Homo sum: humani nihil a me alienum puto.” (I am a human being. I consider nothing human foreign to me.) These words by Terence, a second century BC Roman playwright, make a noble motto for our time. They define a position condemned by many, including the president of the US, as “globalism”. Yet that should mean more than economic — or, as some call it, “neoliberal” — globalisation. It should mean that humanity has global obligations and interests. To meet the former and promote the latter, the nation state is the start. But we must also think and act far beyond it.
“我是人，人類之事我都關心”(Homo sum：humani nihil a me alienum puto)——公元前二世紀羅馬劇作家泰倫提烏斯(Terence)的這句話為當今時代提供了一句崇高格言。它定義了“全球主義”——一種為包括美國總統在內的許多人所譴責的立場。然而，全球主義不應僅僅指經濟全球化——或者一些人所說的“新自由主義”全球化。它還應指人類負有全球義務，擁有全球利益。為了履行前者并推動后者，就得先從民族國家著手。但我們的思考和行動應該遠遠不止于民族國家。