“文明”考

On the “Civilization”

现代"文明"一词,起源于18世纪法国。而其拉丁语词根则可以追溯到公元1世纪的罗马帝国时代。经过近代法、英、德等国学术界的共同努力,文明一词的内涵逐渐丰满、清晰、定型,并融入近代欧洲的社会生活和日常用语之中。虽然,早在先秦时期,在中国的文献中,就已经出现了文明之用语,但近代文明的概念,则是从西方传入。现代学术界对文明一词的认识和阐述异常多义,与文化的区别也常常无法辨明,但将文明视为"人类进化(发展)到一定阶段而形成的生存方式(样态)以及其所创造的成果的总和",则得到学术界的基本认可,而科学、富裕、教养、自由、民主、平等、法治、正义、和平、安宁和人类的普世价值,则构成了现代文明的核心价值。

The contemporary term“civilization”originated in France in the 18th century. Its Latin root dates back to the ages of the Roman Empire in the 1st century AD. Through the joint efforts of the academia of modern France,Britain,Germany and other countries, the connotation of“civilization”became full,clear and stereotyped,and it was incorporated into social life and daily expressions in modern Europe. Although the civilized language appeared in Chinese literature as early as in the pre - Qin times, the concept of modern civilization was introduced from the West. The understanding and interpretation of the term“civilization”is unusually various in contemporary academia,and the distinction between civilization and culture is often unclear. However, civilization is regarded as“the survival mode ”( pattern) and its forms which have been formed by the human beings when they evolved ( developed) to a certain stage,and“the sum of the whole creations”could be fundamentally recognized by the academia. Science,wealth,education, freedom,democracy,equality, rule of law, justice,peace, tranquility and the universal value of mankind constitute the core value of modern civilization.