西方人对于其思想史有着不同的看法,即其文明与现代文化——被称为"启蒙运动"和"现代主义"——的兴起阶段。有些西方人将历史划分为三个时代:古代、中世纪和现代。这种全面的划分方式占据主导地位。另一些人,如莫里斯·毕晓普在其著作《中世纪》中断言,中世纪始于罗马的陷落,并将这一时期划分为黑暗时代与盛期中世纪。毕晓普认为"1453年5月29日"这一天,即君士坦丁堡被攻陷之日,是西方历史的"转折日期"之一,"标志着中世纪的结束和现代的开始"。 赫伯特·阿尔伯特·劳伦斯·费舍尔在其三卷本的《欧洲史》中断言,随着中世纪或中古时期的结束,文艺复兴、宗教改革与理性的时代开始了。H. A. L. 费舍尔强调,研究者要确定历史中中世纪与现代之间的分界并非易事。在西方人中,也有人详细阐述西方思想所经历的各个阶段,例如威尔·杜兰特在其《文明的故事》中所做的,以及罗兰·N. 斯特龙伯格在其著作《1789年以来的欧洲思想史》中所做的。斯特龙伯格将这些阶段划分为中世纪、文艺复兴时期、宗教改革时期和巴洛克时期。据斯特龙伯格所言,巴洛克时期的哲学属于后文艺复兴时代,或从另一个角度看,属于后宗教改革运动时代,大约始于公元1570年,并延续至公元1650年之后。斯特龙伯格随后强调十七世纪是理性的时代:"欧洲在宗教改革的剧烈危机中受到重创,随后迎来了十七世纪的科学与思想复兴。" 斯特龙伯格引用伽利略、牛顿、笛卡尔、斯宾诺莎、霍布斯、洛克和莱布尼茨，以此断言十七世纪公元时期是理性的时代。随后，斯特龙伯格满怀热情地谈及“思想史上那一非凡篇章——十八世纪的启蒙运动”，接着又论及十九世纪公元时期的意识形态特征。

Westerners have varying views regarding the history of their thought i.e. stages of the emergence of their civilization and their modern culture, described as ‘Enlightenment’ and ‘Modernism.’ Some of the Westerners categorized history into three ages: Antiquity, the Middle Ages and the Modern Age. This comprehensive categorization is predominant. Others, like Morris Bishop in his book, The Middle Ages, assert that the Middle Ages began with the Fall of Rome, categorizing the ages into the Dark Ages and High Middle Ages. Bishop considered “the 29th of May 1453,” the day that Constantinople was opened, as one of the “hinge-dates” of Western history, “to mark the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of modern times.” By the end of Middle Ages or the medieval period, the age of renaissance, reformation and reason began, as asserted by Herbert Albert Laurens Fisher in his three-volume, A History of Europe. H. A. L. Fisher emphasized that it is not straightforward for the researcher to determine the delineation in history between the Middle and Modern Ages. Amongst the Westerners, there are those who elaborate upon the stages that Western thought passed through, such as Will Durant in his The Story of Civilization, and Roland N. Stromberg in his book, European Intellectual History since 1789, in which Stromberg divided the stages into the Middle Ages, the renaissance period, the reformation period and the Baroque period. According to Stromberg, the philosophy of the Baroque period is that of the post-renaissance era, or from another perspective, it is the era of the post­ religious reformation movement, beginning in approximately on the year 1570 CE and continued beyond 1650 CE. Stromberg then highlights the seventeenth century as an age of reasoning, “Battered by the terrific crisis of the Reformation, Europe came up with the scientific and intellectual renaissance of the seventeenth century.” Stromberg cites Galileo, Newton, Descartes, Spinoza, Hobbes, Locke and Leibniz to assert that the seventeenth century CE was the age of reasoning. Stromberg enthuses then of “that extraordinary chapter of intellectual history, the eighteenth century Enlightenment,” before speaking of the ideological character of the nineteenth century CE.

