concept, political notion, culture and etc from multiple perspectives.
The situation of intelligentsia is also somewhat similar, and many works of intelligentsia all directly or indirectlyembody the specific reflections about their own time, and they also naturallyembody the whole society’s progressive condition. For example, politicalphilosopher Charles Taylor’s workThe Secular Age namely vividly reflects many facts of modern society and contemporary society, and this work also well describes the process ofprogress, evolution, richness and development in social thought for centuries;while economist Friedman’s work A Monetary History of The United States is closely related with Americaneconomy’s change in the past two centuries, and it also naturally embodies someprogress and changes in various aspects of American society in the past twocenturies. In conclusion, the intelligentsia’s rich works also partiallyoriginate from the society’s overall progress, and conversely, the wholesociety also absorbs much intellectual vigor from the intelligentsia’s richcreations; to conclude, there exist useful and deep, broad interactions betweenthe intelligentsia’s progress and the whole society’s progress.
Through the above analyses, we can see, humansociety’s vibrant progress embodies in various fields, and various fields suchas business, science, art, thought, society all simultaneously and vigorouslykeep evolving, and these fields’ broad progress is correlated and mutuallypenetrating; for example, there exist extensive interactions between art andmanufacture, and many toys require good product design, while the design partis also very important basic links in cellphone and laptop, meanwhile, somehousehold electrical and mechanical products also need excellent and attractivedesigns. Through the above synthetical analyses, we can somewhat definitelyconclude, what human society experiences is an overall progressive process.
It’s important to note that, in the above weonce point out, Schumpeter probably exaggerates the basic value of business andentrepreneur’s creative spirit, but, in the meantime, we also need to admitthat, the above various fields’ rich developments indeed have profoundconnections with business. Because various fields like art (movie, music, etc),media, science and technology are all partially commercial, and they all faceconsumers’ complex demands, and all need to consider the products’ salecondition and commercial value, and thus, business indeed has a strong impacton various fields of human society. But, on the other hand, if one company orone people just has commercial awareness and marketing concept, but lacks goodproducts produced by scientific innovation and art creation, then, it is alsohelpless to get good sales. For instance, art workers probably need to work insome housewares companies, and thus, art industry has certain commercialproperty, but conversely, home furnishing industry also needs graceful andexquisite art design, and without these graceful and exquisite designs, somehome furnishing companies also cannot keep a foothold in the fierce competitivemarket. Generally speaking, business is just one way of organizing and managingfor human, and itself cannot produce good products, while high-quality productsstill rely on the brilliant creations in various scientific, art and thoughtfields such as mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, movie produce,biological technology, etc.
About the society’s deep progressiveprocess, another notable significant feature is that many changes happenunconsciously. Here, we can list several appropriate examples. Firstly, in thecase of education, in the 19thcentury, economics was not verymature, and textbook then, like Mill’s Principles of Political Economy had not formed systematic and clear theoreticalframework, while in the 20thcentury, economics already has somewhatcomplete and broad knowledge system, meanwhile, as for the textbook “Principlesof Economics” in the latter part of 20thcentury, they often addsome mathematical models, such as IS-LM model, Mundell-Fleming model, etc;while the whole field of electrical engineering gradually emerge after 1930s,and students before that time were naturally impossible to study this major;for practitioners in math department, in the 19thcentury, what thestudents and researchers study are courses like complex variable function,mathematical analysis and higher algebra, while for practitioners in the latterpart of 20thcentury, they need to learn some new courses whichappear in the 20thcentury, such as real variable function andfunctional analysis; for the whole field of computer, it did not exist before1950s, and the students and scientific technicians at that time naturally donot need to learn important programming languages like C++, Java and Matlab; asfor the academic degree level, in the 19thcentury, PhD was veryrare (master degree appeared around 1860 worldwide, while PhD degree graduallypromotes after 1920s). To conclude, unconsciously, many important changeshappen in education, while these changes also all comprehensively and stronglyimpact many basic aspects such as students, the practitioners’ learningmaterials, mindset, working pattern and etc. While when people enter educationin the beginning of 21stcentury, they actually do not realize thesemassive new changes, and people’s feeling for their work and learning method isaccustomed, however, we need to admit, compared with the past severalgenerations, people’s thoughtful world and emotional world actually have manysubtle, complex changes. Secondly, in everyday life, we can also find manyimportant examples which change unconsciously: for example, electric shavergradually appear after the 19thcentury, and it naturally changespeople’s certain life habit; the popularization of modern car also happens inthe 20thcentury, and in the 19thcentury, people’stravel mode is naturally different; in the 20thcentury, peopleoften use air-conditioning to adjust indoor temperature, while in the 19thcentury, these life habits naturally do not exist. In a word, in everyday life,many important changes also happen unconsciously, and compared with the 19thcentury, 20th-century people adopt many new lifestyle.
Through the discussions in education andeveryday life, we can find, unconsciously, many work and life methods allundergo important changes at both the individual and group level; as forindividual, people’s working method, learning mode, living pattern andcommunication channel all naturally change; as for group, people’s socialnotion, travel mode also all continuously have important adjustments; these allfully prove “times are always advancing” this basic fact. Meanwhile, it’s worthnoting that, these important changes which happen unconsciously arecomprehensive and intertwined, and they involve nearly all aspects of life suchas economy, science, technology, politics, thought, art, entertainment,athlete,etc, and thus, these broad changes which unconsciously emerge arenaturally an important fact of modern life.
