西方文化问答题(1)

1.Summarize in your own words the contributions of the Greek culture to the modern western civilization. In what way

The spirit of free inquiry, the theory and practice of democracy, the major forms of art and literature and philosophical thought, and the emphasis on individual freedom and individual responsibility---these are the splendid legacy of Greece to humanity.

2.Greeks and Romans:cultural similarities and differences

The Romans were ready to learn from other cultures, esp. Greek culture. To a large degree, it was the Romans who brought Greek culture to world attention.

Similarities :Language,Greek and Latin work in a similar way, for they both belong to the Into-European family.

political ideas,The citizen-assembly plays an important role in both political life.

Artistic styles,The Romans recognized the richness of Greek art and architecture, and they sought to emulate the Greek masters -- and the Greek styles and themes -- in their own art. religious beliefs,As the Greeks, the Romans believed in many gods. Also for them a different god looked after a different part of life.

Differences:Polis vs Cosmopolitanism, the Greeks had thought of the world as consisting of city-states. The Romans came to think of the entire world as a city in which every man might enjoy privileges of citizenship. They looked forward to a world composed of the most diverse elements and people.

Self-interest vs duty,The Romans did not see their public and private roles as necessarily conflicting with one another. The height of one's wisdom was to know one's duty and then to do it, and not to pursue self-interest. In this sense, the Romans were natural Stoics.

Chaos vs order,The Romans were optimistic about life whereas the Greeks were not. The Greeks saw chaos in the world. The Romans experienced that same chaos but held out for the possibility of bringing order out of that chaos. The Romans managed to translate their thought into actions.

3.Give a brief introduction to Locke’s life, ideas and great works.

John Locke (1632–1704) was a British philosopher, Oxford academic and medical researcher. He was also an economic writer, oppositional political activist, and finally a revolutionary whose cause ultimately triumphed in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Much of Locke’s work is characterized by opposition to authoritarianism. For the individual, Locke wants each of us to seek truth by reasoning rather than simply accept the opinion of authorities. On the level of institutions it becomes important to distinguish the legitimate from the illegitimate functions of institutions and to make the corresponding distinction for the uses of force by these institutions.

4.one or two db figures of the Enlightenment and their central ideas.

Voltaire and Montesquieu are two of the representative figures of the Enlightenment. Voltaire exposed the dark side of France such as the corruption and injustice of Christianity by launching his theory on human nature. Also, he argued for the freedom and equality of ordinary people.

Montesquieu’s political theory developed the principle of dividing political power although the principle itself was not his invention. Montesquieu contributed significantly to the establishment of the modern Western state by exposing the nature of state and human beings in his great work Spirit of Law .For Montesquieu, it was climate that contributed most to the formation of a society and he believed it was shown in national character, political system, marriage codes, religion, and the use of slavery.

5.The significance of the Enlightenment

The Enlightenment, a period that Thomas Paine called the Age of Reason, was a great movement giving much impetus to the growth of social and cultural forces of the human civilization. With rationalism as the core of the Enlightenment, it cast doubt upon and strongly criticizing Christian theology and religious obscurantism, while promoting the dissemination of the new ideas of freedom, equality and democracy among the masses of people. The ideas of liberty, equality and democracy started from the Enlightenment have affected the human behaviors in the historical process towards the modern world.

6.Enlightenment is linked to the drastic changes leading to the modern world? The Enlightenment initiated the drastic changes leading to the modern world. It served as a continuation of the Renaissance and provided the impetus for the successive growth of social and cultural forces of modern civilization. This movement is characterized by reason, casting its doubt upon and strongly criticizing Christian theology and religious obscurantism while promoting the dissemination of the new ideas of freedom, equality and democracy among the masses of people. This brought under serious attack the feudal autocracy and Christian Church hegemony,and laying a solid political and intellectual foundation for the approaching bourgeois revolution.

7.The origin and the major concerns of Romanticism. Give examples.

Romanticism originated out of the craving for individual freedom by the young intellectuals who could not tolerate ideological and intellectual oppression derived from classicism and rationalism imposed by the ruling class and traditional culture.

To some extent it was a reaction against the Enlightenment and the 18th-century rationalism and materialism in general. It demanded more reasonable attention to human passion and individuality as a way to reach real human emancipation and freedom.

The major concerns of Romanticism comparised individualism, emotionalism, worship of nature, fascination with the alien aspects of foreign lands, enthusiasm for nationalism and often expressed an air of disillusionment.

8.Realistic writers ,shared the common points of realism.

All the realistic novels share the following points:i. criticism of the dark forces of society

ii.sympathy for the poor, the good and the weak iii.attacks against the system or other deep-rooted social evils

iv. a mixture of diverse ideas

9.The similarities and dissimilarities between realism and naturalism?