启蒙时代(法语:Siecle des Lumieres)是用来表述十八世纪(公元)欧洲所盛行哲学思潮的术语,时间从公元1715年到1789年,具体涵盖法国、英国和德国。因此,法国历史学家皮埃尔·肖努(Pierre Chaunu)在其著作《启蒙时代的欧洲文明》(法语:La civilisation de I'Europe des Lumieres)中谈到欧洲的启蒙,并按重要程度依次列出法语、英语和德语三种语言。 布莱恩·S·特纳(Bryan S. Turner)的《剑桥社会学词典》(The Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology)关于启蒙运动有如下表述:“在西方传统中,启蒙(eclaircissement,aufklarung)指思想和行为变得理性的过程。它可以是个人层面的,也可以是全社会层面的。无论哪种情况,理性都被视为一道光,照亮理解力,驱散无知与迷信的黑暗。”

The Age of Enlightenment (French: Siecle des Lumieres) is the terminology used to express the philosophy that prevailed in Europe in the eighteenth century CE, from 1715 to 1789 CE, specifically in France, English and Germany. Thus, the French historian Pierre Chaunu, author of The Civilization of Europe of Enlightenment (French: La civilisation de I'Europe des Lumieres) spoke of the enlightenment of Europe, in three languages, ordered by significance as French, English and German. Bryan S. Turner’s The Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology states regarding Enlightenment that “In the western tradition, Enlightenment (eclaircissement, aufklarung) refers to the process of becoming rational in thought and action. It can be individual or society-wide. Either way, reason is figured as a light that illuminates the understanding and dispels the darkness of ignorance and superstition.”.

罗兰·N·斯特龙伯格（Roland N. Stromberg）在《欧洲思想史（1789年以来）》（European Intellectual History Since 1789）中描绘了启蒙运动期间的激烈争论，提到那些采纳“自然神论式反教权主义”（“deistic anticlericalism”）的人，并把威廉·詹姆斯的观点描述为：“宗教得以客观体现的各种神话或概念化形式并非根本；它们只是宗教的外壳。根本的是信仰的本能，是人类精神表达自身的需要。”

Roland N. Stromberg depicts the intense debate during the Enlightenment, European Intellectual History Since 1789, referring to those who adopted “deistic anticlericalism” as well as describing William James’ viewpoint as “the various myths or conceptualizations in which religions are objectively embodied are not fundamental; they are the mere husks of religion. What is basic is the instinct to believe, the need for the human spirit to express itself.”.

Gunnar Skirbekk 与 Nils Gilje 在他们的著作《西方思想史：从古希腊到二十世纪》中写道："启蒙运动时期因此以不断扩大的中产阶级中的进步乐观主义为特征：对理性和人类的重新燃起的信心。存在一种世俗化的弥赛亚主义，理性取代了福音。借助理性，人类将揭示现实的最深本质，并实现物质进步。人类将逐渐变得自主，摆脱无根据的权威和神学的监护。思想得到了解放，因为人感到自己是自我管理的，并独立于启示和传统。无神论变得时髦起来。"

Gunnar Skirbekk and Nils Gilje wrote in their book, A History of Western Thought from Ancient Greece to the Twentieth Century, “The period of the Enlightenment was thus marked by progressive optimism within the expanding middle class: a newly awakened confidence in reason and in man. There was a secularized Messianism, in which reason supplanted the Gospel. By the aid of reason, man would now uncover the innermost essence of reality and achieve material progress. Man would gradually become autonomous, dispensing with groundless authority and theological tutelage. Thought was liberated because man felt himself to be self-governed and independent of revelation and tradition. Atheism became fashionable.”.

