“Aristotle had just appeared, and what made him even more suspicious was that he seemed to possess a comprehensive body of knowledge, from optics and ethics to economics and politics,” he said in the video.
Mainstream historians have criticized Jin’s argument as superficial and flawed, noting that similar questions could be raised about ancient Chinese philosophers such as Laozi.
Chinese nationalist scholars have called for a re-examination of Western narratives and history, which they say should be judged by the same criteria used to evaluate Chinese history.
Chinese Xi hails cultural continuity as engine of nation’s rise
Chinese Xi hails cultural continuity as engine of nation’s rise
“It can even be said that this ‘West-centric view’ still dominates the field of Western social sciences,” he said, adding that “many Chinese have also been deeply influenced by it, which is the one of the reasons that contribute to their lack of information. of cultural self-confidence”.
“I believe the task of deconstructing such a position is still a long and difficult journey, but we have the confidence to continue and do it well,” Zhang said.
Chinese civilization is “the only uninterrupted civilization in the world,” Xi said, adding that cultural heritage, innovation and development are key factors for China to become a global cultural power.
Ancient Greece is widely considered the birthplace of democracy and Western civilization, and Aristotle, born in 384 BC, was one of its most prolific and influential figures.
This mathematician is credited with authoring 400 to 1,000 books covering the natural sciences, philosophy, linguistics, economics, politics, psychology, and the arts. The philosophical tradition that followed it is believed to have laid the foundation for the development of modern science.
In his viral video, Jin wondered how the works of Aristotle, who is said to have written 3 million words on parchment during his lifetime, could have been recorded on ancient writing equipment, since sheepskin was expensive and difficult to access.
“According to the analysis of some experts, 3 million words means that even if all the sheepskins produced in 100 years in the entire region – from the Mediterranean to Europe… to the Black Sea – were given to Aristotle, the materials would not have been enough,” Jin said.
Xi Jinping invokes China’s past to build confidence in its future
Xi Jinping invokes China’s past to build confidence in its future
“There is ample evidence of philosophers adhering to Aristotle’s ideas and even quoting his texts as early as the 3rd century (BC),” said Jeremy McInerney, professor of classical studies at the University of Pennsylvania.
Regarding Jin’s claims regarding Aristotle’s preferred writing material, several scholars have asserted that he probably did not write on parchment most of the time.
“He would have written on papyrus, the standard platform for Greek writing,” said Paul Kosmin, a professor of ancient history at Harvard University.
Before the invention of paper in China around 2,200 years ago, the Egyptians mastered the art of creating a paper-like material from the stem of papyrus. Papyrus was the primary writing material in ancient Egypt and was also widely used by the Greeks and Romans.
Even if Aristotle had used parchment, it might not have been as expensive as Jin claimed. McInerney said texts on papyrus and parchment could be scratched away, allowing the material to be reused, so its cost was “not as exorbitant as people imagine”.
Jin also expressed skepticism that Aristotle could have written 3 million words, noting that some of the oldest classical works by Chinese philosophers contained only thousands of words.
“He wrote too much,” Jin said.
It is not known exactly how many words Aristotle actually wrote. “A rough estimate is 1 to 1.2 million words,” said Xu Songyan, director of the Center for Hellenic Studies at Southwest University in Chongqing.
Xu added that since Aristotle’s works were written in Greek, the word count could not be compared with other ancient thinkers writing in Chinese.
Furthermore, Aristotle did not carry out this work alone. “About 10 people worked for Aristotle and his students helped him write part of his oral speech,” Xu said.
McInerney said it was very likely that “Aristotle had a philosophical school at work behind him, so some of the heavy lifting was done by his students.”
“If we doubt that Aristotle wrote as much as he is known to have written, then we should doubt the veracity of the works of many other authors,” said Eric Brown, associate professor of philosophy at Washington University in St. Louis .
“Any skepticism powerful enough to doubt the existence of Aristotle would have to doubt the existence of almost everyone who has been dead for more than two centuries,” Brown said.
“There is reason to be skeptical of some details of ancient biographical traditions, because writers would embellish the truth to create a better story, but there is no reason to be skeptical of the very existence of people they write about.”
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The Yellow River in China: taming the cradle of Chinese civilization
The Yellow River in China: taming the cradle of Chinese civilization
As for doubts about the extent of Aristotle’s expertise, Brown noted that in the philosopher’s time it was much easier to master various disciplines because these areas of study were less developed than today. today.
Aristotle was thought to have come from a privileged economic and social background, which likely contributed to his mastery of a wide range of fields, Xu said.
Aristotle’s father is believed to have been the physician to King Amyntas III of Macedon. After completing his studies at the Platonic Academy in Athens, Aristotle served as tutor to Alexander the Great, who succeeded his father Philip II to the throne in 336 BC, at the age of 20.
“Aristotle’s research career relied largely on the resources provided by his students,” Xu said. For example, during his expedition to Persia, Alexander the Great collected specimens of plants and animals throughout the region and brought them back for Aristotle to conduct research.
Alexander the Great also commissioned the Greek city-states to prepare local information for Aristotle, which served as a source for his studies of politics and governance.
For at least a decade, ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt have been targets of Chinese nationalist scholars, who encourage skepticism of these civilizations and their achievements.
This group gained visibility around 2013 when He Xin, a former researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), published his book Research on the pseudo-history of Greece.
He claimed that several classics of ancient Greek literature, such as the epics of Homer, were the work of Renaissance forgers. Like Jin, he also suggested that Aristotle never existed.
“He is considered the central figure of a group called the ‘pseudo-history school’ in China,” Xu said.
Shortly after, Gao Fengfeng, a professor at Peking University, denounced the group as “an academic group.” Yihetuan”, using the Chinese word for the Boxers – the secret society that launched an anti-foreign, anti-colonial insurgency in northern China in the late 19th century.
Xu said that, based on publicly available information, there was no evidence that the “pseudo-history” projects were sponsored by government funding.
Ancient Chinese gold mask raises many questions about Shang culture
Ancient Chinese gold mask raises many questions about Shang culture
Chinese scholars are not the only ones to question Aristotle’s story. In the 1950s, Guyanese-American historian George James published his book Stolen heritage, which argues that the philosopher’s ideas do not come from Greece but come from the ancient Egyptians.
In the 1987 book Black Athena: The Afro-Asian roots of classical civilization, British scholar Martin Bernal also sought to challenge the dominant understanding of classical civilization, proposing that ancient Greece had been colonized and influenced by the Egyptians and Phoenicians.
Although these theories are considered fringe in academia, they have gained traction on Chinese social media. On Douyin, the question “Is ancient Greek civilization fabricated?” is one of the top suggestions that pop up when searching for “Ancient Greece.”
“Whether these opinions are correct is secondary; the key is that we dare to question the origins of Western civilization,” a Weibo user named Lu said in response to Jin’s viral video.
“It’s an incredibly courageous expression. For more than a century, we have kowtowed to Western civilization, which is not right,” Lu wrote, suggesting that Chinese scholars should conduct research to “deeply expose the vulnerabilities of Western civilization.”
