A Rough CIue of Western CuⅠture（2／3 the Renaissance to World War II）
—Learning Western Culture Bit by Bit
The Enlightenment thinkers presented a set of systematic ideas far more profound and integrated than those that emerged during the Renaissance. In respect of knowledge of social development, concepts of state institutions,theory on law and even the involvement in politics of the average citizen,they all offered unique views as a challenge to the traditional ideas of theology and autocracy and, therefore, provided a body of intact theoretical principles for the bourgeois revolution and the later capitalist state. These theories include those of social equality from John Locke and Thomas Hobbes, criticism of Christianity and autocracy by Voltaire and other Enlightenment thinkers, social contract of Rousseau and division of state power by Montesquieu and others. They were perhaps not the first thinkers to touch on these issues, but certainly the first to systematically study and sum up these theoretical principles. These ideas were then employed to establish a powerful ideological foundation for the later bourgeois revolution.The successful spread of scientific knowledge suggested a great progress for human intellect,not just in terms of scientific acquisition, but also in terms of ways of thinking and living.The emancipation of human mind and the beginning of a new way of life was part of the fruitful achievements of Western intellectual development during the Enlightenment.
启蒙思想家们提出了一套比文艺复兴时期更深刻、更完整的系统思想。他们在社会发展知识、国家制度观念、法律理论乃至普通公民的政治参与等方面，都对传统的神学和专制思想提出了独特的挑战，为资产阶级革命和后来的资本主义国家提供了一套完整的理论原则。这些理论包括洛克和霍布斯的社会平等理论，伏尔泰等启蒙思想家对基督教和专制的批判，卢梭的社会契约理论和孟德斯鸠等的国家权力划分理论。他们也许不是第一个触及这些问题的思想家，但肯定是第一个系统地研究和总结这些理论原则的思想家。这些思想为后来的资产阶级革命奠定了强大的思想基础。科学知识的成功传播表明了人类智力的巨大进步，不仅在科学研究方面，而且在思维和生活方式方面。人类思想的解放和一种新的生活方式的开始，是启蒙运动时期西方思想发展成果的一部分。
The victory of the bourgeois revolution not only opened the possibilities for the
bourgeoisie and other people to make fortunes but also created opportunities to expand the capitalist markets overseas. Eventually came the heyday of capitalism and colonialism, which accelerated drastic and all-round changes for modern history. Together with the economic, technological and social developments, there was a prosperous evolvement of Western culture,which went into a rapid growth period as a result of the greater intellectual and academic freedom gained by the newly emerging ruling bourgeoisie.Wave upon wave of intellectual currents strongly lashed out against all outdated conservative ideas of feudal autocracy and divinity. At the same time, new cultural figures, events and tendencies concerning social and natural developments, were coming abundanly to fruition, spreading beyond the national boundaries of leading European cuntries.
资产阶级革命的胜利，不仅为资产阶级和其他人提供了创造财富的可能，同时也创造了开拓海外资本主义市场的机会。资本主义和殖民主义的全盛时期终于到来，加速了近代史上剧烈而全面的变革。随着经济、技术和社会的发展，西方文化得到繁荣，由于新兴的资产阶级统治者获得了更大的知识和学术自由，西方文化由此进入发展的快车道。一波又一波的思想潮流强烈地抨击一切过时的封建专制和神性保守思想。与此同时，与社会和自然发展有关的新的文化人物、事件和趋势正在大量产生，并扩展到欧洲主要城市的国界之外。
Among the most influential trends subsequently identified were such as classicism,realism, romanticism, naturalism,modernism and post-modernism. A large group of intellectual elite came to the fore and helped to change enormously the social and cultural circumstances in areas such as sociology, philosophy, economics, psychology, biology, anthropology, art and literature. This elite included l. Kant, J. G Fichte, Georg Hegel, Ludwig Feuerbach, Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Charles Fourier, Saint Simons,Robert Owen, Jeremy Bentham, John Mill, William James, Karl Marx,Friedrich Engels, Charles Darwin,Auguste Comte,Schopenhauer,Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, Henri Bergson, Einstein, Martin Hidegger and Jean-Paul Sartre. Their theories and ideas have contributed cosiderably to social progress and human understanding of nature and man himself in all the world's great cultures.
随后确定的最具影响力的趋势包括古典主义、现实主义、浪漫主义、自然主义、现代主义和后现代主义。一大批知识精英脱颖而出，极大地改变了社会学、哲学、经济学、心理学、生物学、人类学、艺术和文学等领域的社会和文化环境。这些精英包括康德、费希特、黑格尔、费尔巴哈、亚当·斯密、大卫·里卡多、查尔斯·傅立叶、圣·西蒙、罗伯特·欧文、杰里米·边沁、约翰·密尔、威廉·詹姆斯、卡尔·马克思、弗里德里希·恩格斯、查尔斯·达尔文、奥古斯特·孔德、叔本华、尼采、西格蒙德·弗洛伊德、亨利·柏格森、爱因斯坦、马丁·海德格尔和让·保罗·萨特。他们的理论和思想为世界上所有伟大文化中的社会进步和人类对自然和人类自身的理解作出了巨大贡献。
The most notable development to come out of these ideological tenets and trends was the modernist movement in art and literature during the early years of the twentieth century. What followed was the creation of a large number of writers and artists keen to experiment and explore a variety of new ideas and techniques in fiction, drama, poetry, painting, sculpture,architecture and music. Clearly they shared a rebellious and critical spirit.The modernist achievements are notable in that they demonstrate human creative power and the continuation of the Western cultural tradition,although these achievements were not necessarily in accord with the traditional cultural beliefs.
从这些思想原则和趋势中产生的最显著的发展是20世纪早期的现代主义艺术和文学运动。随之而来的是大量作家和艺术家的创作，他们热衷于尝试和探索小说、戏剧、诗歌、绘画、雕塑、建筑和音乐中的各种新思想和技术。显然，他们有着叛逆和批判的精神。现代主义成就的显著之处在于，它们展示了人类的创造力和对西方文化传统的延续，尽管这些成就并不一定符合传统文化信仰。
声明：文中的英文取材于戴炜栋主编、叶胜年著、上海外语教育出版社出版的《西方文化导论》，部分内容有删减。著作权属于原作者，本资料室借用相关英文材料，旨在促进西方文化的宣传和普及。如有侵权，联系删除。
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