在西方思想中，“启蒙”的概念与“现代性”的概念相互关联。有人认为启蒙是现代性的先导。有人认为二者是同义的。也有人认为启蒙是从现代性中产生的。还有人说，“启蒙”一词描述的是一种思想，它以理性与知识之光照亮了西方的黑暗。至于现代性，它描述的是一种思想，这种思想在知识和方法上引入了当代性，与古代划清了界限。

The concept of Enlightenment in the Western thought is interconnected to the concept of modernity. There are those who consider Enlightenment a precursor to modernity. There are those who consider both to be synonymous. There are those who view that enlightenment emerged from modernity. There are those who say the term enlightenment is a description of a thought that enlightened the darkness of the West, with the light of reason and knowledge. As for modernity, it is the description of the thought that introduced contemporariness in its knowledge and methods, in a break from antiquity.

无论存在哪些各式各样的理论，现代性的基础和基石是将宗教废除、边缘化或从生活中分离出去，这一点在德国哲学家马丁·海德格尔的立场中得到体现，并且与启蒙运动相一致。这也表明，现代性与启蒙运动描述的是同一种现象。法国社会学家阿兰·图海纳在其《现代性批判》（法文：Critique de la modernite）中说道：“现代性的理念使科学而非上帝成为社会的中心，并且至多将宗教信仰贬抑到生活的内在领域。”“一方面如此，另一方面，科学技术应用的单纯存在并不足以让我们称之为现代社会。知识活动还必须同时免受政治宣传和宗教信仰的影响……因此，现代性的理念与理性化的概念密切相关。”

Irrespective of the various theories, the foundation and cornerstone of modernity is religion’s abolition, sidelining or separation from life, exemplified in the stance of the German philosopher Martin Heidegger, and it is in accordance with Enlightenment. This also indicates that both modernity and Enlightenment are a description of the same phenomenon. The French sociologist Alain Touraine says in his Critique of Modernity (French: Critique de la modernite) that, “The idea of modernity makes science, rather than God, central to society, and at best relegates religious beliefs to the inner realm of life. This is on one side and on the other side, the mere presence of technological applications of science does not allow us to speak of a modern society. Intellectual activity must also be protected from both political propaganda and religious beliefs... the idea of modernity is therefore closely associated with that of rationalization.”.

这里产生了一个问题：被描述为启蒙与现代性的西方思想史，为什么总是围绕着摒弃、分离、边缘化和脱离宗教这一主题展开？

Here the question arises: Why does the history of Western thought, that is described as Enlightenment and modernity, revolve around the subject of rejecting, separating, sidelining and detaching religion?

答案需要我们提及西方历史上被称为中世纪的时期，它有别于现代的时代。伯特兰·罗素在其著作《西方哲学史》中指出：“通常被称为‘现代’的历史时期，其思维观念在许多方面与中世纪不同。其中最重要的有两点：教会权威的衰落，以及科学权威的上升。”中世纪的欧洲，教会拥有绝对的主权和唯一的权威，主导着人的生活、人本身、社会与国家。莫里斯·毕晓普在其著作《中世纪》中写道：“总之，教会不仅仅是中世纪文化的赞助者；教会本身就是中世纪文化。”毕晓普还写道：“教会及其教义渗透于人的整个生活之中。人们若要讲价、切破手指或丢失一件农具，都要求助于天上的恩宠。”

The answer necessitates our referring to the time period of Western history called the Middle Ages, distinct from the era of modernity. Bertrand Russell stated his book, A History of Western Philosophy, that “The period of history which is commonly called “modern” has a mental outlook which differs from that of the medieval period in many ways. Of these, two are the most important: the diminishing authority of the Church, and the increasing authority of science.” Europe during the Middle Ages was a Europe with the Church having absolute sovereignty and sole authority, dominating life, man, society and the state. Morris Bishop states in his book, The Middle Ages that “The church was, in sum, more than the patron of medieval culture; it was medieval culture.” Bishop also states, “The church and its teachings pervaded man’s entire life. One could not strike bargain, cut finger, or lose farm tool without invoking celestial favor.”.

