Chen Shuguang: Deeply Understanding the Theoretical Contributions of the Common Values of All Mankind
A system of values constitutes the core of an ideological and cultural system and represents a significant component of social ideology. Core values serve as the spiritual bond upon which a nation relies for its preservation and form the shared ideological and moral foundation of a country. Different nations and cultural spheres across the globe possess their own core values. Against the background of the deepening development of economic globalization, forming a value consensus and a "greatest common denominator" [1] among different nations and civilizations is of great significance for promoting the progress of human civilization and the common prosperity of the world. In September 2015, while attending the General Debate of the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly and delivering an important speech, President Xi Jinping pointed out: "Peace, development, equity, justice, democracy, and freedom are the common values of all humanity and the lofty goals of the United Nations." Since then, General Secretary Xi Jinping has emphasized the need to uphold and promote the common values of all humanity on multiple international and domestic occasions, triggering a broad resonance within the international community. The common values of all humanity proposed by General Secretary Xi Jinping have become the basic guidance for leading the progress of human civilization and have made a foundational theoretical contribution to enriching and developing Marxist value theory.
The common values of all humanity transcend geographical boundaries and institutional differences, achieving a profound innovation of value concepts in the history of human thought.
Marx and Engels pointed out: "The more the separate spheres, which interact on one another, expand in the course of this development, the more the original isolation of the separate nationalities is destroyed by the perfected mode of production and intercourse and the division of labour between various nations naturally brought about by these, the more history becomes world history." With the in-depth development of the process of world history, the global common market urgently requires the establishment of universally recognized value benchmarks, universal global intercourse urgently needs to lay down shared value norms, and global governance also urgently needs to find points where interests converge that transcend ideologies and political systems.
Focusing on "value in general" that transcends social forms, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed the common values of all humanity that transcend geographical boundaries and institutional differences. This represents a profound innovation of value concepts in the history of human thought and is the highest abstraction and summation of the universal value pursuits of all progressive forces in the world. It lays a shared value foundation for the common development of countries and nations with different regions, social systems, ideologies, and religious beliefs; establishes basic value norms for the universal intercourse of all humanity; and provides a shared value bond for the chaotic international community to achieve the broadest possible unity.
A deep understanding of the common values of all humanity requires grasping its core connotations.
First, the common values of all humanity serve as the value guidance for universal global intercourse. A value concept that truly assists universal global intercourse must possess a normative function, be capable of effectively guiding and correcting behaviors in world intercourse, and provide basic value criteria for such intercourse. The West always attempts to elevate its own values into "universal values" [2] for all humanity. However, true universality cannot be founded upon a single cultural form, nor can it be abstracted solely from the partial practice of the West; rather, it should be a universal consensus and a greatest common denominator that is inclusive of different civilizations. Therefore, the so-called "universal values" of the West are not truly universal values; in essence, they are a universality disguised by Western particularity—a false universalism. The common values of all humanity are based on the common practical activities of all humankind, abstracted from different civilizations around the world, and represent a value consensus formed to satisfy the common needs and interests of all humanity. This consensus is committed to "expanding the intersection of interests and drawing the largest possible concentric circles," and to condensing the value denominator of people from different forms of democracy, different belief pursuits, different cultural backgrounds, and different regions, thereby providing value guidance for universal intercourse on a global scale.
Second, peace, development, equity, justice, democracy, and freedom are the common values of all humanity. Peace and development are the common cause of humanity; equity and justice are the common ideals of humanity; and democracy and freedom are the common pursuits of humanity. We must understand the perceptions of value connotations held by different civilizations with a broad mind, refrain from imposing our own values and models on others, and avoid engaging in ideological confrontation.
Third, the common values of all humanity lay the value foundation for building a community with a shared future for humanity. A community with a shared future for humanity is a community of interests as well as a community of values, fully expressing the common interest relations and value pursuits of all humankind. "Common values" are the value consensus of universal significance for all humanity, serving as the value base and "ballast stone" [3] for building a community with a shared future for humanity. We must uphold the common values of all humanity—peace, development, equity, justice, democracy, and freedom—promote the construction of a new type of international relations, promote the building of a community with a shared future for humanity, and jointly create a better future for the world.
The common values of all humanity serve as the basic guidance for leading the progress of today's world civilization and make a foundational theoretical contribution to enriching and developing Marxist value theory.
The common values of all humanity are the latest achievement in the development of Marxist value theory in contemporary China and today's world. They are one of the original and hallmark concepts of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, greatly enriching and developing Marxist value theory. The reason why the new form of human civilization created by Chinese-path modernization occupies an important position in the map of world civilizations is that, while manifesting core socialist values, it reflects the common values of all humanity; while upholding cultural subjecthood, it merges into the great tide of the development of human civilization; and while carrying forward its own value ideals, it contributes universal value concepts and intellectual achievements to the "sum total of human knowledge."
