What role does the difference between Chinese and western natural views play in the development and historical process of China and the West?

How to understand the differences between Chinese and western views on nature

The view of nature refers to people's fundamental view of nature, which shapes the characteristics of a certain cultural system. Due to the different living environment, people in the East and the West have different understandings and understandings of the view of nature, and the two different views of nature have different performances and influences. Understanding, comparing and studying the different views of nature between the East and the West is not only conducive to our understanding of the past history, but also conducive to the present and future development of our society.

? In ancient China, people regarded nature as a universal and constantly moving whole, thus forming a simple view of nature, such as "Yin and Yang Theory", "Five Elements Theory" and "Vitality Theory".

In ancient western countries, people thought that nature was the unity, opposition and dialectics of motion and stillness, such as Socrates' moral theory, Plato's theory of ideas and Aristotle's theory of nature. The attitude of the eastern world, represented by China, towards nature since ancient times is to advocate nature, not to disobey destiny, and let nature take its course. It is believed that everything in the world is constantly circulating in the relationship between man and nature. For example, Taoism has ".

? Generally speaking, China's ancient thinkers have always held a mysterious feeling about nature, and rarely mentioned the understanding and transformation of nature, but mostly based on the exploration of the inner subject of human self. The sage thinks that he can be integrated with heaven and earth by carrying forward a supreme masculinity in the subject's heart. Westerners, represented by Europe, think that man and nature are opposites and are used to separating them. It is believed that people's thinking is an objective thing independent of nature, paying attention to people's exploration of nature, and that people can transform and even conquer nature through struggle and hard work. His view of nature has the following characteristics in understanding the relationship between man and nature:

First of all, subject and object are dichotomous. It is considered that spirit and matter, subject and object, man and nature are two fundamentally different fields, which leads to the question of how the subject knows the object and how human beings conquer their own nature.

Second, advocate the supremacy of human reason or the omnipotence of natural science. It is believed that human beings rely on science and reason and have unlimited ability to conquer and transform nature. Nature is only the object of human conquest and transformation. Although the specific personal strength is limited, the human strength is infinite. In the process of changing nature, people will be able to overcome the difficulties that cannot be overcome today. The reasons for the differences between Chinese and western views on nature are as follows:

Does the geographical environment affect the view of nature?

1 year, China lived in the Yangtze River and Yellow River Plain for a long time, where the land is fertile and the climate is mild and suitable, which is suitable for agricultural cultivation. Orientals have lived in this environment for a long time, and over time they have formed the national character of farming. As long as people follow the changes of seasonal climate and sow and harvest on time, they can have plenty of food and clothing. This relatively comfortable life has formed the concept that people worship and submit to nature. Together with Taoist and Confucian theories of "the unity of all things", "the unity of man and nature" and "the unity of man and nature", it strengthens the relationship between man and nature. Europe is mountainous and plain, with a cold climate. In this environment, farming is not suitable. People have been hunting and animal husbandry for a living, and they have to fight against the harsh environment of nature every day. If people want to survive, they must face nature, fight against nature and win. In this case, any prayer will be won.

2. Implication and publicity?

Geographical environment causes people's different thoughts to a certain extent, but it also causes people's different personalities. Many times, thoughts are slowly precipitated by personality and expression. Therefore, the character of a nation may better explain the characteristics of a civilization. The closeness of China's geographical environment doomed it to be reborn in the cycle of "long separation". For a long time, people have formed a natural view that the world is a big cycle. They believe that Tao has existed since ancient times and is "extraordinary", so there is no need to find and study it. For thousands of years, the Central Plains, like ink infiltrating into rice paper, gradually opened up new territory around it and spread the population. The social form of Europe is city-state democracy, and citizens have the right to pursue truth, goodness and beauty through public debate, and are rarely bound and imprisoned.

3. Does the person in charge of knowledge decide the democratic view of nature?

Since ancient times, emperors in China have always regarded themselves as the sons of heaven, but in the world, is the people king and the land king? The deep-rooted reason of slavery in human consciousness is that people are not in charge of knowledge, which is also the essential factor of China's imperial view of nature and European democratic view of nature. In ancient Europe, the use of pinyin made knowledge no longer monopolized by the privileged class. The confrontation between all knowledgeable and conscious citizens and monarchies and nobles has produced a democratic view of nature in European society. Although Chinese civilization has long been ahead of the West, China's view of nature is still insufficient. Due to the long-term worship of nature, people ignore the power of human beings, overestimate the power of nature, underestimate the power of human beings, and naturally ignore the self-cultivation of human beings, which leads to the idea of people moving forward. In addition, this comfortable living environment and excessive worship of nature have also led to some defects in the character of China people. Compared with Europeans, China people are easy to satisfy, lack initiative, ambition, poor abstract thinking ability and lack the spirit of exploring and specializing in nature. These are one of the reasons why Chinese civilization will gradually lag behind the West in the future.

From the perspective of natural science, the influence of natural view on it. Although China has four great inventions: papermaking, printing, gunpowder and Sina, due to people's narrow understanding, these scientific achievements are limited to the application field, and there is no systematic theoretical framework and theoretical guidance. Almost all of them are formed by people's accumulated experience in daily life. On the contrary, in the west, because people have developed the character of being aggressive, competitive and keen on exploration and research, when the four great inventions were introduced to the west, with people's efforts, a series of China's advanced inventions, such as movable type printing, navigation compass, musket and guns, appeared. These inventions were used properly and played a huge role. The humanities are also influenced by the concept of nature. In the East, the thoughts and will of rulers have always been the mainstream, even Confucianism, as the essence of China's traditional culture, is no exception. However, the West experienced the Renaissance because of its aggressive and competitive spirit. New ideas emerge one after another, and many theoretical works provide reliable theoretical basis for the future democratic system. Although China's view of nature of "harmony between man and nature" is not perfect, the opposite view of nature in the West also has its limitations. Influenced by the view of nature that man and nature are opposed to each other, people are proud of conquering and transforming nature, but ignore some laws of nature that cannot be violated and transformed, and only know how to ask for returns and protect nature, which leads to serious mistakes.

Now, it doesn't matter who is better than who and who is worse than who. On the basis of summing up the past experience and lessons, people have come to a reasonable conclusion of dialectical and unified view of nature. Both Chinese and western views on nature have made great contributions to the progress of mankind. At the same time, we should constantly pursue a view of nature that is more suitable for the current social development. Only in this way can society continue to develop and human beings continue to progress.