汤因比曾指出,当古代世界曾经存在的所有文明都在时间之轮的运转中停滞、衰微之时,唯独西方文明这座“上帝之城”幸运地留存下来,并经过数百年的发展,在19世纪进入了它的全盛时期。维多利亚的诗人们更是以热烈的情怀来讴歌它的富庶、幸福、荣耀和长存。这种乐观向上的情绪在整整一代西方学术研究留下了深刻的烙印,其中最能代表其基本倾向的便是各种“进化”的思想。“文明”不是一个既定的概念,它所具有的鲜明的历史特征,促使 Toynbeus once pointed out that when all the civilizations that existed in the ancient world were stagnating and declining at the turn of time, only the “city of God” of Western civilization survived, and after hundreds of years of Development, entered its heyday in the 19th century. Victoria’s poet even more eulogizes his richness, happiness, glory and survival. This optimistic mood has left a deep imprint on the whole generation of Western academic research. Among them, the most representative of its basic tendency are various “evolutionary” thoughts. “Civilization” is not an established concept. Its distinctive historical features have prompted it