目 录 上一节 下一节 
亚欧基金总干事许通美教授于昨日在北京举行的第二届亚欧基金非正式人权研讨会上,以《亚洲与欧洲价值观之间的不同》为题,发表专题论文。本文是论文第一部分的摘要。 There is no consensus among Asian intellectuals and scholars on whether there is such a thing as "Asian values".Some Asians believe that there are good values and bad values but no such thing as Asian values. 亚洲的知识分子和学者针对"亚洲价值观"是否存在的课题,并没有达到共识。有些亚洲人认为,确实有好的价值观和坏的价值观,但没有所谓的亚洲价值观。 Those who hold this view therefore believe that values are universal in character. 持有这种看法的人因此认为,价值观是全人类共同享有的。 Some other Asians believe that because Asia is so big and heterogeneous there is no set of values which are sharedby all Asians. 另一些亚洲人认为亚洲是如此般的大和多元化,一套能引起所有亚洲人共鸣的价值观是不存在的。 Those who hold this view may, however, contend that somecountries in Asia, for example, the Confucianist societies, do share a common set of values. I belong to the third school. 然而,持有这种看法的人或许会接受亚洲一些国家(譬如奉行儒家思想的社会)享有共同价值观的事实。 
我个人偏向第三种看法。我认为亚洲虽是多元化的地区,居住在东北亚和东南亚的亚洲人确实共同分享一些个人的和社会的价值观。 I believe there is such a thing as Asian values just as there are American values and ideals and European values and ideals. 我认为亚洲价值观是存在的,正如世界上存在着美国价值观和美国理想以及欧洲价值观和欧洲理想。 I have been puzzled by the fact that many American and European intellectuals have reacted so negatively to Asian values. For example, the former Governor of Hong Kong, ChrisPatten, devoted a chapter in his book," East and West", to debunking Asian values. 许多美国和欧洲知识分子对亚洲价值观非常排斥,我对此感到困惑。譬如,前香港总督彭定康在其著作《东方与西方》内,利用了一整章的篇幅来批驳亚洲价值观。 Asians do not react negatively when Americans talk abouttheir belief in American values and ideals and Europeans in theirs. Why does the West react in such a negative way when Asians profess their belief in Asian values? I think there are three possible reasons. 当美国人提到他们的美国价值观和美国理想的时候,或欧洲人提及欧洲价值观和欧洲理想时,亚洲人并不会作出负面的反应。但当亚洲人提出他们本身对亚洲价值观的认同时,为何西方会有如此负面的反应?我想有三个可能性。 First, I believe that the West has not yet come to accept Asia as an equal. The West has dominated Asia for themajor part of the past two hundred years. 第一、我认为西方还未能接受亚洲和它地位相等。在过去200年的大部分时间,西方一直支配着亚洲。 
多数的西方人,包括西方知识分子,还是把亚洲和亚洲人视为较低等。 One Western intellectual contended, in an op-ed essay inthe International Herald Tribune, that East Asia did not represent any positive values. This old mindset has not changed. 一位西方知识分子在《国际先驱论坛报》发表的一篇文章声称,东亚并不代表任何正面的价值观。这个旧的思想意识还未改变。 Second, I suspect that the West cannot accept the concept of Asian values because the latter could pose a challenge to Western intellectual hegemony. 第二、我怀疑西方之所以不能接受亚洲价值观,是因为后者很可能正面挑战西方的知识霸权。 The truth is that we still live in a world which is economically, culturally, intellectually and morally dominated by the West. 我们确实是生活在一个经济上、文化上、知识上及道德上均由西方支配的世界。 Of all the regions of the non-Western world, only EastAsia has the potential to achieve parity with the West. By 1995, the ten major economies of East Asia were, collectively, as large as the United States (25% of the world economy) and only slightly smaller than the European Union (29%). 在所有非西方的地区中,只有东亚才有这个潜能和西方平起平坐。到了1995年,东亚的十大经济体加起来已能媲美美国经济(世界经济的25%),而比欧洲经济(29%)稍为小些。 
东亚也拥有世界上一些最古老和最丰富的文明。因此,东亚有这个潜能,于21世纪挑战西方在经济上、文化上、知识上及道德上的支配地位。 Third, some of East Asia's political leaders have given Asian Values a bad name by seeking to justify their abuses of power and the inequities of their societies in the name of Asian values . 第三、东亚一些政治领袖利用亚洲价值观之名来解释个人的滥权和社会的不公正,使到亚洲价值观遭贬低。 For example, corruption, collusion and nepotism should be condemned by all Asians. They have nothing to do with Asian values. To put it more accurately, they have everything to do with bad Asian values but nothing to do with good Asian values. 譬如,所有的亚洲人都应该谴责贪污、勾结和搞裙带关系。这些和亚洲价值观无关。更准确的说法是,它们和坏的亚洲价值观有关,但却和好的亚洲价值观无关。 This leads me to my point that it is essential to distinguish between good Asian values and bad Asian values. Not all Asian values are good values just as not all Westernvalues are good values. There are good Asian values and bad Asian values, just as there are good Western values and bad Western values. 我们必须分辨什么是好的亚洲价值观,什么是坏的亚洲价值观。不是所有的亚洲价值观都是好的价值观,正如不是所有的西方价值观都是好的价值观一样。亚洲价值观有好有坏,正如西方价值观也有好有坏。 Very little empirical work has been done to ascertain what personal and societal values East Asians hold in common. One of the few researchers who have tried to do so is an American, David Hitchcock, of the Centre for Strategicand International Studies in Washington, DC. 确认东亚人所认同的个人和社会价值观的实证研究做得很少。其中一名从事该项研究的学者是美国人--华盛顿策略和国际研究中心的大卫·希治阁。 
年,他在新加坡、吉隆坡、雅加达、曼谷、上海、北京、汉城和东京对100多个人进行了访问。这些受访的人包括智囊团专家、政府官员、商人、新闻从业者、文化领袖和宗教领袖。希治阁的调查有什么主要的结论呢? Hitchcock found a surprising degree of congruence between the personal and societal values of Northeast Asiansand Southeast Asians. 希治阁意外地发现东北亚洲人和东南亚州人在个人和社会价值观方面,有相当大的共同点。 On personal values, Asians from the two sub-regions gave equal emphasis to the importance of hard work, respect for learning, honesty, self-reliance, self-discipline and the fulfilment of obligations. 在个人价值观方面,来自这两个地区的亚洲人都同样注重勤奋、教育、诚实、自力更生、自律和履行义务。 On societal values, the respondents agreed on the importance of orderly society, harmony, respect for authority, official accountability and consensus. 在社会价值观方面,受访人士都注重社会的秩序、和谐、对权威的尊敬、政府对人民负责、和共识。
| 