In the above two sections, we havepreliminarily discussed the progressive mechanism in modern society, but, thoughmodern society has a somewhat high advancing speed, most people actually do notfeel universal discomfort, panic, psychological anxiety or thought confusion,and most modern people’ s work and life is still very stable, and theunderlying reason naturally stems from the deep impact of tradition; namely,progress and tradition constitute two different sides of modern life, and afterthe analyses of several features of progress, below, we naturally need toinvestigate certain connotation of tradition.
(III) Certain Connotation and Impact of Tradition
Tradition is naturallya very broad and profound area, and is a very complex aggregate, and alsocontains many different parts, so far, our understandings towards many aspectsof tradition, such as range, form, composition, meaning, are all not sufficientenough; in this part, we just try to evaluate tradition’s certain value fromseveral specific angles, and in them, if from the perspective ofutilitarianism, we can probably think that tradition has a strong andfar-reaching meaning for both the individual and social level.
Firstly, tradition has a very wide and deep meaning for individual’s work, life and even the wholelife. Above, we once describe many changing tendencies in modern society’svarious fields, but, if examining from another perspective, we will naturallyfind, compared with 200 years ago, our life is actually still similar;generally speaking, our many work and life habits still resemble with pastpeople, for instance, in many major aspects of life, such as buying and makingfood, wearing clothes, emotional life, human relationship, work affairs andpolitical topics, our situations are still somewhat similar as past people.Work and life are undoubtedly two central themes of everyone’s individual life,while for people living in past societies are naturally also the same;furthermore, most important themes of life, such as travelling outside,administration, hands-on training, financial condition, family relation,leisure and entertainment, etc, are also dominant in past societies. Forexample, when we read Balzac’s novel or Kant’sCritique of Practical Reason, about their various descriptions likescenery, psychology, appearance and society and their thoughts like law,politics, history, we will not feel strange and odd, but will feel stillfamiliar and vivid, which is naturally because our life is still largelysimilar to past people; if take some older facts as an example, like Plato’sRepublic, when we read, we will not feelstrange and rare about its various ideas; these facts all fully prove that therelationship between tradition and modern life is both direct and alsocomprehensive and deep. About tradition’s internal value for modern people,Buffett once says: “Tradition is long, wisdom is short”. Franklin also writes: “An old man in a house is a good sign.[4]Thesewise life feelings are naturally not empty thoughts merely following others,but from their rich, practical life experience.
Secondly, tradition’s impact on social level is also enormous and strong, and about this somewhatevident fact, below, we will divide into several aspects to make some simpleinvestigations. Firstly, though above we point out society’s progressiveprocess in various aspects, if we make some further analysis, we can find,every era all keeps advancing on the basis of past societies, and compared withthe past dozens of societies, what every era adds is just a small part ofcontents. On one hand, every era in human society indeed rapidly advances, onthe other hand, the many-sided accumulations and creations of past eras arealso extremely rich and deep, and these two basic facts are both important,which also determines that tradition will have profound impact on variousaspects of society. Take science and technology as example, though everygeneration will create some new technologies, since 1600, human’s scientificdiscovery actually has undergone dozens of generations, and thereby, the sum ofthese dozens of generations’ scientific discovery is much more broad andcomplex than every generation’s new creation, and hence, every generation ofscientific and technical workers all needs to deeply study past people’slearning and research experience and further create something new. Secondly,for the whole social structure, the organizational structures of society in1850 and society in 2000 are perhaps similar, and various organizations ofsociety in 1850 such as government department, company, education institutionlike university and middle school, legal system and hospital are perhapssimilar to today’s society, which thereby determines that the overall operationcondition of society then is somewhat similar to today’s society; thus, thesedifferent social organizations also need to inherit past generations’ institutionalframework, organization culture, operating rules and work experience, and onlybased on these past people’s thought and experience can we normally carry outwork, which also determines that tradition’s impact on various socialorganizations is very strong. Thirdly, as for thoughtful and cultural levellike social notion and customs, tradition’s impact is also foundational; takewedding and holiday as example, since every society’s customs all undergodozens of generations’ continuous inheritance, and thereby, they are all verycoherent, mature and prudent, meanwhile, these customs also all have somewhatcomplex contents, and thus, every generation all needs to make some localadjustments based on past people’s customs; customs are necessary componentsfor every society, and without these official customs, human’s group life willbe tedious and sterile and lack enough thickness. As for thought and notion, itis also like this, many traditional notions which are popular in one societyare all essential basic elements for society’s orderly organization, andwithout many traditional notions in work, life, marriage, family, society andcountry, one society’s self-organization may have big problems. To sum up,through the above concise analyses in three aspects, we can feel tradition’senormous impact on various aspects and various levels of society; about this,famous economic historian North once says one suitable sentence: “Historymatters. It matters not just because we can learn from the past, but becausethe present and the future are connected to the past by the continuity of asociety’s institutions. Today’s and tomorrow’s choices are shaped by the past.”[5]
