【國際政治經濟典籍導讀課程・蕭少滔 023A】西方歷史學者 Ian Morris 也論證「東升西降」，可信嗎？（上）
Added 2025-06-09 05:01:03 +0000 UTC節目深入探討Ian Morris的歷史巨著，從地理與宏觀大歷史角度剖析「東升西降」現象。現代外交與地緣政治其實早有歷史根源，霸權崛起與衰落背後隱藏著地緣生存空間的爭奪。透過跨越數千年的觀察，揭示東西方發展落差不只是制度或文化問題，而是地理環境與歷史節奏的產物。
Comments
Will share with Alex 🙏
堅離地書院 College
2025-06-10 03:43:23 +0000 UTC謝謝蕭少滔先生和沈教授的對談分享~
Elaine Yip
2025-06-09 16:18:48 +0000 UTCMy read on the book was subtly different. I think Ian is simply saying what the title of the book is saying — why the west is ruling, for now. His point is there is no innate biological advantage that locked-in long term competitive advantages in the west. Culture and institutions are the consequences, not the cause of their dominance thus far. Leadership alters the pace but not the overall trajectory if you stretch the time period long enough. There is nothing that inherently prevents the east from overtaking the west, and he made projections as such, but I don’t think he is saying that it is inevitable. Land used to be the primary limiting factor of growth in the agricultural society. Whenever we get close to the growth ceiling, famine, climate change, disease, migration and state failure knock it back down again. But that changed with the Industrial Revolution. Factory output is not capped by land size like the yield on farmland. Then for the first time in human history humans broke through that ceiling to grow, and with the advent of powerful ships that enabled long voyages, the west took advantage of it, overcame some limitations of geography and created the largest trade network on earth across the Atlantic — thus far. That is the reason why the west has been dominating. If there is no inherent disadvantages that will subdue the east, and you make a projection forward, chances are the east will overtake the west at some point in the future. But that is not to say for example climate change, change in technology (AI) or nuclear war could not alter that projection.
lyk
2025-06-09 14:02:11 +0000 UTC