在中世纪，教会以宗教之名扩展其对社会的主权与霸权，所依据的是十三世纪形成的经院哲学观念。这一观念建立在亚里士多德哲学与基督教神学相调和的思想之上。该思想与关于人、自然、宇宙和生命的一系列错误概念与教义相关联。它被采纳并被宣称为绝对正确，所谓确定之事皆源自神圣而无误的权威。任何诠释、发展或改变都不被接受：人们必须信奉它、服从它、顺从它。教会拒绝任何与其教义相悖的观点或言论，排斥任何损害其可信度的思想。因此，教会对背离其教义者施以惩罚，采用逐出教会的手段，并以异端和异教之名指控亵渎神明。凡是挑战其诠释、驳斥其观念的任何理智或科学运动，教会都加以镇压。

In the Middle Ages, the Church was extending its sovereignty and hegemony over the society in the name of religion, according to the scholastic philosophical vision that formed in the thirteenth century, upon the adoption of thought reconciled between the philosophy of Aristotelian and Christian theology. This thought was associated with a number of erroneous concepts and teachings about man, nature, universe and life. It was adopted and claimed as absolute, whilst certainties emerged from the holy infallible authority. No interpretation or development or change was accepted. One must believe in it, submit to it and be compliant to it. The Church used to refuse any view or saying that contradicted its teachings. It rejected any thought that undermined its credibility. Thus the Church used means of punishment for those who left its teachings. It adopted the method of excommunication and charging blasphemy against heterodoxy and heresy. It suppressed any intellectual or scientific movement that challenged its interpretations and refuted its concepts.

因此,教会对批评其教义和普遍腐败的思想家的迫害运动由此开始。1415年,捷克人扬·胡斯(Iohannes Hus)批评教会的腐败,指责教会背离了其原则,被处以火刑。1498年,吉罗拉莫·萨沃纳罗拉在意大利遭受酷刑,被绞死,随后被焚烧。1612年,巴塞洛缪·莱盖特和爱德华·怀特曼因被指控异端而在英国被焚烧。 乔治·米诺瓦在其著作《教会与科学:冲突的历史》(法文原名:L'Eglise et la science. Histoire d'un malentendu)中写道:“自1544年起,巴黎神学院一直谴责皮埃尔·德·拉拉梅所著的《亚里士多德评论》,该书批评了哲学家亚里士多德,作者本人也被禁止教学。1546年,艾蒂安·多莱遭受酷刑。到本世纪末,迫害日益增多。1595年,帕特里齐受到圣职部的一些骚扰。坎帕内拉于1594年首次被捕,此前宗教裁判所(圣职部)窃取了他的文稿。乔尔达诺·布鲁诺于1600年被处决。1601年和1602年,巴黎大学相继设立,随后议会重申了逍遥学派学说的权威。1601年,坎帕内拉被判处终身监禁……1616年,哥白尼(波兰文:Kopernik)的学说被宣布为异端学说。凡尼尼的舌头被割掉,并依图卢兹议会的判决被活活烧死,判决称他为占星家、神秘主义者和无神论者。1624年,应巴黎神学院的请求,三位反对亚里士多德主义的作者在二十四小时内被驱逐。1629年,针对一些反亚里士多德的化学家采取了措施……圣职部谴责伽利略,并迫使他接受软禁。”

