HistoryofWesternCivilizationbefo (4).pdf

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1、1.0 Introduction1 Hi,welcome to my class,the History of Western Civilization.This is the Introduction.My name Liu Junyang,from the University of InternationalRelations.Lets start with some photos.2 The Parthenon temple of goddess Athena from the ancient Greece3 Remember the Socratic paradox I know o

2、ne thing that I know nothing.I think at this moment Socrates is saying I know one thing that I willdie,but Im not afraid.I refused to escape because I respect the Athenian law.4 Nike the winged goddess of victory,and Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci.5 The University of Bologna,Italy,The first universi

3、ty in the world from 1088.6 Birth of Venus by Botticelli during the Italian Renaissance.7 The Creation of Adam and Eve from Michelangelos fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in The Vatican.8 Liberty Leading the People by Eugne Delacroix,the best expression of the spirit of the French revolut

4、ion.9 Arc de Triomphe in Paris.This gate of victory honors those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.This street is the famous Champs Elysees.10 The Palace of Westminster in London,the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.11 The National Ma

5、ll in Washington D.C.You can see the Capitol Hill,The Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.12.All these photos are so beautiful and powerful.They showed the glories of the Western civilization.However,learning this class criticalthinking is important.We cant forget the dark side of the weste

6、rn Civilization.The terrible wars,the Spanish Inquisition,the bloody slave trade,the brutal colonization,the crimes of the Holocaust committed by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.This is a French political cartoon from 1898,China-The Cake of Kings And Emperors.We can see how powerless is this Great Q

7、ing officialwhen he is watching China being divided up by Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom,the German king,the Russian king,the goddess Marianneof France and a samurai of Japan.Since the Opium War China had become a piece of cake to the western powers,so many unequal treatiessigned,so many terri

8、tories lost.13.China has changed a lot.We just celebrated the 70th anniversary of the new China.Todays China is no more a weak country but one of themost powerful countries in the world,and we are playing a more important role in the international community.The world also changed a lot.This class is

9、 about the history of the Western world,but we should also try to understand todays world.We shouldtry to understand President Xis initiative of Building an International Community with a Shared Future for Mankind.This imitative and a NewType of International Relations of Win-Win Cooperation are the

10、 two pillars of Chinese foreign policy today.On 15 May 2019,The Conference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations took place in Beijing.In his speech at the opening ceremony,President Xisaid:“It is foolish to believe that ones race and civilization are superior to others,and it is disastrous to willfull

11、y reshape or even replace othercivilizations”.14.I took part in the Think Tank Forum on“Mutual Learning Among Asian Civilizations and Building a Community With a Shared Future forMankind”.This forum organized by my university and the Global Institute of Strategy,Chinese Academic of social Sciences.I

12、t is part of theConference on Dialogue of Asian Civilizations.I made a speech The World Need Dialogue Not Clash,which published in the English newspaperShanghai Daily.Let me share some of my ideas:Attitude of SuperiorityIn 1793 the British envoy George McCartney came to Beijing,he refused to kowtow

13、to the Chinese emperor,finally Qianlong received him.Qianlong told him proudly“The Celestial Empire is abundant for everything.Nothing we dont have.We dont need trade barbarian goods”.Inthe early days of the human history all civilizations thought they are the center of the world,their race and cult

14、ure are superior to others and allothers are barbarians.This attitude is natural and understandable during that time.However,as the contacts and communication betweencivilizations have become more extensive and deeper,this attitude became foolish.If one civilization uses this attitude of superiority

15、 as an excuse toconquer and convert others that will be disastrous,western colonization is a horrible example.The slogan of the colonists is“God,Gold andGlory”.Huntingdon said:“the West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion but rather by its superiority in applyingo

16、rganized violence.Westerners often forget this fact;non-Westerners never do.”15.Modernization Is Not WesternizationAfter the Cold War,Francis Fukuyama predicted,“the end of history is the end point of mankinds ideological evolution and the universalization ofWestern liberal democracy as the final fo

17、rm of human government.There is only one way for all the country that is the Western democracybecause it is universal”.I think he drank too much to celebrate the victory of the cold war.Fukuyamas teacher Huntingdon disagreed with him.The motive of the clash of civilization theory was Huntingdons wor

18、ry of the decline of the West and the rising of the East.Many people criticizedhis prejudice to the non-western civilizations.However,I think his theory provided a meaningful warning and a new paradigm to look at theinternational politics after the Cold War.He wrote,“What I expect is that my efforts

19、 to raise awareness of the dangers of the clash of civilizationswill help to promote dialogue among civilizations throughout the world.He wrote“If non-Western societies are to modernize,they must do it theirown way not the Western way”.His book published in 1996,13 years passed,history has proved hi

20、s prediction.16.My Dream of a Roundtable MeetingOne day I dreamt a roundtable meeting of Jesus Christ,Shakyamuni,Confucius,Plato and the Prophet Muhammad.What happened?They had avery nice and wise dialogue instead of fighting each other.Of cause,they have differences but they all taught about love,p

21、eace,kindness andtolerance.Are they satisfied about todays world?They may not,because we still have so many conflicts.Following their teaching,people fromdifferent civilizations have no reason not to coexist peacefully.To coexist we need dialogue among civilizations.The principle of dialogue should

22、beto listen,to learn and to appreciate,not to convert,to convince and to influence.It is not about how right and how beautiful you are,it is abouthow right and how beautiful the others are.17.Lets look at two western theories.Samuel Huntingtons Clash of Civilizations.Huntington believes cultural and