The common values of all humanity take into account the dual connotations of "value in general" and "value in particular," making up for the one-sidedness of focusing on one point to the exclusion of others. On the premise of recognizing the diverse practical values of different countries, nations, social systems, and ideologies, the common values of all humanity draw a value "concentric circle" for different human civilizations, manifesting the unity of value commonality and value in general. The so-called "universal values" of the West represent a false universality—a universality that erodes differences and an abstract identity. They advocate for the construction of a homogeneous value order that transcends time and space, denying value particularity and pursuing an unprincipled, undifferentiated, non-contradictory, and frozen absolute identity. The outcome is "uniformity without harmony" (tong er bu he) [4] and "uniformity that cannot be sustained." The common values of all humanity advocated by China represent true universality—a universality that includes contradictions and differences and a concrete identity. They emphasize the commonality behind diversity and pursue a principled, differentiated harmonious coexistence. The ultimate goal is "harmony without uniformity" (he er bu tong) [5] and "harmony generating substance."
There is a fundamental difference between the common values of all humanity and so-called "universal values" in the delineation of the scope of value publicity. The common values of all humanity emphasize the finiteness of space-time and subjective conditions, and do not attempt to "cover" all countries, regions, nations, and subjects with a specific set of values. Conversely, the so-called "universal values" emphasize the infinity of value publicity and do not set space-time or subjective boundaries for their own scope of application. Why is the West so keen on weaving the myth of "false universality"? Marx and Engels revealed the secret: "Each new class... is compelled, merely in order to carry through its aim, to represent its interest as the common interest of all the members of society... expressed in ideal form: it has to give its ideas the form of universality, and represent them as the only rational, universally valid ones." The so-called "universal values" of the West are, in fact, nothing more than the particular values of the West, values that emerged from the unique cultural soil of the West.
The common values of all humanity relatively distinguish value concepts from the forms of value realization, transcending the cognitive error of the West which conflates the two. Value concepts and the forms through which they are realized (i.e., value models) are different. Generally speaking, if value concepts differ, the forms of value realization also differ. However, it must also be seen that the same value concept can absolutely be expressed through different value models. For example, the realization forms of capitalist democracy can be a two-party system or a multi-party system; a presidential system or a parliamentary system; a constitutional monarchy or a democratic republic; and direct democracy or indirect democracy. Conversely, the same value model may reflect different value concepts. For instance, while both involve democratic elections, China reflects the concept of whole-process people's democracy, the essence of which is the people as masters of the country; the West reflects the values of bourgeois democracy, the essence of which is capital as the master of the country.
General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "With a sense of high responsibility for the future and destiny of humanity, we should understand with a broad mind the perceptions of value connotations held by different civilizations, respect the exploration of value realization paths by people of different countries, and translate the common values of all humanity into concrete and realistic practices aimed at realizing the interests of their own people." China has always been an advocate of the common values of all humanity, but these values do not pursue identical forms of realization or practical paths. That is to say, China advocates peace, development, equity, justice, democracy, and freedom, but it will not export China's social system, development path, or democratic model, nor will it seek a uniform form of value realization. Our opposition to so-called "universal values" is not an opposition to value concepts such as freedom, democracy, and human rights, but rather an opposition to the West's disregard for the distinction between value concepts and their realization forms—its equating of the specific realization forms of freedom, democracy, and human rights with the value concepts themselves, and its unconditional and undifferentiated promotion of them to the world outside the West.
The common values of all humanity relatively distinguish ideological attributes from human attributes, avoiding the narrow vision of focusing solely on ideological attributes. General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out: "Countries may differ in history, culture, system, and level of development, but the people of all countries pursue the common values of all humanity: peace, development, equity, justice, democracy, and freedom." Values themselves are ideology; there are no so-called "values" that are purely objective, neutral, and detached from ideological attributes. However, on the issue of values, it is also wrong to allow political ideology to take command. Values adapted to different spatio-temporal scopes have varied positions and subjective presuppositions, and their ideological attributes also vary in strength. So-called "universal values" highlight the standpoint of capital, have clear subjective presuppositions, represent the fundamental interests of the bourgeoisie, and are subordinate to bourgeois ideology; thus, they possess strong capitalist ideological attributes. For example, so-called "freedom" is the freedom of "capital" and those who possess it; so-called "democracy" is democracy within the bourgeoisie, democracy among capitalists, and a game for the wealthy; so-called "human rights" are the rights of the bourgeoisie—"the equal exploitation of labor-power is the first human right of capital" [6] and "one of the most essential human rights is declared to be bourgeois property"; so-called "equality" is the "equal exploitation of labor-power," "bourgeois equality before the law," equality before the laws of value, the principle of equal commodity exchange (of "exchanging equivalents for equivalents"), the principle of the owner of commodities buying the labor-power of the proletarian as an equivalent exchange, the equality of exchanging what my labor has created with me, the equality of buying and selling—it is practically "calling inequality equality"; so-called "fraternity" (博爱) is the requirement for the exploited and the exploiter to love and cooperate with each other, for the proletarian and the bourgeois to respect and love one another, and for the proletariat to show gratitude toward the bourgeoisie. In contrast, the common values of all humanity condense the value consensus of different human civilizations, reflecting the greatest common denominator of value concepts universally recognized by the people of all countries. They transcend differences in ideology, social systems, and levels of development, highlighting the standpoint of all humanity and representing the common interests of all humanity. They belong to an inter-subjective value consensus, do not belong exclusively to any fixed political ideological system, and have no specific political ideological purpose; thus, they possess weak ideological attributes. Therefore, China's advocacy of the common values of all humanity by no means implies the export of ideology or values to the rest of the world.