Thus the movement of ecclesiastical persecution began against the thinkers who criticized its teachings and rampant corruption. In the year 1415 CE, the Czech John Huss (lohannes Hus), who criticized the corruption of the Church and accused it of departing from its principles, was burned at the stake. In the year 1498 CE Girolamo Savonarola was tortured, hanged and then burnt in Italy. In the year 1612, Bartholomew Legate and Edward Wightman were burnt in England, due to the accusation of heresy. Georges Minois stated in his book, The Church and Science: History of Conflict (French: L’Eglise et la science. Histoire d’un malentendu) that “Since 1544, The Paris School of Theology had been condemning the Aristotelian Observations, authored by Pierre de La Ramee, who criticized the philosopher Aristotle, and he was prohibited to teach. In the year 1546, The Etienne Dolet was tortured. By the end of the century, the prosecutions were multiplied. Patrizi was subjected to some harassment from the Holy Office in 1595. Campanella was arrested for the first time in 1594 after the Inquisition (the Holy Office) had stolen his papers. Giordano Bruno was executed in 1600. In the year 1601 followed by the year 1602, the University of Paris was established followed by the parliament to reiterate the authority of peripatetic doctrine. Campanella was sentenced with life imprisonment in 1601...In 1616, Copernicus (Polish: Kopernik) school of thought was declared as a heretical school of thought. The tongue of Vanini was cut out and he was burnt alive, upon the verdict passed by the Parliament of Toulouse describing him as an astrologer, occultist, and atheist. In 1624, three authors opposed to Aristotelianism were expelled within twenty-four hours based on the request of the Faculty of Theology in Paris. In 1629, measures were taken against some anti-Aristotelian chemists... The holy office condemned Galileo and forced him to be under house arrest.”.

然而,西方科学运动的先驱者们开展了一系列科学发现,例如哥白尼(卒于1543年)、约翰内斯·开普勒(卒于1630年)和伽利略·伽利莱(卒于1642年),这些发现动摇了人们对教会观念的信任,削弱了教会的可信度。这些发现又因西方思想家的科学能力与成就而增强了人们对他们的信任。科学研究与对教会的反抗持续不断。每一项新发现和每一种现代思想的出现,都如同一把镐头,加速了教会思想大厦的瓦解。因此,牛顿(卒于1757年)、林奈(卒于1778年)、拉瓦锡(卒于1794年)、克洛德·贝尔纳(卒于1878年)和达尔文(卒于1882年)都给教会以沉重打击,教会的统治地位也因此逐渐衰落。教会已不再需要改革,这在马丁·路德(卒于1546年)和让·加尔文(卒于1564年)发起的运动中可见一斑,该运动最终引发了三十年战争(1618至1648年),其结果对欧洲各国都是灾难性的。此时,仅仅改革教会已不足够,而是必须将其彻底摧毁。事情的结局是,教士们的教会学说被全盘诋毁,其观念、教义和思想认识被彻底驳斥。

Nevertheless, a series of scientific discoveries were undertaken by the pioneers of scientific movements in the West, such as Copernicus (d. 1543), Johannes Kepler (d. 1630) and Galileo Galilei (d. 1642), that shook trust in the concept of the Church and undermined its credibility. These strengthened trust in Western thinkers by virtue of their scientific ability and success. The scientific research and the defiance of the Church continued. The emergence of every new discovery and every modern thought acted as a pickaxe that contributed to the destruction of the Church’s intellectual edifice. Thus there were painful blows to the Church from Newton (d. 1757), Lisnnaeus (d. 1778), Lavoisier (d 1794), Claude Bernard (d. 1878), and Darwin (d. 1882), such that the dominance of the church gradually waned. The Church was no longer required to be reformed, as apparent in the movement of Martin Luther (d. 1546) and Jean Calvin (d. 1564) that resulted into the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648), whose result was catastrophic to the European nations. It was no longer required to merely reform the Church. Instead, it was required to demolish it. The matter concluded with the defamation of priestly ecclesiastical teachings in its entirety, refuting its concepts, teachings and intellectual perceptions, absolutely.

苏格兰哲学家大卫·休谟(卒于1776年)在其著作《人类理解研究》中的一句名言,概括了十八世纪学界对教会、其知识与方法的看法。他写道:“如果我们手中拿起任何一本书——比如神学或经院形而上学的书——让我们问一问:它是否包含关于数量或数目的任何抽象推理?没有。它是否包含关于事实和存在的任何经验推理?没有。那就把它扔进火里吧,因为它除了诡辩和幻觉之外,什么也不可能包含。”

The famous phrase of the Scottish philosopher David Hume (d. 1776) in his book, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, summarizes the view of scholars about the Church, its knowledge and methods in the eighteenth century CE, by saying, “If we take in our hand any volume - of divinity or school metaphysics, for instance - let us ask, does it contain any abstract reasoning about quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experiential reasoning about matters of fact and existence? No. Then throw it in the fire, for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.”.

