Historical research evaluation

This is not an ordinary history book. This is a strange result that a historian accidentally did what a philosopher should do. It is difficult for an ordinary historian and philosopher to do it, but Toynbee did a great project.

Toynbee's vision in writing this book is extremely broad and truly global. Interestingly, Toynbee wrote this book before World War II. At that time, Toynbee had such a macroscopic historical vision that we had to express our deep admiration. Toynbee, who wrote this book, has a broad mind and a broad vision. For thousands of years, the huge space of the whole world has been in his works, as handy as building blocks and puzzles, completely out of the historical time sequence. In fact, this is not a simple book about history at all. It is a book to explore the fate of mankind with the help of the history of all mankind, and it is also a book about the future of mankind.

A basic unit of Toynbee's thinking about human history and future destiny is civilization. This is a very unique perspective. It is also a focus that attracts more and more attention in recent years. Huntington's masterpiece Clash of Civilizations and Reconstruction of World Order also examines history and predicts the future with civilization as the unit. I don't know if it's coincidence or conscious reference. This methodology of thinking about historical issues with civilization as a unit is usually called the historical view of civilization form.

Toynbee divided the major countries in the world according to their civilizations, and then thought about the laws of civilization according to the origin, growth, decline and disintegration of each civilization. All the human civilizations that have existed in this world can be summed up in more than 30 forms of civilization, including seven independent civilizations and other satellite civilizations subordinate to these independent civilizations. According to the * * * characteristics of these civilizations, three main modes are summarized, namely, Greek mode (the mode of cultural unity and political division), China mode (the unified mode of division-oriented unity) and Jewish mode (the discrete mode of identifiable unified culture without political entity). Among them, Toynbee asserts that the early history of most civilizations is more in line with the Greek model, while the late civilization is more in line with the China model. Jewish model is a special civilization model. Therefore, Toynbee established the "Greek-China" civilization model.

When thinking about the origin of civilization, Toynbee first denied the racial determinism of racism and came to the conclusion that the origin of civilization has nothing to do with race. Then I came to a special conclusion that the more difficult the environment, the more sparks of civilization can be tempered. This is the opposite conclusion of many philosophers and historians before. In the past, many philosophers thought that civilization should appear in favorable environment, because favorable environment has leisure time to explore civilization. Whether this conclusion is absolutely correct or not, at least this conclusion is a big step forward than the simple leisure to produce civilization.

The main purpose of Toynbee's thinking about civilization is to think about the decline of civilization and thus the future fate of mankind. Toynbee believes that once a civilization declines, there are usually three ways out, namely, a unified empire, a unified church and a heroic age of barbarians. Unified empire is a form of Toynbee's criticism. He believes that unifying the empire is a very bad thing, a spring before the cold winter, which can stifle the creativity of civilization. However, Toynbee praised the United Church. Although he admits that there are problems in religion, Toynbee is quite confident in producing a high-level religion. He believes that with the continuous decline of civilization, the chariot of religion can move on, because religion is a spiritual activity. As for the heroic age of barbarians, Toynbee also despises it. He believes that barbarians themselves are energetic, but once they succeed in defeating more advanced civilizations, they will immediately become corrupt and morally corrupt. Even faster than the civilization they conquered.

Toynbee's view of history consciously got rid of the influence of western centralism and avoided the influence of national sentiment as much as possible in historical writing, although readers can still see the influence of western centralism in their writing. As a western historian, it is a great progress to have such awareness when western civilization is still in full swing.

Although the mainstream historians don't think highly of Toynbee at present, and although many predictive conclusions made by Toynbee after reading The History of Civilization may be inaccurate or even wishful thinking, I still firmly believe that many methodological things used in this book are immortal. This book, together with its methodology, is destined to be a milestone in the field of history, which may be proved by the future development of history.

2. How to evaluate Toynbee's historical research?

Toynbee said that Chinese civilization will unify the whole world. what do you think? Author Xing Tian can find thousands of articles by typing "Toynbee Chinese Civilization" on WeChat with similar titles. Most of them say that Chinese civilization will unify the world and illuminate 2 1 century.

