Source: Guangming Daily
Humanities is a discipline that studies human beings or the cultural world directly related to individual spirit. Generally speaking, natural science mainly studies the objective material world and answers "what is it". Social sciences (such as politics, economics, law, management, etc. ) It mainly studies the social relations and laws between man and nature and between people, and answers "What should we do", which is an empirical science. Humanities (literature, history, philosophy, art, linguistics, etc. ) mainly studies people's spiritual world, answers "how to do it", guides people to think about the purpose, significance and value of life, and pursues the beautification of human nature. It has certain tools, such as using language and how to be a man, but its main purpose is to develop human nature, improve personality and improve people's cultural quality and character. This is an evaluative and experiential learning.
The so-called humanistic spirit is a spirit formed and developed in history, accumulated by excellent human culture, and a spiritual character embodied in the subject. This kind of spiritual character is embodied in the national spirit as the pillar of the national spirit in the macro aspect; Microscopically, it is reflected in human temperament and value orientation. Such as pursuing lofty ideals, advocating excellent moral sentiments, yearning for and shaping perfect personality, loving and pursuing truth, and cultivating and adopting scientific ways of thinking are all manifestations of humanistic spirit. It should also be emphasized that the rigorous and realistic scientific spirit is also an important part of the humanistic spirit. The scientific spirit without humanistic spirit is not the real scientific spirit; Humanistic spirit without scientific spirit is only an incomplete humanistic spirit. Without scientific spirit, there will be no development of science and technology; Without science and technology, we will be backward, poor and beaten; Without humanistic spirit, it will be alienated, empty and despicable. Mr. Yang Shuzi further pointed out sharply: "Without science and technology, it will collapse as soon as it is hit;" Without humanity, we will not destroy ourselves. " Therefore, what we need to carry forward is the humanistic spirit including the scientific spirit.
Humanistic quality refers to the inherent quality that a person becomes a person and develops into a talent. If the physiological mechanism is the material condition for a living body to become a human being, then the humanistic quality is one of the most important internal factors that determine whether a living body is human or non-human, and whether it is gifted or not. Therefore, many people of insight especially emphasize the significance of humanistic education to the cultivation of humanistic quality, saying: "Humanistic education has a basic position ... if you forget people, you forget everything; If you forget humanities education, you will forget people's thoughts, feelings, personality and spiritual world, thus forgetting everything. "
Different humanistic qualities will have different personality manifestations. On the one hand, human character and temperament depend on innate physiological genes, on the other hand, it depends on acquired humanistic quality. Humanistic quality is generally embodied in people's language, thinking, emotion, will, manners, literary skills and so on. It is an internal factor that constitutes a person's temperament, demeanor and personality, and can be gradually cultivated and improved through hard work. In order to grasp the different manifestations of humanistic quality, we can compare them from three levels, namely, basic level, development level and high level.
The humanistic quality of the grassroots is mainly manifested in cherishing life, being compassionate, feeling ashamed and responsible, being helpful, having certain self-control, being conscientious, being able to use mother tongue fluently, thinking fluently and clearly, having logical and personal opinions, being basically decent in words and deeds, and knowing some basic knowledge of literature and art, etc. The humanistic quality of the development layer is positive and optimistic, advocates benevolence, is enthusiastic and helpful, loves life, has a strong sense of responsibility, has clear goals, strong self-control, has a sense of responsibility, can use mother tongue accurately and fluently, has clear thinking, flexibility, strict logic, unique opinions, decent words and deeds, has certain literary expertise, and can judge elegant art, etc. High-level humanistic quality is manifested in caring for all life and nature, having a high sense of mission, perseverance and unremitting spirit of struggle, being able to use mother tongue gracefully and vividly when using foreign languages, being quick-witted, profound and innovative, being elegant and charming in words and deeds, and having a high understanding of art, etc.
Humanistic quality includes many contents and many intersections. For example, psychological quality, innovative quality and management quality are all in line with humanistic quality. It can be said that humanistic quality, like human blood, permeates all aspects of human beings. Only some people have excellent humanistic quality, while others have poor humanistic quality. A person's poor or lack of humanistic quality is like suffering from anemia, which will eventually affect his development.
