林巍

中外媒體，喜欢定期评选2出最具影响力的人或发明。其实在我看来，真正改变世界的，是观念。古往今来，莫不如此。

在西方，“观念”一词最早源于希腊文的“观看”“理解”，从14世纪起便用该概念表达事物和价值的思想类型3。简单而言，观念是表达典型思想的关键词和基本要素。观念的社会化，便导致社会行动和变革。

典型的，如15世纪的欧洲，正因为改变了对“人”的观念，才有了著名的文艺复兴运动;而后经过洛克、斯密、伏尔泰、卢梭、狄德罗等一批启蒙思想家对相关概念的深刻分析、理性发挥4，又产生了欧美的工业革命、商品经济和宪政体制等等。

然而，20世纪40年代的德国，希特勒的一个歪曲了的进化论观念——必须不惜一切代价灭绝“次等民族”，导致六百余万犹太人惨遭杀害，世界也为此付出沉重代价。有西方学者指出，在历史的关键时期，由几页纸阐述的某个观点5便可把世界搞得天翻地覆6。

中国历史上，由外来观念引领的社会文化洗礼，主要有两次：一次是魏晋南北朝时期佛教观念的传入，使得中国原有文化发生了结构性的重组，形成了儒释道的基本文化格局7;另一次则是鸦片战争之后的“西学东渐”，形成了“中体西用”的策略，使得中国社会开始与现代国际社会接轨8。

突出的9，如“科学”，该词在中国古已有之，指“分科之学”和八股取士，但完全不同于西方的science，对该词的翻译自明末至晚清一直是“格致”。随着10中西方科学技术交流的加强，“格致”逐渐被现代意义上的“科学”所取代，废科举、办新学成为势不可挡的潮流。进而，又引发了洋务运动、戊戌变法、新文化运动等。

1898年的戊戌变法，对于具有传统“统治”观念的慈禧太后而言是大逆不道11的，势必血腥镇压。但是十年之后，经过外国列强的欺凌、革命党人的起义、立宪派的驱动及五大臣的考察等，她逐渐（哪怕是部分地）接受了现代统治观念，于是由她批准的《钦定宪法大纲》，其新政内容包括政体、法制、经济、军事、教育等诸多领域，在广度与深度12上都远远超过了之前康梁主导的戊戌维新。可惜，历史没有给她留下付诸实践的时间，不久她便去世了。

1978年，那场关于“实践是检验真理的唯一标准”的大讨论极大地解放了人们的思想，带来了随后“改革开放”的巨大成果。

就人与自然的关系而言，自从人类找对了自己在宇宙中的客观位置，才有了真正的“学问”和“智慧”。同样，我们今天所以关注气候变暖、生物多样性，也是因为我们看待13地球的方式改变了——不再相信“人定胜天14”“唯我独尊15”，而是将其看作是一个相互影响和依存的动态系统。

处在日益全球化的今天，我们不但要从中国看世界，更要从世界看中国，这样会有许多观念上的不同16，从而采取许多明智之举。

Although the most influential figures and inventions periodically appear in domestic and foreign media， the most powerful thing in changing the world is， so at least it seems to me， ideas. It has been the same in all ages.

In the West， the word “idea” ori-ginated from the Greek iδ?α， meaning to observe or understand. Since the 14th century， the term has been used to denote “ideal type”. Ideas， in a simple definition， are thus key words and essential elements to present a typified thought. The socialization of ideas will result in social action and social reform.

Typical examples can be found in the 15th century Europe， where the famous Renaissance was caused by a renewed understanding of humans. The profound analysis and rational knowledge of Enlightenment thinkers in the West， represented by Locke， Smith， Voltaire， Rousseau and Diderot， bred the Industrial Revolution， commodity economy and constitutionalism in Europe and America.

However， in Germany of the 1940s， a distorted idea of Darwinism possessed Hitlers head—eliminating all the “inferior ethnicities” from the earth at all cost—and resulted in the massacre of over 6 million Jewish people， while the world sacrificed a great deal as well. As some western scholars point out， at certain crucial junctures in history， several pages of ideas are capable of turning the world upside down， or even destroying it.

In Chinas history， two great events introducing foreign ideas to the country transformed Chinese culture： One was the introduction of Buddhist ideas， reconstituting the cultural landscape with Confucianism， Buddhism and Daoism. The other emerged from the trend of “the eastward transmission of western learning”， which gave rise to the strategy of “employing western techniques based on Chinese Culture”， initiating the process of connecting Chinese society with the modern international community.

A classic example is the term ke xue （science）， which was part of classical Chinese， referring to classified subjects and the eight-part essay examination， but had nothing to do with the idea of “science” in the West. In translating the western concept， the term ge zhi had always been used from the late-Ming to the late-Qing Dynasty before it was replaced by ke xue in its modern sense， as a result of the increasing exchanges of science and technology between China and the West. Correspondingly， the abolition of imperial examinations， the establishment of schools of western learning， the Westernization Movement， the Hundred Days Reform， and the New Culture Movement followed.

Sticking to the traditional idea of ruling the country， the Empress Dowager Cixi considered the Hundred Days Reform in 1898 extremely offensive and to be bloodily suppressed. Ten years later， however， having gone through the bullying and humiliation from foreign powers， revolutionary revolts， the Constitutional Movement as well as an investigation trip abroad by five ministers of the monarchy， the Empress Dowager gradually accepted the modern idea of government （if only in part）， and issued the Imperial Constitution Outline， which was substantially more progressive than the previous proposals of Kang Youwei and Liang Qichao （two representative personages of the Hundred Days Reform） in the areas of political and legal systems， the economy， the military， education and so on. Pitifully， history did not allow enough time for her to accomplish these reforms before her death.

In 1978， the mass debate on “Practice is the sole criterion for testing truth.” was widely launched， emancipating people tremendously from their ideological confinement， hence the enormous outcome of the “reform and opening up to the outside world”.

As far as the relations between man and nature are concerned， human beings did not establish their knowledge and wisdom， so to speak， until their proper position was located in the universe. By the same token， global warming and biological diversity capture our attention only after we have altered the way we approach nature from “mans fixed purpose is superior to Heaven” and “supremacy over all” to a more balanced view of the universe， to treat it as an interdependent， interactive and dynamic system.

In todays increasingly globalized world， we should not only view the world from Chinas perspective but view China with a global vision. In that way， many wiser decisions will be made using such transformed ideas.