According to Baidu Encyclopedia, arnold joseph toynbee (1889 ~ 1975) is a famous British historian, who was once praised as "the greatest historian in modern times". Toynbee has a unique view on history. His 12 magnum opus "Historical Research" tells the rise and fall of the major nationalities in the world, and is regarded as "the greatest achievement of modern scholars".

Toynbee was born in a family with a long history in London. Toynbee visited China twice from 1929 to 1967 respectively, and he spoke highly of China culture. US Newsweek commented: "He has become a universal philosopher, as well as Einstein, Shi Huaizhe and Russell."

Toynbee is not only an outstanding historian but also an outstanding philosopher. He often thinks about many important issues of cosmic life and social history from the perspective of philosophy, and has rich and profound philosophical thoughts, especially historical philosophy, which is considered as the main representative of "speculative historical philosophy" in modern western countries.

Realizing the unity of politics and spirit Toynbee pointed out that in the past 500 years, technology and economy have developed rapidly, but human beings have not achieved the same development in spirit and politics, but there are many serious problems. Now, mankind has the power to end human history and even all life.

Humans who walk to the edge of the cliff must wake up quickly and adjust their direction to avoid rolling in the deep. Human beings need to fundamentally change their goals, thoughts and behaviors, which is an indispensable condition for human beings to continue to exist.

In Toynbee's view, a worldwide network of technical and economic relations has been formed due to the expansion of activities between China people and westerners in the past 500 years. Contemporary human beings are facing many urgent problems.

Toynbee expects and predicts that mankind will achieve political and spiritual unity in the next stage of historical development. However, he stressed that this great change must be realized in an independent way on the premise of equality of all mankind, rather than continuing to be ruled by some people and others.

The west will transfer the dominance of the past 500 years to emerging countries. China's Role in History and Future Toynbee attaches great importance to China's role in history and future, and is full of expectations for China.

He not only spoke highly of China's history and culture, but also expected and believed that China would make great contributions to the political and spiritual unity of the world in the future. Toynbee praised China's long-standing political and cultural tradition of safeguarding national unity-despite two thousand years of dynasty changes, it still maintains political and cultural unity.

He believes that there is no second such unified situation in the world. Toynbee believes that the19th century will be the century of the British, the 20th century will be the century of the Americans, and the 2 1 century will be the century of the China people.

Of course, it is worth emphasizing that Toynbee's 2 1 century is the century of China people, mainly referring to the culture of China, especially Confucianism and Mahayana Buddhism, which led mankind out of mistakes and sufferings and towards the road of peace and stability. He believes that the combination of eastern culture and western culture, which is dominated by China culture, will be the most beautiful and eternal new culture for mankind in the future.

* * * * * * * * * * * * Toynbee said so, what do you think? My view of the unified world is different from Toynbee's. Of course, this is just an opinion. It's all brainstorming, so my opinion may get your wrong love and be included in the opinion set as one of the references. In my opinion, under the strong external force, it is possible to unify the world.

For example, if aliens come, the whole world may be unified into one country in five years. Otherwise, centrifugal force and cohesion are at loggerheads and cannot be unified.

Unless there is a super leader, even then, it will split again sooner or later. However, there is no need to be sad because of this. It cannot be rigidly unified, but it can still be diversified.

So many things in CDEFG, if merged into thing B, there is a big thing B, but at the same time, many small things are lost. As long as these little things don't kill each other and exist in peace, friendship and diversity, not only can these little things continue to exist, but there can also be a higher-level thing A, which has a citizen CDEFG.

So there is nothing to regret that hundreds of countries have not been unified into one country. If these hundreds of countries can exist in peace, friendship and diversity, wouldn't it be a kind of order to be a higher-ranking citizen of "going to the country on the Milky Way"? It is true that today's United Nations is not a "star river in the country". Of course, this is only the author's opinion. As an opinion, it can be more specific.