23、 religious identities will be the primary source of conflict in the post-Cold War world,and there would be two major Clashes.Between West and Islamic,and between West and Sinic.Sinic means Chinese.Joseph Nye theory of soft power.Soft power is the ability to achieve ones goals not by force but by dip

24、lomacy,persuasion and the attraction ofculture and political value.Recently there is a new kind of China threat theory,Sharp Power.Some Americans demonized China and Russia usingmedia and cultural activities to influence public opinion around the world.118.Learning this class,we should always think

25、these questions:Whats the soft power of the western and Chinese civilization?How to increaseChinese soft power?Will there be a clash between the western and Chines civilization?Is the peaceful rise of China a threat to the whole world?Why we need dialogue among civilizations?Why the world need to bu

26、ild an International Community with Shared Fortune?19.OK.Lets look at the content of this classEarly Greece,Classical and Hellenistic Greece,Ancient Roman Civilization 1,Ancient Roman Civilization 2,Middle Ages,Renaissance andReformation,West in the Seventeenth century and west in the Eighteenth Cen

27、tury.I am sorry to say because one semester is too short,this thisclass could only cover the 18th Century,for the 19th and 20th centuries I can only gave a very brief introduction.20 Why teach in EnglishI am not teaching English,I am teaching in English.I used to work as an English interpreter and t

28、our guild for 20 years.I used to live in Europe andUS as visiting scholars.I have been learning English for 40 years,and English has been my working language for 30 years.From my learning,teaching and working experiences,I found many students have the same problem I called it Walking Stick Dependenc

29、y Syndrome.LearningEnglish,most students can reach the intermediate level.Something like the level of CET Band 4,but going further seems very difficult.SelinkersInterlanguage theory called this phenomenon fossilization.The progress of learning stopped,and fossilized like dinosaurs.Interlanguage mean

30、syour English is not pure English but a mixture of Chinese and English.Our brain has enough room for two languages stored and operatesseparately.Computer and cell phone can work in Chinese or English but never bilingually.By the way,maybe you can try to change the workinglanguage of your phone and c

31、omputer into English.Believe me that will be fun.You cant always rely on Chinese to help your English.WalkingStick is Chinese.If you are strong enough you dont need a stick to walk.Get rid of it.Dont say your English isnt good enough to take this class.No,I dont think so.I think your English is good

32、 enough because you had already passed the English exam of Gaokao and became universitystudents now.Your English is good enough.21.How to study?I have 3 Requirements1.Before watching the video please read the subtitles and check the new words.I will send you all the subtitles.I am writing a textbook

33、,A BriefHistory of Western Civilization based on these subtitles,it will be published soon.2.Study the key words and questions.You need a notebook to write down the definitions of the key words and answers of the questions.3.Please finish all the exercises on time22.I have three suggestions1.Read cl

34、assicsI am a passionate reader.How many English books I have read?Maybe 400.Some of them are real classics,like Homers epic poems the Iliadand the Odyssey,Marcus Aurelius Meditations,Machiavellis the Prince,Thomas Mores Utopia,Jean-Jacques Rousseaus Confessions,Bertrand Russells A History of Western

35、 Philosophy.I am not asking you to read these books right now,too difficult,but hope you would read atleast one classical book every semester.Let Plato be your friend,and Aristotle,but more let your friend be truth.This is not the school motto of the Harvard University.Isaac Newtonwrote it.We should

36、 read Plato,Aristotle,Confucius,but the most important thing is to seek the truth.I cant remember who said that in theuniversity the most important thing is to get you in touch with what the greatest minds have thought.What are the western classics?Please search online the Harvard Classics;Its a 51-

37、volume anthology of classic works of the world recommendedby the Harvard University president Charles W.Eliot in 1909.Most of the works from the west.An anthology is a collection of writings bydifferent writers.23.2.Read in EnglishHow many years you have been learning English?More than 10,right?I al

38、ways say it is shameful to read English books in Chinese translation ifyou have been learning English for more than 10 years.3.Search in EnglishSearch in Chinese we Baidu,but search in English.I want you Google,Bing,Yahoo,Britannica,Wikipedia,and hope you can often go to somewestern websites like BB

39、C,CNN,and the New York Times.One more thing,there are many online dictionaries,Youd better use an English-English dictionary,not an English-Chinese one.And you should often look at maps,Bing maps in English is a very good one.24.I have eight books here.Hope you can read at least one each semester.Yo

40、ud better read it in English.Marcus Aurelius:Meditations,Niccolo Machiavelli:the Prince,Thomas More:Utopia,Jean-Jacques Rousseau:Confessions,Montesquieu:The Spirit of the Laws,Adam Smith:The Wealth of Nations,Charles Dickens:A Tale of Two Cities,George Orwell:Nineteen Eighty-Four25.Look at this book

41、,A Brief History of Western Civilization,the Unfinished Legacy by Mark Kishlansky,Geary and OBrien.You can seesome notes I wrote there,this is my reading habit.It is a textbook in many American universities.600 pages.Dont be afraid Im not asking you toread it,too difficult,but I suggest you to try.2

42、6.These are the key wordsBuilding a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind,Walking Stick Dependency Syndrome,Harvard Classics,Clash of Civilizations,Softpower,Mark Kishlansky:A Brief History of Western Civilization.This is the introduction of this class.Thank you for taking this class,and hope you will enjoy it.2