From a theoretical point of view, Thucydides' s Trap is the idea of realism, especially the idea of offensive realism, that changes in the international power structure will inevitably escalate to international co...From a theoretical point of view, Thucydides' s Trap is the idea of realism, especially the idea of offensive realism, that changes in the international power structure will inevitably escalate to international conflict and war. As we analyze the historical origin of Thucydides' s Trap from the perspective of political strategy, we can see that Thucydides' s Trap was put forward by Graham T. Allison and other western scholars,and that their understanding and analogy between Athens and Sparta,between China and the United States mainly involves three aspects:strength determinism, war benefit theory and bilateral relations theory.These three misunderstandings involve objective factors, subjective factors, and the scope of Thucydides' s Trap. China should avoid falling into the theoretical trap of strength determinism, with great initiative to promote the sustainable development and the rise of China by adhering to the strategy of Chinese Economic Reform and Opening up, and to construct the community of common destiny, while controlling and managing a third-party factor emerging in the Sino-US bilateral relations.展开更多
Beijing:The Commercial Press,2020,ISBN:9787100184212.Chen Yingxue's The Reawakening of Thucydides:The Writing of Ancient History and the Transformation of Greek National Identity is a groundbreaking work that offe...Beijing:The Commercial Press,2020,ISBN:9787100184212.Chen Yingxue's The Reawakening of Thucydides:The Writing of Ancient History and the Transformation of Greek National Identity is a groundbreaking work that offers a profound exploration of the pivotal role classical Greek heritage played in the transformation of Greek national identity during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.This scholarly examination,notably the first of its kind to be published in China.展开更多
The US presence in East Asia is not simply a result of the victory over Japan in WW2,but a legacy of the US takeover of the Spanish overseas empire in 1898.Today,the threat of war between China and the US has little t...The US presence in East Asia is not simply a result of the victory over Japan in WW2,but a legacy of the US takeover of the Spanish overseas empire in 1898.Today,the threat of war between China and the US has little to do with Allison's Thucydides trap,which is based on a misreading of Thucydides'work:It originates from what in China is seen as a US imperial presence that mirrors Western inter-ference in Chinese affairs during the so-called“century of humiliation.”China is an authoritarian state with regional hegemonic ambitions,yet the West has been endorsing other authoritarian states,even absolute monarchies,that fit its geopoliti-cal interests.Notwithstanding the purported US support of“freedom”and“democ-racy,”the US in East Asia has been carrying out a foreign policy that,as an exten-sion of misinterpretations of the Monroe Doctrine,is a legacy of empire.This legacy is too often overlooked,while overseas interests are justified on the basis of secu-rity concerns.Thucydides is relevant,but to compare the American and Athenian empires and their demise,not to drag China into US geopolitical discourse,when focus should have long been on Russia.Anti-colonial theory shows how interstate relations,in particular in the East Asian context,are not defined by Thucydides trap,but Thrasymachus paradox.展开更多
Many previous thinkers have imagined that there was a glorious or harmonious period in the past better than the world of their own time,but Thucydides and Sima Qian do not describe the early stages of human society as...Many previous thinkers have imagined that there was a glorious or harmonious period in the past better than the world of their own time,but Thucydides and Sima Qian do not describe the early stages of human society as a Golden Age.I suggest that Sima Qian marks a separation between the mythical stories and the historical spirit in China,just as Thucydides did in Greece.Further,they both presented a modified cyclical view of human history.For a better understanding of the basic characteristics of Greek and Chinese historiographies,this paper discusses the cyclical views of human history underlying ancient Greek and early Chinese historiographies through a comparative study of Thucydides’and Sima Qian’s texts.I analyze some similarities and differences between the two great historians’conceptions of historical process,and I conclude that Thucydides believes human intelligence develops through a historical spiral,while Sima Qian focuses on dynastic cycles with a strong moral concern.展开更多
In this work,the classical single cart-pole dynamic system is extended to the double cart-pole dynamic system with the inclusion of a competing target,which enables the study of multi-agent deep learning problems at a...In this work,the classical single cart-pole dynamic system is extended to the double cart-pole dynamic system with the inclusion of a competing target,which enables the study of multi-agent deep learning problems at an affordable cost.The corresponding important issues,such as system dynamics,reward function and simultaneous training of opponent agents,are discussed in details.To showcase the system dynamics,a couple of agents are trained and the analysis of the competing results reveals the key pattern for winning the competition.It appears that a defensive agent is always defeated by an offensive agent,albeit the associated neural network has a very limited intelligence.When both agents are defensive,the system dynamics will remain stable and achieve the Nash equilibrium.Overall,the proposed dynamic system could serve a surrogate model and assist the study about how to escape the so-called Thucydides trap.展开更多
The rhetoric used by President Trump regarding the trade war against China is rife with misinterpretation.The actual American trade deficit'with China is much lower if evaluated in the correct terms of value-added...The rhetoric used by President Trump regarding the trade war against China is rife with misinterpretation.The actual American trade deficit'with China is much lower if evaluated in the correct terms of value-added.The deficit is mainly a result of insufficient domestic US savings.In addition,as the US dollar is an international currency which is being increasingly held as a result of increases in world population,income,prices and transaction intensity,Americans can benefit from having trade deficits of hundreds of billions of US dollars each year.My analysis,as well as a model of the Bank of England,reveals that the trade war is not only mutually harmful but also actually hurts America more than China.The Thucydides Trap is likely avoidable in the current nuclear era of assured mutual destruction and because China,facing many structural impediments,is still far behind America in technology and military powder.展开更多
文摘From a theoretical point of view, Thucydides' s Trap is the idea of realism, especially the idea of offensive realism, that changes in the international power structure will inevitably escalate to international conflict and war. As we analyze the historical origin of Thucydides' s Trap from the perspective of political strategy, we can see that Thucydides' s Trap was put forward by Graham T. Allison and other western scholars,and that their understanding and analogy between Athens and Sparta,between China and the United States mainly involves three aspects:strength determinism, war benefit theory and bilateral relations theory.These three misunderstandings involve objective factors, subjective factors, and the scope of Thucydides' s Trap. China should avoid falling into the theoretical trap of strength determinism, with great initiative to promote the sustainable development and the rise of China by adhering to the strategy of Chinese Economic Reform and Opening up, and to construct the community of common destiny, while controlling and managing a third-party factor emerging in the Sino-US bilateral relations.