In the above two passages, we analyse tradition’s certain basic value from the perspective ofutilitarianism, but tradition’s impact on human society is naturally far beyondthe range of utilitarianism. Broadly speaking, tradition contains all the deep,shallow experience such as thought, emotion, action in the past two thousandyears, and it contains hundreds of generations’ whole activities, thoughts,creations, struggles, strives and understandings in their own long life, and italso contains hundreds of generations’ societies’ successful experience andlessons of failure in various aspects such as social administration, businesspolicy, political strategy, science and technology, etc, and it is the sum ofall the past times’ complex experience in science, art, thought, law,imagination and creativity and etc; and therefore, its range is naturallyextremely vast and profound, complex and subtle, and when facing such extremelyvast and delicate experience, we will have a sense of awe and veneration. Asfor individual level, because past people also all need to creatively deal withvarious big or small problems in their own difficult life path, and thus,tradition is the crystallization of many people’s creative activities, and inthe deep place of tradition, there are some delightful and bright scenarios,some secret but vital hopes, and also much nervousness and anxiety of heart inadversity, and these experience will not only enlighten our life, merelyfeeling these living experience will let us have complex and deep, subtleemotions. As for society, every society all undergoes different stages fromprosperous and thriving to declining and weak, and no matter the measures inmacro level or tinny adjustments in micro level, they will all bring usinfinite enlightenment; meanwhile, what these experience brings us is naturallynot mere enlightenment, but much broader thoughts and emotions. As for art,tradition not only contains inspiring creative experience, and even merelyappreciating some past art masterpieces (like Da Vinci’s and Rembrandt’spaintings, Bach and Beethoven’s classical music) will let us generate a varietyof complex emotions. As for science and technology, some shining mathematicaltheorems and physical theories in the past times will let us have endlessaftertaste and admiration. In conclusion, tradition contains humanity’s allexperience in all fields, including economy, science, technology, politics,education, thought, art, entertainment, athlete, law, society, medicine, etc,and how can these experience just bring us thoughtful enlightenment? What theybring us are much more feelings: appreciation, admiration, regret, pity,incentive, indignation, joy, sadness……In a word, we can find humanity’s allthoughts and emotions in it. Roughly speaking, the experience traditioncontains can probably be divided into two kinds: systematic facts and scrappyexperience, and these two kinds of facts are both huge number. In summary, whatthe tradition contains are not just enlightening thought, action and experiencefor individual and society, and its range is much broader, and much deeper; onlyholding this wide viewpoint beyond utilitarian level can we well understandtradition’s certain basic intension.
If examining tradition’s broad connotationfrom the perspective of business, we can also get some valuable conclusions. Inour modern society, there naturally exist many rising industries and high-techindustries, such as software, biological engineering, biological pharmacy,robot, large machinery; but, in our actual life, there also exist manytraditional industries, like supermarket, architecture, clothing, furniturecompany, shoe company and wine company, etc. The underlying reason is simple,because compared with ancient society, some basic needs of humanity, likeclothes, food, living and transport, actually do not change a lot, and moreover,even after three hundred years, individual will still have the basic needs inthese various aspects; because there are many kinds of such basic needs, andthey change with different people, and thereby, traditional industries are avery important and broad component in modern society. Considering this basicfact, it is also unwise and unreasonable for a society to overly value risingindustries and neglect traditional industries; meanwhile, these traditionalindustries also need to make corresponding adjustments with the development oftime, and also all need some modern business philosophy, for instance, comparedwith ancient wine companies, modern wine companies naturally use many new winemaking technologies and marketing methods, and thereby, various traditionalindustries are actually also full of rich vitality. To conclude, the range ofbusiness is very broad, and for business, traditional industries are alsonecessary components, and the deeper reason in it is: firstly, humanity’sextensive needs contain new technologies side, but also contains traditionalside; secondly, for centuries, humanity’s lifestyle and social structuregenerally keep very stable basic face, and tradition this basic part has aprofound impact on various aspects, including technology, politics, economy,culture, athlete, entertainment and everyday life. In conclusion, traditionalindustries is also a lively organic part for business.
(IV) Certain Limits of Progress and Market Economy
In the first and second parts, we explorevarious kinds of social progress, then will social progress bring any negativeimpact or not? Rousseau firstly considers this important issue, and he analyzesvarious kinds of negative phenomena which will possibly led by the prosperityof science and art. Firstly, Rousseau criticizes the idleness triggered by thedevelopment of science, art, and he writes: “Being the effect of idleness, theygenerate idleness in their turn; and an irreparable loss of time is the firstprejudice which they must necessarily cause to society.”[6]Namely,he thinks the development of science, art will lead to many people’s idlenessand laziness. Secondly, Rousseau thinks the development of science, art willalso lead to the popularization of luxury, and about this, he says: “The wasteof time is certainly a great evil; but still greater evils attend uponliterature and the arts. One is luxury, produced like them by indolence andvanity. Luxury is seldom unattended by the arts and sciences; and they arealways attended by luxury.”[7]Namely,Rousseau thinks the development of science and art will lead to the growth ofsocial wealth and indolence, while the growth of social wealth and indolencewill lead to the popularity of luxury. Thirdly, Rousseau thinks , theflourishment of science and art will also weaken people’s courage, and heargues: “As the conveniences of life increase, as the arts are brought toperfection, and luxury spreads, true courage flags, the virtues disappear; andall this is the effect of sciences and of those arts which are exercised in theprivacy of men’s dwellings.”[8]Namely,when life is convenient, people’s courage when facing difficulty and challengeswill have a somewhat large drop. Fourthly, Rousseau thinks, the most seriousoutcome led by the development of science and art is the corruption of moralatmosphere, and the reason in it is that the evaluation criterion of scienceand art is talent and not moral, namely: “The question is no longer whether aman is honest, but whether he is clever. We do not ask whether a book isuseful, but whether it is well-written. Rewards are lavished on with andingenuity, while virtue is left unhonoured.”[9]Therefore, the development of science and art will lead to that peopleincreasingly depreciate moral, while increasingly care about ingenuity. Inconclusion, Rousseau makes somewhat systematic investigations about thenegative consequences possibly triggered by the development of science, art.
