To be sure, many Greek scholars did want to change the current predicament of philosophy.

The reality is that in the homeland of Greek philosophy, there are a lot of problems, and even the most dull scholars are bound to face this situation.

And, although unlike the schools of thought on the side of Seris, which were originally based on realpolitik, Greek philosophy as a whole was relatively "retreatal". But no matter how detached, changes in reality will certainly have an impact on philosophy.

Everyone knows what the current situation has become, and in this case, a reform measure must be given. To put it bluntly, it is necessary to clarify what can and cannot change.

This is not to blame for the incomplete learning of others. Because it is impossible for any civilization to learn from foreign cultures until it is completely destroyed. Even those white Latin American countries could not completely get rid of the influence of Indian culture, let alone the Greeks, who were already rich in heritage.

And interestingly, the interpretation direction of the Greeks is exactly the same as that of the Seris of the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Because of this situation, there can only be two directions: one is to say that people are not good, and the other is to say that the mind itself is not good. Of course, this is a very rough category, and it can be subdivided. For example, under "people can't do it", it can be divided into several types.

Guo Kang's world, in fact, as early as the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, some people discovered that in the field of mathematics and natural philosophy, Westerners had gradually surpassed themselves. At that time, the mainstream explanation was that "the ancients did it, but the modern people cannot", thinking that the theories of the ancients were very good, but it was a pity that modern scholars were too good to give full play to them.

In this line of thinking, at the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, there were Confucian scholars who put forward the "Zhou people's westward running theory", believing that when the dogs destroyed the Western Zhou Dynasty, some Zhou people were plundered, and then fled to the west, which brought civilization there. Therefore, when you learn the Tessie technique, you don't have to resist, anyway, it's all your own thing, and there's nothing to be ashamed of.

This statement gave everyone a step up and lowered the vigilance of rulers and conservative literati. Like Mei Wending, a mathematician in the early Qing Dynasty, he was familiar with this. Due to his high emotional intelligence, he is very accurate every time he makes a sycophant, and even has the support of Kangxi himself. In later generations, this interpretation was outrageous, but it did work at the time.

And the Greeks are actually more motivated in this regard.

One of the main reasons why Patriarch Zhang advocated "Lao Tzu Hua Hu" at that time was probably because of the support of local scholars themselves.

Many people don't want to admit that the entire civilization was enlightened by Lao Tzu. But if philosophers had already communicated with each other at the beginning of the classical era, then everyone would have asked for it.

So in the end, it was Patriarch Zhang and the Greek scholars who took what they needed. He was able to publicize the long-standing reference between the two sides, to justify the oriental elements of the worship of God, and even to support his own scriptures.

And the other party can also argue that the influence of Seris is not new to now, since everyone has exchanged it back then, then whether it is the knowledge of the Mediterranean world that has spread to the East, or the knowledge of the East has been passed on, it is obviously reasonable.

The philosophers of the time produced many results, but the Greek scholars of today are unknown. Even if you only look at academic contributions, it is not as good as other places. This can only show that there is something wrong with the current people. Under this line of thinking, various attempts to sum up the lessons of antiquity and achieve cultural revival emerged one after another, and finally formed the current form.

Guo Kang feels that in this regard, the thinking of different civilizations seems to be similar.

Of course, having said that, it is already rare to find these violent reasons. In fact, the vast majority of civilizations do not need to reflect at all, nor do they need to find reasons to explain and improve, because as long as they decline, they will disappear directly......

The next question is to find out what went wrong and how to correct it. This is the focus of scholars' minds for decades.

The influence of the Greek city-states was actually limited. The real spread of Greek culture was the credit of Alexander the Macedonian. Greeks today tend to see Alexandria as part of Greek culture, but at least at the time, Greece itself was often pitted against the Macedonians.

Not to mention the Greek mercenaries who fought for Darius III, even their home city-states, often rebelled against the Macedonian kingdom by force. Guo Kang's Greek teacher said metaphorically at the time that the Macedonians were probably to the Greeks what the Xiongnu and Mongols were to the Central Plains.

So why did Macedonia become a symbol of Greek culture? In fact, there is no cultural reason, it's just that people can fight.

In the same way, how is Seris's culture promoted? Could it be that the emperors kept sending missionaries everywhere to brag about how strong they were? Apparently not. The influence of the Tang Dynasty was heard of until Eastern Rome, and the only reason was that people could fight.

It can be seen that if culture wants to be revived, the first thing to do is to revive by force. Instead, the Greeks should learn more from Alexander.

Now, the Purple Horde was also founded by foreign peoples, but this was an opportunity for Greek culture, just like Alexander, so it had to be seized.

And in this way, the question that needs further reflection is obvious: how did Alexander's empire, which was so powerful, come to an end?

All scholars are familiar with this: Alexander himself died young, and before the country could be stabilized, his mother, sisters, and wife began to destroy the state order incessantly, and finally completely ruined what little prestige he had left. Eventually, the empire fell apart, and the Ajd dynasty soon came to an end.

It is true that there are reasons for the empire's own weak foundation and low level of organization, but even so, if it can deteriorate to this point, the responsibility of the ruler itself cannot be shirked. It was the wicked ladies of his family who really destroyed Alexander's legacy.

And after some painful reflection, scholars believe that everyone has realized the conclusion:

In Guo Kang's father's time, several scholars at the University of Constantine published articles saying that the current Greeks themselves have become feminine. They have lost the masculinity of the past, and they have never been able to gain a long-term vision, so no matter how hard they try, they are nothing more than a group of women, constantly fighting with other compatriots, internal friction, and finally declining in shame.

This doctrine was later widely disseminated, bringing with it a wave of Greeks joining the army. Many town residents who were a little literate, but were not originally highly motivated to join the army, also began to take the initiative to join the regiment and try to prove themselves through military exploits. It played a lot of role in promoting the development of the situation at that time.

Correspondingly, contemporary scholars are more convinced that lessons must be learned to prevent men from becoming feminine again, and women from interfering with the state. In any case, the mistakes of the past cannot be repeated. This is the duty of patriots today.

(End of chapter)