© Roger M Tagg 2023
The author works in the College of Educational Science at Chongqing National University in China. He has clearly read translations of several major western philosophers, from Plato/Socrates to Existentialism a la Sartre.
It's interesting that he manages to avoid saying too much about any of the world's major religions, apart from Buddhism. Maybe that's the only one seen as a challenge to the Chinese Communist Party's orthodoxy.
More generally, it looks like he has to be careful of advancing too many ideas that challenge that orthodoxy!
Highlights are identified by Section and Paragraph. Within a section n, paragraph n.0 refers to text prior to paragraph n.1
| Section | Para | Highlight | Roger's Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1.01 | Du's first metaphor is the we are all climbing the mountain whose height corresponds to the duration of the human species's existence on the planet; he compares this to the duration of the dinosaurs from their first appearance to their extinction. | Different from my 'ever rolling stream' metaphor, but see later. |
| Intro | "When we climb the mountain, we will leave many traces of happiness and sorrow, good and bad, bitter and sweet, or failure and success, joys and sorrows; there are ups and downs as well as wax and wane, too; there was a shocking massacre, an inspiring revolution; there was a great depression, a great recession with people dying as hills and mountains. There is also a great prosperity and progress as the wealthy eat bread and meat; in short, whatever people think, whatever they say, whatever humans do; all things in the past, now and future will be engraved on this mountain." | ||
| 1.02 | There are 200-odd nations, but "most people are turning around in their own small enclosure, while only a few move quickly, learn from each other, and progress hand in hand". | ||
| Most of humanity is "far behind the pioneers" and some "live in misery and have a short life span". | |||
| Most have almost the same life style that they have had for 2500 years. | The % is getting smaller, even in Africa | ||
| The pioneers "always walk on the top of the hillside. They have gone through a lot of hardships and unrelenting efforts to explore a bright and progressive path ...". | |||
| "the happiness index and living standard of people have been greatly improved ...". But they often become complacent and tend to maintain the status quo. | |||
| Adam Smith: "wealth is eventually replaced by stagnation". | |||
| Leaders, although sitting at the top, tend to ignore the poverty below; (they) are "immersed in the existing marks of prosperity and (find it) difficult to extricate themselves". | |||
| 1.03 | The 3 big advances in human thinking are: 1) 2500 years ago (Greek and Chinese philosophers); 2) 600 years ago (W Europe renaissance) and 100 years ago (industrialisation). The renaissance was really a revival of the first 'classical' knowledge, and is still mainstream today. However human nature hasn't advanced much. Agriculture is still a risky business, people are in straits, human nature is oppressed, freedom is resticted, and people are as foolish as ever. Wars haven't gone away, even though they may be fewer and less dreadful. | Also in 1) Old Testament written down, Hindu classics. | |
| 1.04 | It's been a "history of misery" and humanity has gone round in circles. | ||
| Dinosaurs ruled for 160 million years until wiped out by a comet. What are our chances as humans? Will our wisdom and wit be enough? Can we do better with a "positive path of human progress and evolution" to escape "the signs of extinction"? | |||
| 1.05 | What is the best approach? The paper proposes "a positive path from the perspective of evolution", which it claims is better than Buddhism's "Noble Eightfold Path". | This is quite similar to Teilhard de Chardin's ideas - he after all worked in China as an archaeologist, and was involved in finding 'Peking Man'. | |
| 2 | 2.1 | Why do some people live in 'heaven' while others live in 'hell'? Whether it's due to geography, gender, skin colour, age etc? Is it right that a very small number live in an earthly paradise? | I wonder how much of a paradise it really is. |
| The path | Why are people killing each other? | ||
| of human | "Why can't we join hands to resist the 'foreign enemies' to safety, delight, peace and progress?" | Who does he have in mind? Is this just CCP paranoia? | |
| Where will the human race go in the long term, in the sense of Darwinian evolution? | |||
| The Yangtze metaphor; can all the tributaries (of separate nations, creeds etc) join the main stream to the sea? | Teilhard de Chardin again - this time with an end point. | ||
| 2.2 | Humankind is still stuck in a rut in many ways, just heading aimlessly towards the species' extinction. And that's after 2500 years of so called progress. | That progress has been very intermittent, with long 'dark ages' and conservative dynasties. | |