Generally speaking, a teenager should have basic humanistic qualities and develop to a higher level. But these three levels are not directly proportional to age and education. People of every age and education have the problem of cultivating and practicing humanistic quality. Some doctors may not have the basic level of humanistic literacy, while some ordinary farmers have reached a high level in some aspects. Several aspects of humanistic cultivation are not necessarily absolutely balanced development (preferably harmonious development), some aspects may have reached a very high level, and some aspects are still at the basic level, which mainly depends on subjective efforts, but any one must develop step by step, and only with a basic level can it rise to the development level; Only through the development layer can we enter the high realm. Humanistic quality has certain stability, but it is not static. If we do not pay attention to absorbing new humanistic knowledge and strengthening our self-cultivation, the humanistic quality may degenerate or even deteriorate.
Cultivating humanistic quality means "learning to be a man" and being a man with conscience, wisdom and accomplishment.
(1) Be a person with a conscience.
Mencius said: "Everyone has a heart that can't bear others. Without compassion, it is inhuman; No shame, no humanity; It is inhuman to have no resignation; If there is no right and wrong, it is inhuman. " He pointed out the minimum value standard as a person. He went on to say, "compassion is the purpose of benevolence; The heart of shame and evil, the end of righteousness; The words of the heart are the end of the ceremony; The heart of right and wrong is also the end of wisdom. A man has four endings, but he still has four bodies If you can fill it in, it is enough to protect the four seas; If you don't fill it in, it's not enough for your parents. " Starting from human nature, he expounded the relationship between human basic quality and human development. In other words, as a person, he should at least have a minimum conscience, that is, a heart that is obscure, shameful, resigned and clear from right and wrong, otherwise he is not a real person.
The cultivation of humanistic quality is different from general moral education and legal education. The cultivation of humanistic quality begins with the consciousness of human nature and focuses on the subtle influence of emotion. China's traditional culture attaches great importance to this point. He doesn't force you to do what you want to do, but sincerely encourages you to do what you should do since the Enlightenment. Although there is a dispute between "the theory of good nature" and "the theory of evil nature", they all advocate self-cultivation and cultivation, which fundamentally makes people understand the truth of being a man.
Being a man is not a question of skill at all, and simple skills are low-level; The essence of being a man lies in the cultivation of quality, and people's words and deeds are only an internal reflection. You can't show what you don't have in your heart, but when you have it in your heart, you can naturally show it. A person's mind is outstanding, and his behavior is outstanding. A person's heart is beautiful, and his temperament will be beautiful. Just as Han Yu advised the younger generation, young people "don't be eager for quick success and instant benefit, don't follow the trend." When you repair its roots, hope that its roots will shine, those who are rich in cream will shine, and those who are benevolent will be as benevolent as their benevolence. "
(2) Be a wise person.
Gerdunner, a famous American psychologist, believes that human intelligence consists of seven aspects: language ability, mathematics ability, space ability, music ability, sports ability, social ability and self-knowledge ability. He believes that these seven aspects can be combined to form real wisdom. Obviously, many of these abilities are related to humanistic cultivation.
First of all, from the perspective of language ability. Whether a person has wisdom is mainly reflected in thinking, and thinking is "a process from using language to expressing ideas to forming new structures." Yang, a neurophysiologist and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said: "In my opinion, there is a certain connection between scientific literacy and language ability, because scientific research requires strict logical thinking, and thinking is carried out through language. The level of language literacy directly affects people's thinking ability; Literary literacy will also affect people's language expression ability. Scientific research results need to be expressed in accurate and vivid language. A person who can't even use the language well will never write a good scientific paper. " Charles eliot, former president of Harvard University, said: "I think the only necessary accomplishment that educated young men and women should have is to use their own language accurately and elegantly." . Professor Xu Lizhi, a famous mathematician, also said: "Chinese can be divided into two aspects: language and literature. If the language quality is good, you will have high oral and written language expression ability; Good literary quality means a higher understanding, appreciation and creativity of beauty. " The theory of famous experts is enough to explain the great significance of Chinese ability to people's thinking wisdom.