教会的衰落伴随着其关于宇宙、人类、生命和社会的教义与观念的瓦解。与此同时，西方人对人类理性揭示宇宙、自然和人类奥秘的能力日益自信。于是，西方的理性逐渐取代了“神圣”的教会及其神学。理性主义兴起，用以解释宇宙现象，而社会的各项准则则依据理性的观点加以分析，摆脱了一切教士或宗教的束缚。威尔·杜兰特在其著作《文明的故事》第七卷中写道：“科学现在开始从其母亲哲学的胎盘中解放出来。它甩开了背上的亚里士多德，将目光从形而上学转向自然，发展出自己独特的方法，并致力于改善地球上人类的生活。这一运动属于理性时代的核心，但它并不信奉‘纯粹理性’——即独立于经验与实验之外的理性。这种推理太常编织出神话般的蛛网。”

The fall of the Church accompanied its teachings and concepts about universe, man, life and society. This was accompanied by a growing confidence in the West about the abilities of the human mind to reveal the secrets of the universe, nature and man. Thus, reason in the West began replacing the “divine” church and its theology, gradually. Rationalism emerged to explain the cosmic phenomena, whilst societal parameters were analyzed according to rational views, free from all priestly or religious restrictions. Will Durant expressed in his book, The Story of Civilization Volume 7 that “Science now began to liberate itself from the placenta of its mother, philosophy. It shrugged Aristotle from its back, turned its face from metaphysics to Nature, developed its own distinctive methods, and looked to improve the life of man on the earth. This movement belonged to the heart of the Age of Reason, but it did not put its faith in “pure reason”- reason independent of experience and experiment. Too often such reasoning had woven mythical webs.”.

因此,关于人、理性、知识、社会、政治、经济、国家、统治和律法的新思想变得突出起来。弗朗西斯·培根(卒于1626年)、勒内·笛卡尔(卒于1650年)、布莱兹·帕斯卡(卒于1662年)、巴鲁赫·斯宾诺莎(卒于1677年)、托马斯·霍布斯(卒于1679年)、约翰·洛克(卒于1704年)、孟德斯鸠(卒于1755年)、伏尔泰(卒于1778年)和让-雅克·卢梭(卒于1778年)、亚当·斯密(卒于1790年)、伊曼努尔·康德(卒于1804年)、杰里米·边沁(卒于1832年)、约翰·斯图亚特·穆勒(卒于1873年)等人的观点,以及其他人的思想,都为奠定现代西方思想的基础作出了贡献。

Thus the new thoughts about humankind, reasoning, knowledge, society, politics, economy, state, ruling and canons became prominent. The views of Francis Bacon (d. 1626), Rene Descartes (d. 1650), Blaise Pascal (d. 1662), Baruch Spinoza (d. 1677), Thomas Hobbes (d. 1679), John Locke (d. 1704), Montesquieu (d. 1755), Voltaire (1778), and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1778), Adam Smith (d. 1790), Immanuel Kant (d. 1804), Jeremy Bentham (d. 1832), John Stuart Mill (d. 1873) and others contributed to laying the foundations of modern Western thought.

这是西方历史学家所叙述的现代西方思想形成的概要。撇开西方思想史叙述中的准确性问题，以及如何将事实与为所谓"西方奇迹"服务的夸大神话区分开来（这一"奇迹"造就了启蒙与现代性的文明）不谈，对我们而言，最好还是考察这种西方思想的本质，以了解其真实面目，进而揭露其败坏之处。

This is the summary of the formation of modern Western thought, as narrated by the Western historians. Regardless of the accuracy in the history of Western thought, distinguishing facts from exaggerated myth serving the propaganda of the so-called Western miracle, that produced the civilization of Enlightenment and modernity, regardless of all of that, it is best for us to examine at the nature of this Western thought, to know its reality and then expose its corruption.