1. Does the country belong to the people or the people belong to the country? In the past, the son belonged to the father, and the father had to die if he wanted his son to die. But now, sons and fathers are equal.

In the past, people belonged to and were loyal to the country. But now, as citizens, people have the right to decide state affairs.

Therefore, the country can be incorporated. Although it is a super monopoly company, citizens should own shares. If a person immigrates from country C to country D, it is equivalent to selling shares in country C and buying shares in country D. This freedom to buy and sell shares of nationality will lead to free competition between countries. Share prices of countries will rise because they buy more, and fall because they sell more. Therefore, it is necessary to manage well, balance in and out, and retain nationals, so that the country will appreciate.

And the people have gained unprecedented freedom and can choose their own country. Only in this way can the country have its own characteristics, and it is necessary to build a country with its own characteristics.

And people? I will also find my own kind of party, find the country that suits me best, live with people who have the same choice and have shoes as big as their feet. This freedom to buy and sell nationality shares can be initiated by a few countries, which is equivalent to WTO and can be called WCO(World citizenship anization).

In this way, the country has actually become a leap forward and really opened up. A country may have people of all nationalities in the world.

And people of a nation may also be scattered in various countries. At that time, if someone said he was from China, you could guess his appearance, but if he said he was from China, his skin would be damaged.

3. How to evaluate "Persuade History with Reason"?

In my opinion, the key to talking about whether bringing history is a disadvantage lies in whether you reject the possibility of expressing this history with other paradigms.

Teacher Yan Buke once had a wonderful metaphor about history: If history is compared to an object, then every scholar's research can only be "one-sided and profound", just like the projection of this object. Only by overlapping multiple projections can we get the outline closest to the original appearance of the object. Whether it is advisable to "take history by theory" depends on whether the history it takes is really history, rather than adopting an antagonistic interpretation with strong political color from the perspective outside history.

Obviously, such a theory with history has too much subjective color and can easily degenerate into an aggressive tool. To put it more bluntly and convince people by reasoning has a very important relationship with the self-cultivation of operators. When ... shows whether it is desirable to take history by theory, the key lies in whether the history taken is really history, rather than adopting a confrontational interpretation with strong political color from a perspective other than history.

Obviously, such a theory with history has too much subjective color and can easily degenerate into an aggressive tool. To put it more bluntly, it is extremely important to bring history with theory and the self-cultivation of operators. Of course, we can't distinguish between "straightness" and "straightness" in the dark, so we will take a defensive attitude towards taking history with theory. This is also a normal reaction and a necessary reaction.

"Taking history as a mirror" is the opposite of "taking history as a mirror". Taking history as the main factor and argument, the black knife with a gun and stick is easier to be seen by the audience with popcorn. The disadvantage between the historical theory and the historical theory is that the views on the theory are mixed, and the basic principles of historical operation (equivalent to logically recognized axioms) and the conclusions of research results are called "theory" (historical theory), which makes it difficult to define whether the theory is before or after history.

Emphasize previous theories and advocate historical theories; After emphasizing theory, we advocate that theory should be based on history. In fact, the "basic principle" of historical research is summarized by predecessors from the historical process; For future generations, this "reason" is a ready-made thing that already exists, so it was before.

But for the predecessor, it is summed up from the historical process (facts), so it is still "post". As descendants, we regard the basic principles as existing, ready-made, pre-existing and correct things, which is the premise of logical reasoning in historical research; The historical facts I need to study are the minor premise of logical reasoning, and the major premise is the same as the minor premise and conclusion.

In this way, historical research is completely incorporated into the logical "syllogism deductive reasoning". In the past historical research, the basic principles and the conclusions drawn later were called "historical theory", so it is not clear whether the theory was in prehistoric times or before the theory.

The academic community is at a loss. There must be a "major premise" in syllogism reasoning in historical research.

