Promote exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations through Confucianism facing the world

Promote exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations through Confucianism facing the world

—— Read The Modern Values of Confucian Philosophy

Author: ZANG Fengyu (Dean of school of philosophy, Chinese Min University)

As a conceptual system that has a profound impact on Chinese civilization, Confucianism reflects the Chinese nation's unremitting spiritual pursuit of self-improvement, and has formed a long-term ideological force in the process of more than 2500 years of traveling with the times. In order to deeply explore the modern value of Confucianism and promote Confucian dialogue and civilizational exchanges and mutual learning, over the years, Chinese University and Choi Jong-hyun Academic Institute of South Korea jointly hosted the "International Confucianism Forum", which has received wide attention from famous Confucian scholars at home and abroad and has become a Confucian event with important international influence. Edited by Professor Liu Wei, President of Chinese Min University, and Mr. Park In-kook, Dean of Choi Jong-hyun Academy of Academics in South Korea, "The Modern Values of Confucian Philosophy" (volumes 1-3) presents the most representative research results of the "International Confucianism Forum", reflecting an academic exploration of the creative transformation and innovative development of China's excellent traditional culture, and embodying the cultural characteristics of Confucianism that are constantly changing.

First of all, the book has selected 89 of the about 1300 papers published at the past 14 forums and translated them into English, which shows the frontier issues and authentic spirit of Confucianism in a more concentrated way. In order to reflect the general situation of Confucian research today as much as possible, the book adopts the principle that each Confucian researcher is limited to one representative work, and the best works that can best reflect the theme of each forum are concentrated. These articles embody the problem awareness of Confucian research, reflect the many fields of innovative development of Confucianism, and reveal various problems faced by the creative transformation of Confucianism. From this, we can see the moral function, mental wisdom and feelings of joining the world, and with the text interpretation and academic exploration of "learning from the past" in the book, we can better understand the unique value of Confucianism in settling oneself, humanistic indoctrination and social governance.

An overview of the main contents of the 89 selected articles in the book shows the academic vitality and dissemination power of Confucianism, and its spiritual pursuit of knowing one's destiny and becoming oneself still profoundly affects people's spiritual world, surpassing oneself in the exchange and mutual learning of civilizations, and contributing to the development of world civilization with an ideological posture of facing the world and embodying the spirit of the times. As President Liu Wei and President Park In-kook said in the preface: "Looking at the development trend of Confucianism, studying the spread and influence of Confucianism in the world, and examining its interaction with the development of world civilization have become the conscious exploration of today's academic circles." The book reflects this conscious exploration of the academic community, of which about 40% are articles by overseas Confucian researchers, which to a certain extent reflects the imprint of Asian scholars' exchanges and exchanges in the field of Confucian studies.

Secondly, the selected articles in the book are oriented to the times and show the practical significance of Confucian research. In the face of complex and profound global problems, we must seek ideological resources in the excellent traditional Chinese cultural classics, including Confucianism, and give them new meanings of the times in inheriting and promoting them. The author of the book strives to argue the connotation of the era of Confucianism, and to explain the reasonable way to resolve the clash of civilizations by returning to the original Confucianism. For example, the famous philosopher Mr. Zhang Liwen in the article "The Modern Values of Confucian Philosophy" explained the confucian state of harmony, indicating that philosophy is seeking a certain way, "although the connotation of the Tao is different, but the general trend of the world, the same way, a hundred worries and consistency", revealing the academic basis for civilization exchanges and mutual learning, complementarity and complementarity, in the context of a cultural dialogue, outlined a beautiful picture of the world's civilizations in harmony and harmony, harmony and love.

The realistic character of Confucianism highlights the moral and pragmatic traditions of China's excellent traditional culture, and the intrinsic value and practical wisdom displayed in it need to be re-recognized. The significance of re-understanding Confucianism can be seen in the article "Confucianism and the Significance of Confucianism in the 21st Century" by Haruo Nishihara, former president of Waseda University in Japan, which is included in the book, and Nishihara analyzes the biggest difficulty in re-understanding Confucianism, that is, how the concept of globally standardized rights and freedoms should coexist with the Confucian system of thought. This awareness of the problem and the emphasis on re-understanding Confucianism show that different civilizations should give full play to their respective strengths, realize the innovative development of Confucianism in the 21st century, make it harmonious with modern society, and provide substantive content with the connotation of the times for the development of world civilization.

Third, the book reflects the historical evolution of Confucianism in general, bringing together a colorful picture of Confucian studies in Asia. Confucianism has endured for more than 2,500 years, and has formed ideological creations with different characteristics of the times in different historical periods. The articles included in the book include the interpretation of pre-Qin Confucianism represented by Confucius, Mencius, and Xunzi, the study of Han Dynasty Confucianism represented by Dong Zhongshu, the interpretation of Song Ming theory represented by Ercheng, Zhu Xi, Lu Jiuyuan, and Wang Yangming, and the analysis of modern Neo-Confucianism. The selected articles in the book cover the inherent dimensions and practical characteristics of Confucianism, the way of Confucianism and the spirit of transcendence, the ideological tradition and future development of Confucianism, etc., highlighting the rich connotation of Confucianism.

It is worth mentioning that as a selection of representative achievements of the "International Confucianism Forum", the book can be described as a microcosm of the Dialogue of Confucianism in Asia. These include new theories of Korean Confucianism, Japanese Confucianism, and Vietnamese Confucianism, as well as Confucian studies from a comparative perspective, from which the diverse perspectives of Interpreting Confucianism can be seen. In the process of the overseas dissemination of Chinese culture and the Chinese dissemination of overseas culture, Confucianism, as an important part of Chinese culture, has gone to the world and has continuously shown the charm of the times of Chinese culture to the world. It can be said that the development process of Confucianism embodies a unique pattern of the relationship between tradition and modernity, realizes cultural re-creation on the basis of integrating tradition, and reflects the consciousness of promoting the transformation of modern civilization with innovative development of Confucianism.

Finally, the selected articles in the book embody the characteristics of using the past for the present and learning from the past, revealing why Confucianism has become the cultural gene of the Chinese nation, and making new contributions to the development of the times and the dialogue of civilizations. Looking at the evolution of Chinese philosophy, it can be seen that Confucianism and its cultural grand view formed by interacting with and stirring with the legalists, Taoists, Mojia, peasants, soldiers and other schools of thought in the process of formation and development have rich ideological nourishment for the spiritual world of Chinese, and the cultural genes thus formed are the unique spiritual identity of the Chinese nation. The combination of Marxism with the excellent traditional Chinese culture, including Confucianism, has enabled Confucianism to have a scientific and rational spirit and the character of the times, move from history to the future, and better face the practical problems of our times.

The character of Confucianism and the traditional participation of the meeting has important contemporary value, and the promotion of mutual understanding and integration of different cultures through Confucian dialogue is conducive to resolving the clash of civilizations and contributing unique value to the creation of a new form of human civilization. To re-understand Confucianism under the conditions of the new era, we should explore the sense of justice and community advocated by Confucianism, explore the self-transcendence of Confucianism in the process of modernization and its practical significance for resisting the crisis of modernity, realize the reasonable proposition that Neo-Confucianism transcends the crisis of modernity, and then form a new civilization concept and new values. This opens a new perspective for understanding the transformation of modern civilization and repositions the modern value of Confucianism in the history of Chinese civilization and the history of world civilization, which is the most important academic enlightenment for us in this book.

Guangming Daily ( 2022.04.04 06 edition)

Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily