In recent years, after some Chinese scholars in person of He Xin put forward "Pseudo-History of Ancient Greece", authenticity of ancient Greek civilization is being questioned by an increasing number of Chinese.

On other hand, there are also some Chinese who make extreme mockery of questioners, such as denouncing them as "civil science", "anti-intellectual", "cultural boxers", etc. The author will not expand. on them one by one.

The question is, can ancient Greek civilization be questioned, does it have academic legitimacy, and should various big hats be hung on it? If it has academic legitimacy, should we now question it? If questions have academic legitimacy, why are questioners still ridiculed?

The question of ancient Greek civilization has an academic justification

If you want to question ancient Greek civilization, you must first check whether there are doubts about its existence, contrary to common sense, that is, it must be legitimate. From point of view of ancient Greek civilization, such doubts are countless. The author lists two:

First of all, basic position of any society depends on productivity. Everyday objects, such as pottery found in ancient Greece, are not much different from other civilizations at same time, but purely theoretical objects and things that cannot be tested, especially developed. They do not even have a number system, but they can delve into essence of numbers. Purely theoretical physics can think of a fulcrum that lifts earth. Seeing several natural phenomena, it proves that Earth is round, and this proves that earth is round without thinking. Really will people fall to other side? Although there are almost no observatories, it is possible to develop an astronomy that had no analogues in world in Middle Ages ... There are many such anomalies, so I will not repeat them one by one.

Secondly, history has always been divided into authentic history and unofficial history. So-called "authentic history" refers to recording of people, events and words in history according to strict order of time and space. It's true, so it's a general illegitimacy of doubt in an authentic story, but it's normal for unofficial history to be questioned. But it is well known that at least until 16th century there was no official history in Europe, and it was believed that in books written by ancient Greek masters there was no concept of time. masterpieces written by the West full of logic, time and space? It is extremely clear, even up to what year?

Speaking of "original origin" of Chinese bronze technology, or "origin from Western Asia," Tang Jigen, an expert archaeologist at Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that "archaeological evidence is necessary and it makes no sense." guess", but today's archaeological evidence is clearly impossible. Support brilliant "ancient Greek civilization". As for places that are not supported by archaeological evidence, we cannot help ancient Greek civilization with so-called “brain addition”.

In 1920s, as West questioned China's history, a movement arose to discuss China's ancient history. Back" famous thesis. Since there are many doubts in history of ancient Greece, should we also discuss authenticity and see if there are "works of ancient times" from later generations, or was some of content "made up"?< /p>

Therefore, doubting ancient Greek civilization is undoubtedly justified, and it is not nonsense. Certainly, it is very inappropriate to blindly condemn doubters as "citizen scientists", "anti-intellectuals" and "cultural boxers".

The question of ancient Greek civilization corresponds to voice of times

If evidence for ancient Greek civilization is convincing, we naturally accept it based on facts. It's not hard to admit that others are excellent. This is a good quality that China has had for thousands of years. But since there are many doubts about ancient Greek civilization, many of which do not stand up to scrutiny, question of ancient Greek civilization is of more practical importance, especially at present time.

Over past two hundred years, West has constantly constructed ideology of "Western centrism", eclipsing or belittling other civilizations. The German philosopher R. Elberfitt put it bluntly, speaking of Hegel in The Acceptance of Lao Tzu by German Philosophy: “Hegel, founder of Eurocentric philosophy, forced non-European cultures to serve his own system and made non-European ideological traditions cease. In other words, non-European achievements, including Lao Tzu, can only serve Western-centrism in "darkness" and become a Western system. Greece), and lost its proper dignity and status.

At same time, ancient Greek civilization, being one of pillars of Western centralism, swept whole world, so that countless people all over world, including China, "should call it Ancient Greece" and worship it tremendously. For example, Aristotle's saying "I love my teacher, I love truth more" is widely known, but how many people know Confucian "Don't let your teacher do his part"? Zeno's "Achilles can't catch up with tortoise" and "The flying arrow doesn't move" are well-known paradoxes, Hui Shi's "Stick in one foot, take half of it every day, will last forever" and "The shadow of bird never moves." See also How many people know? Ultimately, it is a blind faith in ancient Greek civilization and a lack of cultural trust in country.

Over past 200 years, west wind has prevailed over east wind, so phenomenon of blind faith in West, and not in oneself, has arisen, as Hu Shi said then: “We must admit that we are inferior to others in everything.” Even today, we all still lacks cultural self-confidence.

What is more serious is that in past and now, West has suppressed, smeared and belittled Chinese history and culture in various ways, denying Xia Dynasty, denying history of 5,000 years of civilization, denying Chinese medicine, denying historical status of historical records and falsification without certain grounds There are countless "Chinese races from West", etc., and they are even full of lies, turning into black and white, and their integrity has been violated. When Emperor Wu of Han faced Huns' invasion, he yelled authoritatively, "The bandit can leave, I can too," and things should be same now. Of course, premise is to fight back realistically. No need to swap black and white and lie like West.

Now we are in historical process of great rejuvenation of Chinese nation, and we are just participants in history. History is root of a nation, and culture is soul of a nation. The great rejuvenation of Chinese nation is not only material rejuvenation, but also historical and cultural self-confidence. A nation without cultural self-confidence and spirit cannot speak of wonderful rejuvenation!

Under these conditions, questioning Western-constructed "Western-centrism" and "ancient Greek civilization" contrary to common sense has not only academic legitimacy, but also practical value in establishing cultural self-confidence and countering Western cultural hegemony.

It can be seen that either this is from ancient Greek civilization itself, which has many doubts, or from Western centrism, which belittles non-Western civilizations, and time requirements for revival of Chinese civilization, it is justified to question ancient Greek civilization. In that case, why are doubters still being ridiculed and branded with all sorts of big hats? This is definitely a topic worth thinking about.

Finally, in today's increasingly tense situation, even when ancient Greek civilization is questioned, interrogation is somewhat extreme, for example, complete denial of ancient Greek civilization, etc., author also considers this justified and should not be ridiculed, because it is criticism west. A full counterattack to belittle Chinese civilization for 200 years is like a mirror image. More importantly, scholar Gump Thorne pointed out in article "Great War Coming, Any Behavior That Undermines Morale Must Be Stopped" that "rationality must indeed be divided by time". China's "reasonable people" should be tolerant of their doubts, and can point it out in good faith, and can avoid it, but no need to scoff.