In today’s view, Rousseau’s certain judgements are somewhat biased,because various societies’ rich experience for centuries shows that, theprosperity and boom of science and art does not lead to people’s universalidleness, luxury, reduced courage or decline of moral quality, and thereby,Rousseau’s some concerns are somewhat exaggerated; if carefully inspectingRousseau’s certain arguments, we will find that some arguments in them have somewhatlarge defect, and take the idleness he mentions as example, the development ofscience and technology often results in that people need to learn moreknowledge, and need to further improve their ability, and thus, he needs todevote more time and energy to work and study, hence, individual should becomemore diligent, not idler, and this fact perhaps more accords with people’suniversal experience. In conclusion, in the 18thcentury, Rousseaualready begins to care about some negative consequences brought by socialprogress, though some of his arguments and views are perhaps too pessimistic,and not consistent with the objective facts, but, his whole thinking stilldeserves our attention, namely, we also need to care about some negativeeffects brought by the flourishment of science and art.
In the overall processof social progress, market economy is undoubtedly one of the major motive powers,and during the past several hundred years, market economy makes importantcontribution for various societies’ prosperity and progress, but, does marketeconomy have any inherent defect? Famous political philosopher Sandel somewhatsystematically thinks about this problem. Sandel firstly points out one basicphenomenon in contemporary society: “In airports and amusement parks, in thecorridors of Congress and the waiting rooms of doctors, the ethic of the queue—‘firstcome, first-served’—is being displaced by the ethic of the market—‘you get whatyou pay for.’” In them, one argument of people supporting the above ethic ofthe market is: “Paying $125 to see the Shakespeare play without having to waitin line must make me better off; otherwise I wouldn’t have hired the linestander. And earning $125 by spending hours in a queue must make the linestander better off; otherwise he or she wouldn’t have taken the job. We areboth better off as a result of our exchange; our utility increases.” Meanwhile,in our society, there are naturally also many supporters of the ethic of thequeue, and one of their basic argument is: “Ticket scalping is unfair to thosewho can’t afford the $125. It puts ordinary folks at a disadvantage and makesit harder for them to get ticket.” “The reason is that the willingness to payfor a good does not show who values it most highly. This is because marketprices reflect the ability as well as the willingness to pay.” Sandel furtherpoints out one phenomenon in baseball game: “The people sitting in theexpensive seats at the ballpark often show up late and leave early.” Based onthis fact, he gets the following judgement: “In some cases, the willingness tostand in line—for theater ticket or for the ball game—may be a better indicatorof who really wants to attend than the willingness to pay.” Finally, after theabove complex discussions, Sandel concludes: “So the utilitarian case formarkets over queues is highly contingent. Sometimes markets do get goods tothose who value them most highly; other times, queues may do so. Whether, inany given case, markets or queues do this job better is an empirical question,not a matter that can be resolved in advance by abstract economic reasoning.”[10]To sumup, Sandel’s analyses about the ethic of the queue and the ethic of the marketare somewhat systematic, deep and balanced, in contemporary society where theethic of market’s influence on various aspects of society increasinglyenhances, facing the basic defect of this mechanism requires our deep thinking;obviously, human society’s value system is much broader than the ethic of themarket, and if just considering the index of market and utility, then oursociety will probably lose many important values and cultural dimensions; inconclusion, Sandel’s this discussion about the ethic of the market deserves ourattention and multi-angle thinking.
(V) A General Discussion On the Relationship Between Progress and Tradition
In the previous several sections, we have discussed the basic connotation of progress andtradition, and what is the interrelationship between progress and tradition?Obviously, it is a very meaningful and also very complex problem, and meanwhileis also one of the central issues in any human society.
As we know, in the 20th-century intelligentsia, the profound reflection on the whole notion “progress” makes upan important ideological theme. Take the political philosopher Leo Strauss asexample, one of the central problems he repeatedly thinks is the reflection onmodernity, and the deep concern about “the crisis of modernity” thissignificant problem. In the paper “The Three Waves of Modernity”, he raisesmany viewpoints reflecting modernity; firstly, about the basic feature ofclassical time, he writes: “According to classical political philosophy theestablishment of the best regime depends necessarily on uncontrollable, elusivefortuna or chance.” Namely, in classical time, people’s power is limited, andthus, people are full of awe towards the external natural order; while inmodern stage, such kind of basic world view is partially changed: “In seekingknowledge man calls nature before the tribunal of his reason; he ‘puts natureto the question’ (Bacon); knowing is a kind of making; human understandingprescribes nature its laws; man’s power is infinitely greater than was hithertobelieved; not only can man transform corrupt human matter into incorrupt humanmatter, or conquer chance—all truth and meaning originate in man; they are notinherent in a cosmic order which exists independently of man’s activity.”Namely, in modern society, people no longer fear the external natural order,but full of confidence with his own rationality; meanwhile, since rationalthinking more and more becomes a kind of dominant mindset, the purpose is graduallyresolved, and human society’s and individual’s ultimate goal is partiallyemptied due to the continuous erosion of the mindset which analyzes objectivefacts rationally. Due to the simultaneous emergency of many issues, includingthe rise of rational mindset, the despise towards chance and external order andthe empty of purpose, Strauss thinks inside modern society there is a deep andsystematic crisis, and as the corresponding measure, he thinks: “liberaldemocracy, in contradistinction to communism and fascism, derives powerfulsupport from a way of thinking which cannot be called modern at all: thepremodern thought of our western tradition.”[11]Namely,he thinks classical culture is the major means to solve the modernity crisis;while, the reflection on modernity and the emphasis of classical culture whichStrauss describes here is naturally not an individual phenomenon, but a grouptrend which appears in the 20th-century intelligentsia. With simpleanalysis, we will find, this profound reflection on modern culture alreadyemerged in intelligentsia at the end of the 19thcentury; takeNietzsche as example, in important works likeThe Birth of TragedyandThus Spoke Zarathustra,he fiercely criticizes many basic problems in modernsociety, including overemphasis of science, overemphasis of knowledge,neglecting depth of art, etc; Heidegger also can be partially seen as arepresentative figure of this thought trend, and in works likeHolzwege, he also makes somewhatprofound and systematic reflections on phenomena in modern society such as theempty of belief, excessive materialism, etc.