Because history is the trajectory of social operation and society is created by human activities, the premise of syllogism reasoning in historical research is the basic principles (principles) of human activities, the most basic of which is the principle of "rational choice of economic man", that is, people will compare costs and benefits before activities and take the activities that are most beneficial to them (minimizing costs or maximizing benefits). Social structure, economy and political system are the results of economic man's reasonable choices and corresponding activities under the encouragement or restriction of specific objective environmental conditions.

On this basis, the "historical principles" recognized by the academic circles are basically summed up by economics (because only economics is closely related to "human activities" can explain the problem), including the principle of diminishing marginal income, Malthusian population principle, public goods principle, transaction cost principle, etc ... By the way: although Marx's followers claim that historical materialism is a historical operating principle that has been proved to be "scientific", it is not suitable for historical research at present.

4. How to do "historical research"

History is a subject that can be studied, and it is also a subject worth studying.

The methods of historical research can mainly start from the following aspects: 1. Learn some historical theories and know some methods and skills of historical research. For the study of history, it is essential to study historical theory. Through the study of historical research methods and theories, we can master certain historical research skills and methods, thus accelerating the improvement of historical research ability; 2. Read more historical materials and try to master the comprehensiveness and accuracy of the historical materials you have learned.

Historical materials were processed by predecessors. Due to the constraints of the historical environment, class position, value orientation and personal preferences of the people who collate historical materials, the written historical materials may not be true and comprehensive, so the understanding of historical materials needs to be comprehensive. Pay attention to the following aspects when reading: (1) Pay attention to reading historical materials of different periods.

The historical materials recorded in the period of historical events may be comprehensive, but the processing may not be strong. Although the historical materials compiled by later generations are highly organized, due to the age, the historical materials compiled may not be complete enough, or even bent to reflect the history at that time; (2) Pay attention to reading different descriptions of the same historical event and hostile parties.

The description and evaluation of the same historical event will be very different because of the different interests and values of the opposing parties. Therefore, only by reading the historical materials of the opposing parties and even the neutrals can we fully grasp the authenticity of historical events; (3) Pay attention to reading the official history and unofficial history's books, so as to achieve the purpose of mutual confirmation. The mutual confirmation between the official history and unofficial history is indispensable, especially when Confucius in ancient China put forward "the taboo of saints, the taboo of relatives and the taboo of saints". Therefore, the accounts of rulers, sages and relatives can't be complete and comprehensive, and it is necessary to study a lot of unofficial history and official history to confirm each other.

3, the study of history should pay attention to the study of historical sites and cultural relics. Due to the subjectivity of artificial processing, historical materials need to be verified with historical relics and historical sites in order to get a comprehensive and true history.

At the same time, combined with the study of historical relics and historical sites, we can draw correct conclusions and constantly improve the correct and comprehensive history; 4. After studying history to a certain extent, we should be good at thinking and adopt the general law of historical development to solve the problems existing in practice. For example, Marx and Enkesi studied the history of primitive society, slave society, feudal society and capitalist society, and boldly put forward that the next step of human history will enter the capitalist society.

5. How to evaluate "Persuade History with Reason"?

In my opinion, the key to talking about whether bringing history is a disadvantage lies in whether you reject the possibility of expressing this history with other paradigms.

Teacher Yan Buke has a wonderful metaphor for history:

If we compare history to an object, every scholar's research can only achieve "one-sided profundity", just like the projection of this object. Only by overlapping multiple projections can we get the outline closest to the original appearance of the object.

Whether it is advisable to "take history by theory" depends on whether the history it takes is really history, rather than adopting an antagonistic interpretation with strong political color from the perspective outside history. Obviously, such a theory with history has too much subjective color and can easily degenerate into an aggressive tool. To put it more bluntly, when …

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Whether it is advisable to "take history by theory" depends on whether the history it takes is really history, rather than adopting an antagonistic interpretation with strong political color from the perspective outside history. Obviously, such a theory with history has too much subjective color and can easily degenerate into an aggressive tool. To put it more bluntly, it is extremely important to bring history with theory and the self-cultivation of operators. Of course, we can't distinguish between "straightness" and "straightness" in the dark, so we will take a defensive attitude towards taking history with theory. This is also a normal reaction and a necessary reaction. "Taking history as a mirror" is the opposite of "taking history as a mirror". Taking history as the main factor and argument, the black knife with a gun and stick is easier to be seen by the audience with popcorn.

