Reading the Zhongyong 中庸 in Times of Cultural Upheaval
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Wolfgang Schwabe
Abstract
The appearance of a modern, self-confident China has started to raise concern in the West. Policies are being re-evaluated, “China competence” is the buzz word of the hour. But these reactions cannot conceal the fact that the West is utterly unprepared to come intellectually to terms with this new reality. Philosophers with sinological knowledge tend to measure China by standards developed in the West and judge it accordingly.[1] This paper wants to change the perspective and assess the renewed interest in the Chinese intellectual heritage within China from an inner-Chinese, historical perspective. Based on the reading of four commentaries to the classical Confucian text Zhongyong it argues that there is nothing new about this quest for cultural renewal. Contrarily, China has been continuously re-inventing itself by producing new cultural models based on the interpretation of texts seen as constituting the core of Chinese civilization. By introducing four such attempts to revitalize Chinese civilization through exegesis, the paper pursues two different, but related aims. For one, it wants to substitute the static understanding of China for a dynamic one. Only when the interplay of intellectual and historical forces in China is taken seriously, the range, wealth and flexibility of intellectual life in China can be appreciated. Because of these qualities, radically different attitudes, values and political systems can be and were advocated based on the very same tradition. By adopting a historical perspective on the current development in China, the paper wants secondly to open up the possibility of a meaningful dialogue with China.
© 2023 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Editorial Preface
- Preface
- Western Approach to Chinese Philosophy as a Methodological Problem
- The Other Between. Critical Reflections on François Jullien’s Approach to “Chinese Thought”
- Philosophy Between Interpenetration and Juxtaposition
- The Touch of Kongzi’s Irony and Reflections on Methodology
- Getting to Know Knowing-as as Knowing
- Nothingness and Neutrality
- Western Approach to Chinese Philosophy as a Problem of Cultural Studies
- Reflections on the Methodology of a Cross-Cultural Dialogue Between China and the ‘West’
- Comparative Cultural Hermeneutics as Method
- Transcultural Sublation of Concepts and Objects through the Lens of Adorno and Gongsun Long
- Reading the Zhongyong 中庸 in Times of Cultural Upheaval
- Diverging into the Untranslatable. George Steiner, Paul Ricœur and François Jullien
- Western Approach to Chinese Philosophy as Global Philosophy
- The Need for Global Philosophy
- Global Post-Comparative Philosophy as Just Philosophy
- Global Philosophy: Starting from Philosophical Theorizing
- Who is Afraid of François Jullien? Some Thoughts on the Political and Philosophical Implications of an “Untimely” Thinking
- Revolution, Transformation and the Role of the Subject
- Book Review
- Selbstbesinnung und Gegenläufigkeit. Zu Fabian Heubel: Was ist chinesische Philosophie? Kritische Perspektiven
- Zu Fabian Heubel, Was ist chinesische Philosophie? Kritische Perspektiven, Hamburg: Meiner, 2021
- Bio-Bibliography
- Name Index
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Frontmatter
- Editorial Preface
- Preface
- Western Approach to Chinese Philosophy as a Methodological Problem
- The Other Between. Critical Reflections on François Jullien’s Approach to “Chinese Thought”
- Philosophy Between Interpenetration and Juxtaposition
- The Touch of Kongzi’s Irony and Reflections on Methodology
- Getting to Know Knowing-as as Knowing
- Nothingness and Neutrality
- Western Approach to Chinese Philosophy as a Problem of Cultural Studies
- Reflections on the Methodology of a Cross-Cultural Dialogue Between China and the ‘West’
- Comparative Cultural Hermeneutics as Method
- Transcultural Sublation of Concepts and Objects through the Lens of Adorno and Gongsun Long
- Reading the Zhongyong 中庸 in Times of Cultural Upheaval
- Diverging into the Untranslatable. George Steiner, Paul Ricœur and François Jullien
- Western Approach to Chinese Philosophy as Global Philosophy
- The Need for Global Philosophy
- Global Post-Comparative Philosophy as Just Philosophy
- Global Philosophy: Starting from Philosophical Theorizing
- Who is Afraid of François Jullien? Some Thoughts on the Political and Philosophical Implications of an “Untimely” Thinking
- Revolution, Transformation and the Role of the Subject
- Book Review
- Selbstbesinnung und Gegenläufigkeit. Zu Fabian Heubel: Was ist chinesische Philosophie? Kritische Perspektiven
- Zu Fabian Heubel, Was ist chinesische Philosophie? Kritische Perspektiven, Hamburg: Meiner, 2021
- Bio-Bibliography
- Name Index