| There is a right way, a common goal. | But we don't all agree about it. | ||
| 2.3.1 | Human evolution is a war without an end against an "imaginary enemy, a conceited man and a nation". | Does he mean conceited individuals and conceited nations? | |
| The short-sighted (humans) look at humanity's successes and "forget the necessity to move forward permanently". | Sure, things can stagnate. But people need consolidation periods. Non stop change doesn't usually work out. | ||
| Complacent and arrogant nations seize resources, and indulge in 'handout' tactics to impose their influence. | Europe, US, Russia yes, but China is fast heading that way as well. | ||
| We should use our intelligence for mutual aid based on "conscience". | |||
| 2.3.2 | Why do some nations lag behind? Can't leading nations allow them to develop in their own way? We should "enable the weak to get rid of the alms of the strong". | ||
| What about indigenous people? Would we be prepared to be indigenous ourselves? | I don't quite get the point. But should indigenous people have the right to keep their old lagging cultures indefinitely? | ||
| 2.3.3 | "Slogans, however beautiful and graceful, however perfect and appropriate" are rubbish. | Well, Mao was a slogan freak. Maybe there are too many people who can't or won't think beyond a simple slogan. | |
| 3 | 3.0 | Socrates thought "an unexamined life is not worth living". | |
| Philo sophy | Plato thought that everyone should know and follow the "perfect idea". | Since Wittgenstein, the ""perfect idea" is just a name in a language game. | |
| persp ective | Aristotle thought the road should be towards the "fundamental purpose" of promoting "good". | ||
| (Marcus) Aurelius called for "modesty and moderation". | |||
| The Utilitarians advocated "qualitative pleasure", 'efficiency" and "humanity". | |||
| Existentialists looked for "self-existence, which makes people progress, evolve and self-actualize". | |||
| Humanists called for "openness and affection based on human-being". | |||
| "... which is to carry forward their own values, to achieve themselves, to realize themselves, and to create their own road of 'human being' " | Sounds like existentialism again. | ||
| "All in all, the aim is urging people to think, perfect, to avoid war, to unite the people ..." | |||
| 3.1 | "But what is it that people are looking for? They pursue the way to (the) better, evolution and happier." | I think he is saying that those who follow the philosophical path are looking for 'improvement', including happiness.. | |
| Using the Yangtze metaphor again, "the sea is best, the most perfect". "Despite thousands of kilometers of trek (on the river's way to the sea), there are countless dead end(s) and obstacles." | |||
| 3.2 | "Despite some economical and ideological progress, it is hard to believe that humans are on the right track. | ||
| (It is vital) "to get rid of the state of ignorance ...". | Good luck to anyone who tries! | ||
| (also vital) "to control the population" | Hopefully he means the numbers, not the activities and minds of individuals. | ||
| (also vital) "to make people happy, and to put them on the right track of modern civilized life." | So no room for indigenous or other people wanting to stick with an 'as it was in the beginning' culture. | ||
| Just as our forbears did their work that enabled the advantages we enjoy today, so we ought to lay the ground for a yet better environment for future generations. | |||
| 3.3 | Individuals are in the end responsible for making things happen. | ||
| "... self-destruction measures like Hitler and perishing measures like Falun Gong ..." | Bracketing Hitler and Falun Gong shows extreme naivety. FG doesn't cause 20 million deaths. Looks like CCP paranoia. | ||
| "To integrate a dream of 'I want' into all aspects of learning, career, family, growth and activities that make me manifest myself and help me realize myself." | Sounds like good existentialism. What are our chances of getting the average person to adopt this stance? | ||
| 3.4 | From hunter-gatherer, through agriculture and industrialization, to the information age, the problem of finding the right path has become more complex. | With AI, even worse. How do we do it? | |
| " human beings has been shown that their evolutionary efficiency is relatively low." | Yes, people are not keen on change, even for the better. | ||
| "... the advent of the internet ... (etc) ... provides an important approach for the promotion of qualitative happiness, communication and international understanding." | International understanding won't be achieved if governments block foreign and other websites. Also, stuff on the internet may mislead, and users don't seem to be able to see through the crap. | ||