The similarity between the theory of taking history with theory and the theory of taking history with theory lies in the mixed views on theory.

The basic principle of historical operation (equivalent to a logically recognized axiom) and the conclusion of research results are called "theory" (historical theory).

Therefore, it is difficult to define whether "theory" is before or after "history".

Emphasize previous theories and advocate historical theories; After emphasizing theory, we advocate that theory should be based on history.

In fact, the "basic principle" of historical research is summarized by predecessors from the historical process; For future generations, this "reason" is a ready-made thing that already exists, so it was before. But for the predecessor, it is summed up from the historical process (facts), so it is still "post".

As descendants, we regard the basic principles as existing, ready-made, pre-existing and correct things, which is the premise of logical reasoning in historical research; The historical facts I need to study are the minor premise of logical reasoning, and the major premise is the same as the minor premise and conclusion.

In this way, historical research is completely incorporated into the logical "syllogism deductive reasoning".

In the past historical research, the basic principles and the conclusions drawn later were called "historical theory", so it is not clear whether the theory was in prehistoric times or before the theory. The academic community is at a loss.

There must be a "major premise" in syllogism reasoning in historical research. Because history is the trajectory of social operation and society is created by human activities, the premise of syllogism reasoning in historical research is the basic principles (principles) of human activities, the most basic of which is the principle of "rational choice of economic man", that is, people will compare costs and benefits before activities and take the activities that are most beneficial to them (minimizing costs or maximizing benefits).

Social structure, economy and political system are the results of economic man's reasonable choices and corresponding activities under the encouragement or restriction of specific objective environmental conditions.

On this basis, the "historical principles" recognized by academic circles are basically summed up by economics (because only economics is closely related to "human activities" can explain the problem), including the principle of diminishing marginal income, Malthusian population principle, public goods principle, transaction cost principle and so on. ...

By the way, although Marx's followers claim that historical materialism is a historical operating principle that has been proved to be "scientific", in fact, it has many problems, especially in its specific expression and application. At present, it is not suitable as the logical premise of historical research.

6. How to study history

Studying history is to remember the past, and studying history is to cherish the present and look forward to the future.

Li Shimin, Emperor Taizong, put it well, "Take copper as a mirror to dress, people as a mirror to know gain and loss, and history as a mirror to know rise and fall." . The vast 5,000-year history of civilization bears the inheritance of Chinese civilization and the permanence of the Chinese nation. The ancestors recorded valuable information resources with the pen of Dan Qing, which is the treasure of Chinese civilization.

Studying history can help us deeply understand how the Chinese nation has gone through vicissitudes, hardships, perseverance and hardships from a tribe on the bank of the Yellow River. Will enhance their feelings of loving the motherland and the nation.

Studying history will record the important past events that happened in China, because history will bring us into the alternation of war and peace, experience the hardships of development and progress, feel the struggle between civilization and barbarism, recall the contrast between glory and backwardness, and witness the civilized achievements produced by ethnic migration and ethnic integration. Studying history will help us know how to distinguish loyalty from treachery, right from evil, good from evil, good from evil, gently touch the spiritual world of the ancients, talk to them and think about the distant past.

Studying history will strengthen us from grief, let the Chinese nation know how to defend itself better, develop after the "phoenix nirvana" of history, enhance national pride in glory, and share the destiny with the country and the nation. Looking through the evolution of history, you will broaden your horizons, enrich your thinking, and improve your personal taste and accomplishment, all of which are the benefits of studying history.