While if considering two basic facts, human society’s development for centuries and the changing tendency in intelligentsia, the emergency of this thought trend of reflectingon modernity crisis is also not accidental, but a consistent overall result. Aswe know, in the 17thand 18thcentury, the Enlightenmentthis overall phenomenon emerged in intelligentsia, and in Enlightenment, people’sslogan is progress, rationality, optimism, enlightenment concept and criticalspirit, etc; the important representative figures in intelligentsia at thistime, like Kant, Locke, Voltaire, Diderot, Montesquieu, all hold such kind ofoptimism and progressivism basic world view. However, since 20thcentury, the reflections on progressivism and rationalism in intelligentsiaholistically appear, and postmodernism this huge thought school also hascertain influence in various fields like politics, philosophy and sociology. Ifcarefully investigating the historical source behind this striking phenomenon,then we will find its birth at least have three basic reasons: firstly, in the17thand 18thcentury, many modern social institutionssuch as democracy, freedom, rule of law and market economy are still not matureenough, and thus, thinkers then naturally need to actively advocate them; whilein the 19thcentury, modern institutions like democracy and freedomhas preliminarily matured; in the 20thcentury, modern institutionslike democracy and freedom all have been well achieved in most countries, andthus, intelligentsia naturally does not need to excessively esteem them;meanwhile, due to the excessive worship towards rationality and progress forcenturies, it generates some alarming side effect, and hence, scholars invarious fields naturally begin to value basic things like tradition, classicalidea, and multi culture. Secondly, in the 17thand 18thcentury, science and technology are just at the beginning stage, and theirdevelopment is still not enough; while in the 19thcentury, scienceand technology have many-sided developments, and their development is alreadyto some extent mature; in the 20thcentury, the development ofmodern science and technology is very mature and broad, and meanwhile, alsobrings some negative impacts, at this time, the intelligentsia naturally needsto make some reasonable reflections on the negative consequences generated byscience and technology. Thirdly, the intelligentsia’s overall horizon alsoundergoes a process of continuous expansion and deepening, with theintelligentsia’s continuous advancement of many fields, including politics,economics, sociology, philosophy and history, over the past three, four hundredyears, scholars’ horizon will naturally extend from the narrow range of modernwestern culture to many notions in tradition (like Macintyre’scommunitarianism) and various civilisations’ basic elements (as the case ofToynbee). To conclude, the appropriate reflection on progressivism is a verynatural and beneficial phenomenon.
Broadly speaking, the 20th-century intelligentsia’s reflection on modernity crisis embodies in many aspects, and there are also many different thought schools involved. Easy to understand, different scholars’ reflective perspectives towards modernity crisis are different; for example, Foucault’s thought concentrates on the relationship between knowledge and power and the bureaucracy’s control over individual; Nietzsche criticizes the overflow of science, knowledge and individual’s mediocre (his ‘superman’ concept aims at transcending the mediocre individual); Marcuse criticizes the deficiency of personality and spiritual life and the one-dimensional tendency of individual life brought by the prosperity of media, business and technology; Heidegger’s reflection is somewhat comprehensive, covering many aspects, and in them, he has certain criticism about the modern architecture’s detachment from humanity; in conclusion, from these facts, we can see, the intelligentsia’s criticisms towards modernity crisis include many thought schools, like postmodernism, Frankfurt school, phenomenology, etc, meanwhile, the problems they analyze also involve many aspects, including business, social organization, architecture, media, art and etc. Generally speaking, on one hand, their criticisms embody in the material level, like the exhaustion of resources and environmental pollution caused by the flood of market economy, on the other hand, also embody in the spiritual level, like the spiritual void and mediocre personality caused by the widespread of knowledge, science and business. About these many-sided reflections, on one hand, I think their these concerns are all reasonable, but, on the other hand, their criticisms all have a holistic problem, namely, partial detachment from the actual life; firstly, as for individual level, these thinkers actually do not quite know ordinary people’s work, life, thought world and emotional world, and I think in contemporary society people’s work, life and emotional life are all still somewhat rich, and most people’s work, life are also full of much fun; secondly, as for social level, throughout the history of 20th century, we will find, most societies’ development are largely stable and orderly, and people also have universal alertness about problems such as the deterioration of environment, the exhaustion of resources and ecosystem crisis; to sum up, no matter at individual level or at social level, compared with the 18th and 19th century, the 20th-century society actually does not have too much deterioration (and in many aspects actually have certain promotion and improvement), and therefore, these thinkers’ many concerns are to some extent detached from the reality. Certainly, these extensive basic problems they discuss still deserve our attention and thinking.
