西方理想：全球通行的法则 The Idea of Universal Norms

联合早报今天报导, 李资政昨日 (七月十一日) 在新加坡金融管理局及新加坡经济学会联办颁奖礼中，指出西方国家想为世界各地拟定一套全球通行的法律。

李资政的观点，西方学者很早就察觉到了。德国学者 Karl-Heinz Pohl 就指出，西方由于在科技，自然科学及军事能力等等方面的领先优势，及这些科技应用的普遍性，使到西方学者假定西方人文的学说也同样是放诸四海而皆准的普遍准则。他也指出，所谓的人文学说的跨文化交流，一直以来都是单方向交通。欧美学说成为全球的普遍准则。西方学者对其他文化研而不用，最终束之高阁。

西方对人文学说应用的普遍性的热诚和热烈推行，和西方人血液里流着的理性思维有着密切的关系。有机会我们以后再谈谈西方人的理性思维。

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Extracted from "An Intercultural Perspective on Chinese Aesthetics"

Karl-Heinz Pohl：The imprint of western style modernity on the world can be observed in the remotest corners of the globe. Whether these developments are a blessing or a curse for the human enterprise on this planet will be left for later generations to decide. Whatever the ultimate judgement may be, there seems to be a globally accepted assumption among intellectuals that the theoretical approach and level of complexity in the Humanities, as they are studied in the West, are to be applied as universal norms.

This would appear to be inspired by perceptions of western superiority in so many other areas, particularly in technology, natural sciences and even military capability.......
We are still cooking in the juice of our western style scientific theories and take it for granted that people from other cultures will simply have to become well versed in western modes of thought – even in the Humanities, which are designed to explore the very essentials of human existence.
The so-called cross-cultural exchange in the Humanities has, then, in fact been taking place on a one-way-street: Euro-American theories, categories and models were adopted everywhere and have become the universal standard of discourse for intellectuals all over the world. Meanwhile, in the West, the preoccupation with other cultures was limited to a kind of cultural-anthropological positivism: the peculiarities of other cultures were researched, mapped out, and filed in the edifices of western academia.