Learning history is not the ultimate goal, but the real value lies in thinking about and studying history on the basis of learning. As a non-history major, how should we study history? Briefly talk about personal experience; One; First of all, we should respect history; This is the most basic requirement for studying history; The history of China is sacred to the country, the life course of the Chinese nation, the national dignity of China and the national dignity. For those who love the history of China, it is the most basic requirement to treat the history of China with reverence and care for her like comforting and caring for relatives.

But unfortunately, there are always some people who "curse and study" history with strong prejudice, emotion and personality, and "use the best decission". As long as they insult, abuse, attack, humiliate and vilify China's history, dynasties, events and historical figures, they will emerge one after another. For example, some people accused the Song Dynasty of being a "coward" and the Qing Dynasty of being a "mite-clearing". In ancient China, imperial power and royal family were symbols of the country and the Chinese nation.

Our ancestors once shed their last drop of blood, leaving a regretless head for the dynasty and the country. They defended national dignity and guarded national self-esteem with their lives. What are the national feelings of people who insult the China dynasty and the royal family? Where is the national sentiment? Is it worthy of those ancestors who shed blood and died? China's dynastic regime will always be a static existence in the eyes of future generations, because all their merits and demerits, great evils and great goodness have been integrated into the history of China and become a part of the history of China and the life of the Chinese nation.

If you don't have a respectful attitude, don't talk about learning history. The best choice is not to look at history, leaving an unhealthy mentality, but it is not worth the candle. Second; Study history from an objective and fair standpoint; On the basis of respecting history, dialectics of historical materialism is the best weapon to study historical issues, because history is the past, events, people, policies and actions are all the past, and right and wrong, grievances and merits are all the past. Therefore, the study of historical events and people must be placed on the balance of history, focusing on their influence on history, and secondly, the research object should be placed on their influence on the times at that time, which is higher than that at that time.

However, the research object often has two complicated sides, one is positive, the other is negative, the other is glorious, the other is humiliating, and the other is kind and evil. Therefore, we can't judge its quality simply and rudely, but we can make a comprehensive comparison and weigh it with historical behavior, and finally come to the conclusion that the merits outweigh the benefits, or that the excesses outweigh the benefits. For example, the historical evaluation of Qin Shihuang should be that merit lies in the future and sin lies in the present.

Merit lies in the future; Qin Shihuang unified China, which laid the foundation for the territory of China, unified writing and weights and measures, established centralization, improved the county system, and made great contributions to the unification of China. Crime is contemporary; Burning books to bury Confucianism destroyed a large number of cultural classics left in the pre-Qin period [which will also be a sin in the future], severely punished the law, exhausted the national strength and people's strength to build Epang Palace and the mausoleum of the First Qin Emperor, did not pay attention to rest, resumed production, stabilized the people's hearts, and brought great pain to the people at that time.

From the standpoint of later generations, it can be concluded that Qin Shihuang did more than he did. Third; Learn history with serial thinking; In the study of history, we are very afraid of the' one-track thinking' that determines the quality of someone or something in history only by one point, one thing, one word and one line.

People and things should be compared, distinguished and judged by history. For example, it is a wrong decision for netizens to attack Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's view that "a hundred schools of thought abandon Confucianism", but the national policy of "a hundred schools of thought contend and a hundred flowers blossom" should be continued. This is a typical view of historical issues in isolation, lacking a comprehensive consideration of history.

The perspective of thinking should be placed in the comparison between "a hundred schools of thought contend" in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period and various core concepts. The contention of a hundred schools of thought is a unique historical product of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and it is also the ideological product of a hundred schools of thought contending fiercely for political rule. It has been 300-200 years since a hundred schools of thought contended to the era of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty. If a hundred schools of thought continue to contend, there will be no reunification of Qin Shihuang, the birth of the Han Dynasty and the emergence of the Han nationality in history.

Since Qin Xiaogong appointed Shang Yang to reform in 356 BC, Legalism has become the absolute dominant political thought of Qin. With the success of Shang Yang's political reform, Qin took the lead in stepping onto the national system of feudal social system and realized the prosperity of Qiang Bing. Until 22 BC1year, Qin Shihuang unified China and the whole country.