Contemporary East Asia and the Confucian Revival

Description

The so-called Confucian revival which came to prominence at the end of the twentieth-century, and which is manifested in the philosophical stream of Modern Confucianism, is one of the most significant elements within new Asian modernisation ideologies. By providing new insights into the culturally conditioned structure of Asian societies, this book contributes to the improvement of political, economic and cultural relations between Western and East Asian countries. Most classical Western modernisation theories have assumed that Confucianism would have to be abandoned if East Asia wanted to develop a dynamic, modern society, claiming that traditional Chinese culture was impervious or even inimical to modernisation. Max Weber s well-known thesis that the Protestant ethic was an essential factor in the rise and spread of modernisation represents a sharp contrast to the notion which has gradually emerged over the last two decades in East Asia, and which argues that societies based upon Confucian ethics may, in many ways, be superior to the West in achieving industrialization, affluence and modernisation. In order to examine whether the abovementioned Eurocentric views of modernity are still applicable, this book uses the presumption that modernisation represents a complex process of social transitions which include both universal and culturally conditioned elements as a starting point for its analysis. Table of Contents List of Tables Acknowledgements Editorial: The Confucian Revival and “Different Models of Modernity” • Jana S. Rošker Foreword: Confucianized Rationality: Some Reflections on East Asian, Wisdom,and Science • Bart Dessein Confucian Concepts, Ideas And Ideologies 1 Kangaku, kogaku, kokugaku, rangaku: Reinterpretations of Confucianism in the Nation Building Process in Japan • Luka Culiberg 2 Zhang Taiyan and “National Studies” • Hans Kuehner 3 Xu Fuguan’s Comparison of the Concept you in Zhuangzi’s and Kongzi’s Aesthetics • Téa Sernelj 4 Mou Zongsan’s Negation of the Moral Self: A New Dialectical Model? • Jana S. Rošker Confucius and the World 5 Carving Out a Role for a Confucian China on the World Stage • Jyrki Kallio 6 Peace as Evenness? Reflections on the Peaceful Development Doctrine and Their Classical References • Helena Motoh 7 Confucius in Brazil: An Epistemological (and Historical) Problem • André Bueno 8 Confucian Ideologies in the Modern Japanese State Formation • Nataša Visočnik Confucianism in the People’s Republic of China 9 Weaving Confucianism into the Official Party Discourse: From Hu Jinatao’s “Harmonious Society”, to Xi Jinping’s Communist junzi • Mugur Zlotea 10 In Search of Numbers and Substance: On a Current Confucian Revival in the PRC • Ralph Weber 11 Contending for the Truth: Confucianism in the Contemporary PRC • Dessein Bart Book Review 12 Antigas leituras. Visões da china antiga • Barbara Pihler Ciglič Contributors Index