| 3.5 | There have been setbacks on the evolutionary path; pioneers have been persecuted or even martyred - Galileo and Socrates are mentioned. | Those in power at the time see them as a threat. | |
| Qu Yuan (exiled for a time) and Du Mu are two Chinese poets mentioned with the above. | |||
| Copernicus challenged "holy creationsim" in denying earth-centred astronomy. | |||
| "Humanists ... liberated people from theological oppression ..." | Some Islamists and US fundamentalists are still fighting against such liberation. | ||
| Being anti-learning will impede the evolutionary path. | Modern western society seems hampered by anti-learning sentiment, e.g. anti-science, anti-nuke, anti-vax. | ||
| 3.6.1 | Rationality "without the love of humanity and human feelings ... cannot bring benefits for mankind". It would mean living as "rigid machinery" and "absence of human beauty". | In other words, people would become like robots, and quality would be relegated to insignificance. | |
| "Openness is the necessary factor", also "open mindset", "affection" - and this applies to nations as well as individuals. | Openness - not the CCP's strong point at the moment! | ||
| "The outdated impression and self-proclaimed fable is still popular, but it will be beaten in the end. | |||
| "Communicating with different groups, learning from each other and integrating different ideas are the first step ..." | OK as long as some groups and views are not excluded. | ||
| 3.6.2 | This paragraph is represented by the table below. It is a summary of Du's 6 factors for the evolutionary path. |
| HUMANITY | Human emotion Individuals and their existence | Love, care Openness and humanity |
| RATIONALITY | Thinking The concept of the perfect idea | Reason.
experience {RT: + evidence] Learning, research |
| PRACTICALITY | Utility | Effectiveness, efficiency |
| 4 | 4.0.1 | "Why do the descendants of the same ancestors often encroach on each other?" | It's "dog eat dog" - the default behaviour of pre-thinking humans |
| Difference from | Any solution has to come from the bottom up. | ||
| Buddhism | 4.0.2 | "On the scientific path to the 'evolutionary path of human', no non-scientific factors (such as theology, religion etc) should be allowed. | That's extreme. Maybe they should just be subordinated to the overarching spirit of good. But it's unlikely that religions will accept even that, since they claim inspiration from supernatural powers. |
| 4.1 | Buddhism focuses "on the permanently suffering of the world. It believes that life consists of only a series of hardships ...". | ||
| The evolutionary road, on the other hand, despite its bumps, "should respect the humanity and happiness of the people, improve the efficiency of human action". | We should be saying that we can and will do things better, and greatly reduce hardship. | ||
| This all applies to "institutions, organizations, countries etc" as well. | |||
| 4.2 | "Buddhism believes that human beings are not satisfied with the existing situation, and self-centered, the pursuit of happiness resulting in the suffering of all people." | ||
| But the dissatisfaction now comes from the shortcomings of the environment that humans have set up for themselves; this includes "absence of openness". | Dissatisfaction and suffering is not a fixed "given" - if we can keep improving things we should be able to make life happier for more people more of the time. | ||
| 4.3 | "Buddhism emphasizes that everyone should stand in a fixed place and extinguish his (/her) desire". | ||
| The Buddhist Noble Eightfold Path is a series of 'Right's. So emphasis is on correctness, rather than improvement. | |||
| "The more you work hard on the wrong path, the further off the evolutionary road of the human race you will be." | |||
| 4.4 | It's wrong to think one can achieve peace and happiness by suppressing ... human nature. | Human nature includes motivation (see my Value pages), and it's natural to have passion. | |
| 5 Summary | 5.0 | "... the evolutionary road of human is incompatible with the conservative, oppressive thought advocated by Buddhism. | Perhaps that's part of the motivation for Falun Gong - updated Buddhism with a dash of Taoism. But that's probably seen as a challenge to the CCP's view of itself as the sole source of wisdom. |
Despite some odd English, unnecessary repetition and a couple of crazy prejudices, this is one of the few papers or books that I have read which looks at Evolution in the sense that I use it in PLOVER. If this is what thoughtful academics in mainland China are thinking, then maybe we will be no worse under a future 'Pax Sinica' than the current 'Pax Americana' - or the fundamentalist and literalist lobbies in Christianity or Islam.
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This version updated on 9th July 2023