Above we mention many thinkers’ reflection on progressivism and modernity, but, it does not mean thatsocial progress itself is no longer important, in fact, whether examining fromany angle, progress is still one of the major characteristics of modernsociety. About the basic value of progress, Whitehead once makes somediscussion on Greek society, and he writes: “With repetition in successivegenerations, freshness gradually vanished. Learning and learned taste replacedthe ardour of adventure. Hellenism was replaced by the Hellenistic epoch inwhich genius was stifled by repetition. We can imagine the fate of theMediterranean civilization if it had been spared the irruptions of Barbariansand the rise of two new religions, Christianity and Mahometanism—for twothousand years the Greek art-forms lifelessly repeated: The Greek schools ofphilosophy, Stoic, Epicurean, Aristotelian, Neo-Platonic, arguing with barrenformula; Conventional histories; A stabilized Government with the sanctity ofancient ceremony, supported by habitual pieties; Literature without depth;Science elaborating details by deductions from unquestioned premises;Delicacies of feeling without robustness of adventure.” Whitehead’s thisanalysis has rich, profound contents, and also is very reasonable, namely, ifwithout the creation of new ideas, Greek society and Mediterranean civilizationwill gradually lose their own energy, and thereby he concludes: “But evenperfection will not bear the tedium of indefinite repetition.”[12]Whitehead’s these discussions also have fundamental meaning for modern society,namely, if we just value traditional and past knowledge, without new scientificdiscoveries and new technologies, then our society will gradually become aself-containment society in various aspects such as technology, thought, art,institution and etc, and will gradually become a self-repetitive and lifelesssociety, and for such society, does it have any meaning even it highly valuetradition and classical idea? Similarly, great mathematician Wiener also saysone appropriate sentence: “If without these (science and industry) discoveries,and we just rely on existing things, then we are selling our future, andselling our children and grandchildren’s future.”[13]Inconclusion, we believe in the above some thinkers’ reflections on modernity andprogressivism are quite reasonable, but if we just value traditional ideas,then this line of thinking is also somewhat too narrow; can’t we hold a broadhorizon and keep strong progressive spirit with valuing traditional ideas?Nietzsche once criticizes the fact of neglecting art and elegant culture inmodern society, but can’t our society both respect the broad value of art andmaintain flourishing developments in technology? In brief, Strauss’ andNietzsche’s analyzing paths are somewhat too narrow. To conclude, through theanalysis of this passage, we can probably get two basic conclusions: firstly,the progress and innovation in various aspects have fundamental value for anysociety, and one society without innovation is impossible to be a healthy andblooming society; secondly, when considering the interrelationship betweenprogress and tradition, we must hold a broad horizon, and we can highly valuetradition and progress at the same time, and also can incorporate both scienceand art into our social system.
About the importantvalue of progress, Hayek gives some arguments in sociology level, and hewrites: “The enjoyment of personal success will be given to large numbers onlyin a society that, as a whole, progresses fairly rapidly. In a stationarysociety there will be about as many who will be descending as there will bethose rising. In order that the great majority should in their individual livesparticipate in the advance, it is necessary that it proceed at a considerablespeed.” Namely, Hayek thinks, only in a society which is continuouslyprogressive, the majority of people can have somewhat high income, somewhatcomfortable life and somewhat satisfactory human relationship, etc; while in astationary society, people who have somewhat comfortable living condition willgreatly decrease. In the process of arguing, Hayek quotes Adam Smith’sfollowing exposition: “It is hard in the stationary, and miserable in thedeclining state. The progressive state is really the cheerful and hearty stateof all the different orders of society. The stationary is dull; the decliningmelancholy.”[14]I think the basic phenomena what Hayek and Smith describe are all very consistentwith reality, which also fully proves the necessity of social progress.
In the above, Rousseauand Strauss once raise question on the meaning of progress, but combining thesocial development process for centuries, we need to admit, the progress in variousfields indeed improve various societies’ material conditions and spiritualquality, and social progress also makes people’s life more and more comfortableand our society more and more civilized, about this, Dickens’ one passage canbe a good illustration, and he writes: “That even Poor Laws may have mercy onthe weak, the aged, and unfortunate; that Schools, on the broad principles ofChristianity, are the best adornment for the length and breadth of thiscivilised land; that Prison-doors should be barred on the outside, no lessheavily and carefully than they are barred within; that the universal diffusionof common means of decency and health is as much the right of the poorest ofthe poor, as it is indispensible to the safety of the rich, and of the State;that a few petty boards and bodies—less than drops in the great ocean ofhumanity, which roars around them,--are not for ever to let loose Fever andConsumption on God’s creatures at their will, or always to to keep theirjobbing little fiddles going, for a Dance of Death.”[15]Easy tosee, these many phenomena Dickens hopes for have partially achieved in the 20th-centurysocial life; for instance, in the 20thcentury, higher education haswide spread, and people’s income and life quality have greatly risen, andcharities also greatly increase; to sum up, compared with the social reality inthe 19thcentury, 20th-century social life all hassomewhat evident improvement and enhancement, can’t this fully prove thesignificant value and high necessity of social progress? In a word, we indeedneed to respect the tradition in various aspects, but we also cannot neglectthe novel creations and progress in various fields.
Considering that both tradition and progress have very complex connotation, and thereby, theirgeneral interrelationship is naturally very intricate. Firstly, Hayek has onewell-known saying: “In the long run, it is notion, and hence people whopropagate new ideas, that dominates the development process of history.” Thissentence is naturally reasonable, merely that we need to have wideunderstanding towards the range of “new ideas”; easy to understand, humanity’svarious fields will all generate many new ideas, new notions, and in oursociety, there are new ideas in science and technology, new ideas in economyand business, new ideas in politics, new ideas in academy, new ideas in art andculture, new ideas in life experience, etc, in conclusion, we need to hold wideview towards the range, quantity, form and degree of new ideas. But, on the otherhand, we also know that, the range of tradition is also vast and deep, andthereby, in tradition there also undoubtedly lurk numerous valuable experience,thoughts, notions and emotions, and based on this basic fact, we also need toabsorb a great deal of thought nutrition from tradition, for example, Chen NingYang once describes famous physicist Fermi’s style: “We find that Fermi hascertain degree of conservative. He likes independent thinking.”[16]Theexample of Fermi actually has universal meaning, and in science, technology,many most original scholars actually all have certain degree of conservative,for example, nearly all the good mathematicians and physicists have stronginterest in the history of mathematics and the history of physics. In conclusion,tradition and progress are mutually produced, mutually promoted and mutuallypermeated, and progress detached from tradition is sometimes radical, carelessand superficial, while tradition detached from progress is sometimes closed,trite and lifeless. Obviously, we need to keep appropriate balance betweenthese two broad fields; namely, our society indeed needs many new ideas, butalso must have many old notions in various aspects.
