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The Endpoint of Civil Evolution: Reading "Dao De Jing" v. 80 as Climate Philosophy

文明進化的終點:從氣候哲學觀點解讀《道德經》第80章

摘要


氣候變遷正使得世界食物供給不穩定,它有可能為生物圈的穩定、生命的多樣性以及未來的文明帶來重大災難。氣候變遷正在加速,它加快的速度比跨政府氣候變遷委員會(IPCC)的所有預測更快。我們可以看見,氣候變遷已經是整個歷史上我們的物種曾經面對的最大挑戰。幾乎沒有任何事物可以和氣候變遷相匹敵。這件發展中的事實已眾所周知被描述為「全世界曾見過的最巨大的市場失靈」(請參照《史登報告:氣候變遷對經濟的影響》結論摘要,劍橋,2006)。因為氣候變遷是如此的危險,而且,因為氣候變遷是目前全球文明社會經濟架構體制化的結果,所以,對於好的生活、進步和文明真正應有意義的基本假設,氣候變遷已提出挑戰。我們似乎不能再逃避這樣的結論:如果文明希望能持續的話,如我們已知的文明必須改變。這種改變的起步很明顯,因為現在這些起步是必須的:減緩氣候變遷以及適應其作用。這二者都需要將世界文明轉變成後碳、後消費主義者、以及可能是後資本主義者的結構。這種轉變可以被描述為「文明的進化」。文明進化的氣勢顯而易見,它剛開始的起步亦復如此。但是姑且不論大量的自我辯解動機-例如:創造復原力、為永續而努力、轉換再生能源、安全及公平地縮小規模-有個問題會出現:針對這種轉變,有什麼可以作為更大的哲學上的架構。我認為道家思想可以提供這個需要的架構,而《道德經》第80章恰恰顯示出共同存在的遠見。共同存在可以說是社會發展的終點,也是文明進化的目的。在氣候變遷的時代之前,這遠見看似相當如夢似幻又似烏托邦。但是,當氣候變遷的時代已經開始,當緊迫性提高時,這遠見顯現出一個合理的、真實的以及實際的目的地。

關鍵字

道家 氣候變遷 適應 進化 教化

並列摘要


Climate change is destabilizing the world's food supply and has potentially catastrophic consequences for the stability of the biosphere, the diversity of life, and the future of civilization. Climate change is accelerating; it is outpacing all predictions of the IPCC, and it has come into view as the greatest challenge ever faced by our species in its entire history. There has never been anything even remotely comparable in scope. This emerging reality has famously been described as ”the greatest market failure the world has ever seen” (cf. Summary of Conclusions, Stem Review on the Economics of Climate Change, Cambridge 2006). Because climate change is so perilous, and, furthermore, because it is the systematic outcome of the socio-economic structure of global civilization at present, it challenges fundamental assumptions of what a good life, progress, and civilization are actually supposed to mean. It appears we cannot avoid the conclusion anymore that civilization as we know it must change if it wishes to persist. The initial steps of the change are obvious because they are now necessary: mitigation of climate change, and adaptation to its effects; both of which will require a transformation of world civilization to a post-carbon, post-consumerist, and presumably post-capitalist structure. This transformation could be described as ”civil evolution”. The impetus of civil evolution is evident, and so are its first few steps. But apart from sheer defensive motivations, such as creating resilience, striving for sustainability, switching to renewables, and downscaling safely and fairly, the question arises of what can serve as a larger philosophical framework for the transformation. I argue that Daoism supplies this needed framework. The penultimate chapter of the ”Dao De Jing”, v. 80, discloses a vision of collective existence, which may well describe the endpoint of social development and consequently the telos of civil evolution. Before the age of climate change, this vision looked rather dreamlike and utopian. But as the age of climate change has begun, and as urgency mounts, this vision reveals a rational, realistic, and pragmatic destination.

並列關鍵字

Daoism climate change adaptation evolution enlightenment

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