on “RESPONSIBILITY” - 中欧社会论坛 - China Europa Forum

on “RESPONSIBILITY”

Core values in Chinese and European traditional and modern cultures and their impact on shaping society

Auteurs : Edith SIZOO

Date : 25 avril 2010

It is not easy to define traditional values shared by the whole population of Europe over a considerable period of time. One might suggest e.g. that the Christian content of religious belief (faith, hope and love) has strongly influenced the whole of Europe. But at any time there was at the most a dominant version of this belief shared by many, but never by all.

It is easier to identify European values which were shared -for a while- by significant sections of the European population. From the Age of the Enlightenment onwards many people were inclined to set great store on logic and reasoning to the point that what could not be explained that way was considered doubtful, including major tenets of the Christian faith. Rationalism became rather popular, and still is. Another value traditionally shared by many is the willingness to accept what is technically possible as being a priori valuable.

My choice of focusing on the notion of responsibility is inspired by my conviction that it is one of the key-notions for facing the challenges of the unprecedented crises humanity is facing in the XXIst century : ecological, political, financial and economical.

The idea of Responsibility is associated with different traditional values at different stages in the history of Europe. Its meaning was not always the same. But, the assumption of certain tasks by certain people and accountability of certain people to certain audiences were always considered intrinsically valuable.

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