Above we mainly discuss the relationship between tradition and progress at social level, and ifconsidering the individual level, about the relationship between tradition andprogress, we can also get some meaningful conclusions. If carefully analyzingour everyday life, we will find that there are actually three kinds of informationin the complex real life: many past living experience, many facts about currentlife situation, and new ideas in certain aspect, and these three kinds ofinformation are often interweaving together: firstly, in work and life, we willtrust on many experience and proverbs left behind by predecessors, and want toknow more about this kind of experience; secondly, because our surroundingenvironment like life, work environment and macro environment like society,politics and economy are both very complex, and thereby, we also need to knowmany facts in the current life situation; finally, because our life is full ofmany big or small problems, and thereby, we also need to creatively solve manyproblems, and need many new ideas; to conclude, our everyday life is roughly aninterlaced and mixed condition of these three kinds of information. From thisfact, we can easily realize: in our actual life, past, present and future thesethree dimensions are all very important, and we need to pay sufficient attentionto all these three dimensions; in conclusion, at the individual level and atsocial level, the interrelationship between progress and tradition is somewhatsimilar.
(VI) About the Gradual Change and Sudden Change in Fields like Economy, Science
In this section, wewant to discuss the basic problem of gradual change and sudden change inprogress. Firstly, in economy, we are familiar with the broad and profoundmeaning of gradual change, and meanwhile, Schumpeter emphasizes the internalvalue of sudden change in economic development, and he once writes: “Developmentin our sense is a distinct phenomenon, entirely foreign to what may be observedin the circular flow or in the tendency towards equilibrium. It is spontaneousand discontinuous change in the channels of the flow, disturbance ofequilibrium, which forever alters and displaces the equilibrium statepreviously existing.” Namely, in economic development, many basic changes aresuddenly generated, and they have discontinuous and interrupted features, andthus are not the natural results brought by past developments, and about thisfact, Schumpeter further explains: “That kind of change arising from within thesystem which so displaces its equilibrium point that the new one cannot bereached from the old one by infinitesimal steps. Add successively as many mailcoaches as you please, you will never get a railway thereby.”[17]Thiskind of fact Schumpeter points out is naturally easy for us to understand, andabout it, we can give many examples, such as the pipeline production of car andthe discovery of penicillin and its drug research, and these important changesare all sudden, and also somewhat sharply change the process of economicdevelopment.
Besides economy, inscience and technology, there are also many mutations, and about it, Kuhn hasmade somewhat systematic research, and he analyzes: “Cumulative acquisition ofunanticipated novelties proves to be an almost non-existent exception to therule of scientific development. The man who takes historical fact seriouslymust suspect that science does not tend toward the ideal that our image of itscumulativeness has suggested.” About this, he quotes many examples such asCopernicus’ astronomy theory, X ray, the theory of energy conservation andNewtonian mechanics to make somewhat detailed discussions, and he thinks thesetheories all build completely new paradigm, and revolutionizes the old theory;after that, he further concludes: “It is hard to see how new theories couldarise without these destructive changes in beliefs about nature.”[18]Obviously, in various fields, like mathematics, physics, biology, chemistry,medicine, electrical engineering and computer, there all exists this basicphenomenon of paradigm shift which Kuhn expresses.
About the paradigmshift of science Kuhn raises, we think the production of such phenomena isperhaps closely related with great scientists’ deep comprehensive quality andbrilliant original ability; take the special relativity as example, as we know,Einstein built this complete and systematic theory in 1905, and to some extent,it is indeed a sudden change; but, on the other hand, before the birth of thissignificant theory, there were already many-sided conditions bred in thescientific community: before Einstein, Lorentz had already discovered importantbasic effects such as Lorentz transformation, length contraction, massincrease, etc, and meanwhile, Michelson-Morley experiment also had alreadyproved the invariance of light speed; after that, Einstein further generalizedthis theory, and he derived the mass energy formula and some other formulas,and extracted the two principles of special relativity, and built a complete,deep and coherent theoretical framework. From this typical example, we canfeel, important scientific discoveries are actually mostly created by greatscientists (as in the creation process of special relativity, the basic roleLorentz and Einstein plays), which naturally has direct and close relationshipwith great scientists’ excellent comprehensive quality and brilliant creativeability; before these great scientists, people often can just make some vague,fragmented discoveries, and difficult to get certain definite, systematic deepconclusions. Here, Mendel’s discovery of two laws of inheritance is also a goodexample, and the discovery of these basic laws of inheritance naturally isclosely related with Mendel’s deep scientific quality. Generally speaking, mostsignificant scientific breakthroughs, like Maxwell’s electromagnetic theory,Galois’ group theory, perhaps all have direct and strong relationship withgreat scientists’ phenomenal talent. Take the creation of real analysis inmathematics as another example, since this theory has two features: broad andprofound, and thus, an ordinary mathematical researcher is naturally unable tofound this complex, profound theory, while Lebesgue has both deep mathematicalfoundation and brilliant original ability, and thus, only these masters cancreate such complex, deep theoretical system. In fact, practitioners inscience, technology all roughly know that, most important discoveries are allmade by few brilliant scientists.