Look at the significance of music learning again. Music can not only enrich people's knowledge, but also promote the normal development of visual organs, vocal organs, auditory organs and brain, which plays an important role in the healthy growth of body and mind; At the same time, the process of feeling and expressing music can play a role in cultivating, developing and using image thinking. The essence of music is scientific, the content of music is philosophical, the expression of music is artistic, and the function of music is educational.
From the perspective of brain science, the human brain has more than 6543.8+000 billion nerve cells, which are divided into left and right hemispheres and have different functions. The left brain is in charge of convergent thinking, that is, rational thinking such as logical analysis, abstract generalization, reasoning and deduction; The right brain controls divergent thinking, including imaginative thinking, intuitive thinking and aesthetic thinking. Before puberty, people mostly think with their right brain. With the growth of age and the acceptance of modern abstract knowledge, people gradually turn to thinking with the left brain, especially those who only engage in science and engineering generally use the right brain less, which often hinders the balanced development of the brain and limits their intellectual development. According to research, most people only develop 10% of their brain power. If the left and right brains work together, the thinking ability and efficiency will be improved several times. In this regard, Mr. Yang Shuzi clearly summed up: "The development of the right hemisphere and the role of humanistic education are of inestimable significance."
As early as 100 years ago, the French writer Flaubert said: "The farther we go, the more scientific art will be, and science will be artistic." Science and art parted at the foot of the mountain and met at the top of the mountain. This kind of meeting has become a trend in contemporary society and is gradually reflected in all aspects of social life. Qian Xuesen pointed out: "From the perspective of thinking science, scientific work always begins with a conjecture, and then scientific argumentation. ..... On the contrary, a work of art must have a scientific understanding of things before it can be created. " Science and art complement each other in order to create a beautiful world. Whoever has strong thinking in images and aesthetic ability is likely to produce superhuman creative wisdom.
John Naisbitt, a famous futurist, gave the latest explanation of science and technology and thinking in his new book "High Technology and High Thinking-A Record of the Significance of Science and Technology and Humanity". He pointed out that high thinking includes art forms such as literature, music and painting, religious beliefs and other activities in the field of human spirit. This is a force that is balanced with high technology. I put forward the concepts of high technology and high thinking in order to explore how science and technology can be combined with the spiritual world of mankind. In fact, each of us is dealing with the benign interaction with technology. Some people are slaves of technology, while others reject all technology. Technology lovers are as short-sighted as anti-technology. We should see that human existence is more reflected through art, nature, community, family and other channels, rather than technology. "Science and technology are people-oriented", paying attention to people's life value and spiritual world.
(3) Be an educated person.
The so-called cultivated person is a person who has the main quality of the development layer of humanistic quality and is close to or reaches a higher quality level in many aspects. This is the goal of developing humanistic quality. When we have the main quality of humanistic quality, we have the foundation for development to a higher level; If we aim high and make persistent efforts, it is entirely possible to approach or reach a high level.
Whether a person has self-cultivation is often manifested in his manners, but his root lies in his inner humanistic quality. Franklin has a famous saying: "pay attention to your thoughts, which can be turned into words;" Pay attention to your words, words can be turned into actions; Pay attention to your actions, actions can become habits; Pay attention to your habits, habits can become character; Pay attention to your character, because it can determine your destiny. "The starting point of a person's life fate cycle lies in his thoughts, and the existence, health and development of thoughts mainly depend on his humanistic quality. If we want to be a respected person, we must cultivate a sense of responsibility of caring for others, society and nature on the basis of cherishing our own lives and conscience. If you want to have the grace of a benevolent person, you must start from cultivating your mind.
A person's accomplishment can be manifested in many aspects. Some people are kind, tolerant and kind, which is a kind manner; Some people are knowledgeable, but they never show off their knowledge, which is a kind of elegance; Some people talk about Kan Kan and write a chapter, which is a good performance of literary literacy; Some people can sing and dance, or play the piano, or paint, and have an artistic accomplishment that benefits people for life; Some people are good at dressing up and behaving appropriately, giving people an elegant charm at any time ... no matter what kind of literacy performance, it is the result of the interaction between individual natural factors and acquired humanistic quality. Everyone may have the potential for quality development in some way. As long as you are willing to pursue and practice, you can move towards a high realm of humanistic quality. (Zhou Jinsheng, Peng Shuxiong)