The similarities of realism and naturalism lie in the fact that they both aim to describe real life and try to reveal the nature of social reality, especially the dark side of human society. But in the ways of representation, they differ in the following aspects: first, the naturalist writer does not focus on a typical environment or typical characters for representation of reality, and instead, they would attempt to depict real life as it is by sticking to the inherent factor which would usually lead to he cause or motivation of certain events or behaviours; Second, the naturalist writer emphasizes more of the influence of environment on human nature and behaviour by exposing the dark and evil aspect of human society which is not just similar to social realism but

even more violent and barbarous and emotional.

10.Utilitarianism is established by Jeremy Bentham and perfected by John Stuart Mill. Can you explain what utilitarianism is and compare the different ideas Bentham and Mill held. Utilitarianism holds two basic principles: the psychological principle of the association of ideas and the achievement of the greatest happiness of the greatest number of people. Both Bentham and Mill agree that utilitarianism includes not only the pursuit of happiness, but also the avoidance of pain. But to Bentham, utility could only differ in degree and quantity. To Mill, utility is also different in quality and happiness could be classified by advantages. He argued that sensible, emotional and moral happiness was much more valuable than physical happiness. 11.O n e representative character from German classical philosophers ,make a brief remark on his contribution.

Immanuel Kant was an 18th-century German classical philosopher. He is regarded as one of the most influential thinkers of modern Europe and of the late Enlightenment. Kant created a new widespread perspective in philosophy which influenced European philosophy through and after his lifetime. He also published important works of epistemology, as well as works relevant to religion, law, and history. His most important works is the Critique of Pure Reason, an investigation into the limitations and structure of reason itself. It encompasses an attack on traditional metaphysics and epistemology, and highlights Kant’s own contribution to these areas. Kant’s great con tribution lies in his interpretation of human epistemology: the ultimate nature of reality of the “things in themselves”remains forever unaccessible to the human mind and what we can know is only its phenomena.

12.The features and contributions of classical economics.

Classical economics is widely regarded as the beginning of modern economic thought. It is the idea that the free market can regulate itself. Its founders or early representatives include Adam Smith, David Ricardo, and Thomas Malthus.

Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations in 1776 is usually considered to mark the beginning of classical economics. The theories of the classical school, which dominated economic thinking in Great Britain until about 1870, focused on economic growth and economic freedom, stressing laissez-faire ideas and free competition.

Classical economists attempted to explain economic growth of the early capitalist society and believe the efficacy of the market has become dominant in Western economics. It is also the important source of Marxist political economics.

https://www.360docs.net/doc/3311848478.html,ment on the contribution and limitations of utopian socialism.

Utopian socialism refers to the beliefs held by early socialist or quasi-socialist intellectuals who created hypothetical visions of perfect egalitarian and communalist societies without practical consideration of actual conditions of the capitalist society they lived in and thus could not carry out their ideals in real social circumstances due to the powerful hindrance from both the ruling

class and social customs as well as the economic and cultural developments of their society. However, some of the utopian ideals, such as those about women’s equality and emancipation, were reasonable and attractive to the future of humanity and were consequently taken into the later theory of Marxism.

It also has the limitations, like the excessive propaganda about the genius but can’t find the true place of employed labor; trust in the rulers; impractical ideas of human nature and denial of the class struggle.

14.Modernism, including its performance and features.

Modernism, in its broadest sense, is modern thought, character, or practice. Modernism--despite its complexity and multiplicity in terms of ideological tendencies and representation modes, could be regarded basically to be irrational, that is, in opposition to rational tradition of the Western culture and civilization. History has repeatedly proved that any radical drive or trend could not last long and so did modernism. The reason is simple,no one could not reject all the inheritances his ancestors have passed on to him . After modernism, particularly the cultural people or intellectuals, have to take a lesson from Modernist Movement, that they should be cautious about the way to handle cultural heritage and need to try to make use of the positive elements from tradition.

15.Major schools of modernism, Common techniques of expression.

The major schools of modernism are: symbolism, futurism, imagism, expressionism, etc.The common techniques of expression they share are: preference for the symbolic; fascination with the absurd; disillusionment with the traditional(anti-fiction,anti-drama);representation of inwardness.

https://www.360docs.net/doc/3311848478.html,pared with the traditional colonial theory, what kind of new ideas were raised by the post-colonialist criticism?

The ultimate goal of post-colonialism is accounting for and combating the residual effects of colonialism on cultures.

Post-colonialist thinkers recognize that many of the assumptions which underlie the “logic”of colonialism are still active forces today. Exposing and deconstructing the racist,recognizing that they are not simply airy substances but have widespread material consequences for the nature and scale of global inequality makes this project all the more urgent.