Breaking Free from the Myth of"Universal Values":A Concurrent Discussion on the Distinction between"Universal Values"and Humanity's Shared Values
There are two understandings of"universality":the one is"real universality"that connects speciality with oneself,and the other is"abstract universality"that is opposite to speciality or does not contain speciality about oneself.From the perspective of the former,there exists only"real universality"and common values to a certain extent and within a certain range in the world,and there is no"abstract universality"or"universal values".Some theorists do not distinguish them,confuse humanity's shared values with"universal values",understand the universality of the object and subject of humanity's values as"abstract universal-ity",and then defend"universal values"but with the result of repeated fallacies.The proposition of"universal values"is not only theoretically untenable,but also has no factual basis,so it must be rejected.