Meanwhile, about the basic phenomenon Kuhn points out, namely, there are often certain shifts ofbasic “paradigm” in scientific community, is actually also easy to understand:because many new creations in science, technology often are not one, twoisolated conclusions, but a holistic and systematic theory; for instance,special relativity is not just one, two isolated formulas, but a systematic,deep theoretical system; therefore, these scientific and technologicalbreakthroughs will naturally bring people a holistic feeling. Meanwhile,because these new scientific discoveries are often all deep systems, and havemany complex details, thereby, people’s reception towards them also oftenrequires a process, for example, it takes about 30 years from the foundation ofMaxwell theory to its universe reception, and it also takes about thirty, fortyyears from special relativity’s formation to universal recognition (it also proves that significant scientific creations indeed largely rely on great scientists’ deep knowledge and originality, because it takes a long time formost ordinary scholars to even just understand certain new ideas). To sum up,because these new scientific theories are all deep thought systems, and thereare many complex details in them, and thus, it also determines two facts:firstly, their universal understanding requires a process; secondly, they willall bring people a holistic feeling, namely, the shift in “paradigm” which Kuhnsays.
To conclude, through the above complex analysis, about the phenomenon of scientific paradigm’srevolution, we can get two basic conclusions: firstly, the important suddenchange of scientific paradigm is still based on many past small gradualinnovations, and only based on the foundation of the rich accumulation of manysmall conclusions, the emergence of new scientific paradigm can have solidfoundation, and generating deep and natural impact. Secondly, for the reasonwhy the birth of new scientific paradigm has revolutionary feature and why itwill give people discontinuous holistic feeling, on one hand, it is closelyrelated with great scientists’ superb and deep professional quality, on the otherhand, it is also because these significant discoveries by brilliant scientistsare often not just several isolated simple conclusions, but some new, deep andsystematic holistic theory.
The sudden change which Schumpeter and Kuhn mention in economy and science, technology is actually easy for us to understand, because they all conform to our commonexperience; if we carefully analyze the reason behind these sudden changes, wecan know most sudden changes are actually closely related with extensivegradual changes, and are all based on many gradual changes, and moreover, sincethe holistic sudden change will change many past facts, and therefore, willalso generate a series of completely new gradual changes, and these new gradualchanges will lead to the further development in the whole society. Finally,about the holistic process of social progress, we think, gradual change andsudden change all synchronously happen in various fields, merely that the wholesociety’s development should mainly need gradual change, and auxiliary withsudden change, and only in this way can we keep the social developmentcoordinated, healthy and stable; in conclusion, on one hand, sudden change without extensive and solid empirical foundation of gradual change will oftenlead to very negative consequences, and will endanger the whole society’sstability and order in many aspects, like science, technology, law, politics,economy, etc, and thereby, we need many gradual changes in various fields, andmany gradual changes in various fields should mutually coordinate, mutuallypromote and mutually support; on the other hand, if many gradual changes cannotproduce necessary holistic sudden change in certain fields, then the society’sdevelopment will also lack strong motive power, because what the socialdevelopment needs are not just some small, incidental achievements in scienceand technology, business, art, and it also needs many significant creations inscience, technology and thought. In conclusion, the world view of gradualismactually has complex connotation, and we need to have many-sided soundunderstandings, or else our understanding towards it will become superficial,modeled and simplistic.
[if !supportFootnotes]
[1]Friedrich A. Hayek,The Constitution Of Liberty, Chapter Two, “The Creative Powers of Free Civilization”, Section 3, p. 28, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press,1978.
[2]Joseph A. Schumpeter,The Theory Of Economic Development, Chapter IV, pp. 120, 122, London and NewYork: Routledge Classics, 2021.
[3]See the essay “Why Read the Classics?”, Section 12, inWhy Read the Classics?, New York:Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1999.
[4]Benjamin Franklin,Poor Richard’s Almanack, year 1744.
[5]Douglass C. North,Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance, p. vii, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
[6]Jean Jacques Rousseau,Discourse on the Arts and Sciences, “Has the Restoration of the Arts and Sciences had a Purifying Effect upon Morals?”, the second part.
[7] See the above paper, the second part.
[8]See the above paper, the second part.
[9]See the above paper, the second part.
[10][Micheal Sandel,What Money Can’t Buy, Chapter 1, “Jumping the Queue”, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2013.
[11]Strauss’ this paper is included in his many collected works, here, we refer to the Chinese collection of essays Socrates’ Problem and Modernity, Beijing: Huaxia Publishing House, 2008.
[12]Alfred N. Whitehead,Adventures of Ideas, Chapter XVII, Section V, pp. 257, 258, New York: TheFree Press, 1967.
[13]Norbert Wiener, I Am a Mathematician,“Postscript”, Cambridge: the MIT Press, 1964.
[14]SeeThe Constitution of Liberty, Chapter III, “The Common Sense of Progress”, Section 2, pp. 41,42.
[15]Charles Dickens,The Pickwick Papers, Preface to the Charles Dickens Edition, 1867.
[16]See the essay “Professor Fermi” in Selected Papers 1945-1980 with Commentary, New York: Freeman and Co. 1983.
[17]SeeThe Theory of Economic Development, Chapter II, Section I, p. 54.
[18]Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Chapter IX, pp. 95, 97, Chicago: the University ofChicago Press, 1970.