文摘Beijing:The Commercial Press,2020,ISBN:9787100184212.Chen Yingxue's The Reawakening of Thucydides:The Writing of Ancient History and the Transformation of Greek National Identity is a groundbreaking work that offers a profound exploration of the pivotal role classical Greek heritage played in the transformation of Greek national identity during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.This scholarly examination,notably the first of its kind to be published in China.
文摘The US presence in East Asia is not simply a result of the victory over Japan in WW2,but a legacy of the US takeover of the Spanish overseas empire in 1898.Today,the threat of war between China and the US has little to do with Allison's Thucydides trap,which is based on a misreading of Thucydides'work:It originates from what in China is seen as a US imperial presence that mirrors Western inter-ference in Chinese affairs during the so-called“century of humiliation.”China is an authoritarian state with regional hegemonic ambitions,yet the West has been endorsing other authoritarian states,even absolute monarchies,that fit its geopoliti-cal interests.Notwithstanding the purported US support of“freedom”and“democ-racy,”the US in East Asia has been carrying out a foreign policy that,as an exten-sion of misinterpretations of the Monroe Doctrine,is a legacy of empire.This legacy is too often overlooked,while overseas interests are justified on the basis of secu-rity concerns.Thucydides is relevant,but to compare the American and Athenian empires and their demise,not to drag China into US geopolitical discourse,when focus should have long been on Russia.Anti-colonial theory shows how interstate relations,in particular in the East Asian context,are not defined by Thucydides trap,but Thrasymachus paradox.
文摘Many previous thinkers have imagined that there was a glorious or harmonious period in the past better than the world of their own time,but Thucydides and Sima Qian do not describe the early stages of human society as a Golden Age.I suggest that Sima Qian marks a separation between the mythical stories and the historical spirit in China,just as Thucydides did in Greece.Further,they both presented a modified cyclical view of human history.For a better understanding of the basic characteristics of Greek and Chinese historiographies,this paper discusses the cyclical views of human history underlying ancient Greek and early Chinese historiographies through a comparative study of Thucydides’and Sima Qian’s texts.I analyze some similarities and differences between the two great historians’conceptions of historical process,and I conclude that Thucydides believes human intelligence develops through a historical spiral,while Sima Qian focuses on dynastic cycles with a strong moral concern.
基金supported by the National Science Foundation of China(Grant No.91852201)。
文摘In this work,the classical single cart-pole dynamic system is extended to the double cart-pole dynamic system with the inclusion of a competing target,which enables the study of multi-agent deep learning problems at an affordable cost.The corresponding important issues,such as system dynamics,reward function and simultaneous training of opponent agents,are discussed in details.To showcase the system dynamics,a couple of agents are trained and the analysis of the competing results reveals the key pattern for winning the competition.It appears that a defensive agent is always defeated by an offensive agent,albeit the associated neural network has a very limited intelligence.When both agents are defensive,the system dynamics will remain stable and achieve the Nash equilibrium.Overall,the proposed dynamic system could serve a surrogate model and assist the study about how to escape the so-called Thucydides trap.
文摘The rhetoric used by President Trump regarding the trade war against China is rife with misinterpretation.The actual American trade deficit'with China is much lower if evaluated in the correct terms of value-added.The deficit is mainly a result of insufficient domestic US savings.In addition,as the US dollar is an international currency which is being increasingly held as a result of increases in world population,income,prices and transaction intensity,Americans can benefit from having trade deficits of hundreds of billions of US dollars each year.My analysis,as well as a model of the Bank of England,reveals that the trade war is not only mutually harmful but also actually hurts America more than China.The Thucydides Trap is likely avoidable in the current nuclear era of assured mutual destruction and because China,facing many structural impediments,is still far behind America in technology and military powder.
