Contemporary Confucianism in Thought and Action (eBook)

Contents 6
Chapter 1: Reconstituting Confucianism for the Contemporary World 8
1.1 What Is Confucianism? 9
1.2 Confucianism a Religion? 10
1.3 New Confucianism 11
1.4 Confucianism and Religion 13
1.5 Confucianism and Government 14
1.6 Confucianism and the Natural Environment 14
Part I: Confucianism in the Contemporary World of Thought 17
Chapter 2: Some Historical and Methodological Reflections on Ruxue in Contemporary China 18
2.1 Academic Institutionalization and Ruxue 19
2.2 Master Studies 20
2.3 Whose Confucianism? Which Confucianism? 25
2.4 State Versus Cultivation 27
References 29
Chapter 3: From Culture to Cultural Nationalism: A Study of New Confucianism of the 1980s and 1990s 32
3.1 Three Intellectual Currents 35
3.2 Three Generations of New Confucians 37
3.3 Confucian Capitalism 41
References 43
Chapter 4: A Study on Pre-Qin Confucian Scholars’ Environmental Ethics 45
4.1 The “Supreme Virtue of the Creation and Procreation”: Confucian Scholars’ Understanding of Ecosystem in Pre-­Qin China 46
4.2 The Unity of Heaven and Humanity: The Pre-Qin Confucian Scholars’ Philosophical Foundation for Environmental Ethics 50
4.3 Be Benevolent to People and Kind to Creatures: Pre-Qin Confucian Scholars’ Value Judgments in Environmental Ethics 54
4.4 Institutionalizing Li (Rites) and Yue (Music): Pre-Qin Confucian Scholars’ Environmental Protection Strategies 58
References 63
Part II: Confucianism in the Contemporary World of Action 65
Chapter 5: Building a Loho Homeland with Traditional Wisdom 66
5.1 The Loho Homeland Project Revitalized Rural Culture 67
5.2 Loho Homeland Project Rebuilding Rural Society 71
5.3 Loho Homeland Project of Training Rural Social Workers 74
5.4 Loho Homeland Building a Platform for Social Governance 77
Chapter 6: Modernizing Tradition or Restoring Antiquity as Confucian Alternatives: A View from Reading Wedding Rituals in Contemporary China 82
6.1 Contextual Introduction 82
6.2 Official Blessing of Ceremonial Correctness: The Zhang Wedding 84
6.3 Personal Expression of Cosmic Love: The Lei Wedding 92
6.4 Particular and Equal: The Zhu Wedding 96
6.5 Conclusion 101
References 102
Part III: Liang Shuming: Joining the Worlds of Thought and Action 104
Chapter 7: Liang Shuming: A Lifelong Activist 105
Chapter 8: Confucianism as the Religion for Our Present Time: The Religious Dimension of Confucianism in Liang Shuming’s Thought 114
8.1 Confucianism in a Pluralistic Setting 115
8.1.1 Liang’s Three Cultural Orientations 115
8.1.2 Discussion on Pluralism 116
8.2 Confucianism as a Substitute to Conventional Religion 117
8.2.1 Like a Religion and Not a Religion 117
8.2.2 Discussion on Secularization 119
8.3 The Spirit of Confucian Rituals 121
8.3.1 Rituals Without Rituals 121
8.3.2 Discussion About Rituals 122
8.4 Confucian Practice in Individual Life 123
8.4.1 Liang as Listener of His Inner Self 123
8.4.2 Discussion About Spiritual Freedom 125
8.5 Confucian Practice in Communities 126
8.5.1 Liang’s Engagement in Rural Communities 126
8.5.2 Discussion on the Role of Communities 127
8.6 Conclusion 129
References 129
Chapter 9: Liang Shuming’s Conception of Democracy 131
9.1 The Influence of Deweyan Thought on Liang Shuming 132
9.2 Liang Shuming’s Understanding of Deweyan Democracy 134
9.3 The Basic Points of Liang’s Confucian Democracy 137
9.4 Hermeneutic Approaches to Liang’s Confucian Democracy 141
9.5 Conclusion 143
References 144
Chapter 10: Humankind Must Know Itself 145
Reference 154