People's Daily: What is Confucianism after Neo-Confucianism?

Confucianism is an important part of China traditional culture. The great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation will inevitably usher in the prosperity and development of Confucianism. Following the theoretical construction and development of Confucianism during the Anti-Japanese War in the last century, Confucianism, as a national philosophy, should actively face the changes, adjustments and challenges of the times and society, face the new development of the Chinese nation, open up a new dialectical Confucian philosophy that absorbs western culture and carries forward the spirit of the Chinese nation, and give guidance to the universality of the world and mankind from the standpoint of Confucianism.

National rejuvenation and the modern construction of Confucianism

When it comes to the mission of Confucianism, we can't help but look back on the understanding and commitment of Confucian philosophy to the historical mission during the development of the last century.

In a sense, the challenge that China has encountered since modern times is the challenge of modern western culture to China society and culture. The response of Confucianism is also a response to this macro-cultural challenge. In 1930s and 1940s, the response of Confucianism was manifested in the emergence of philosophical systems such as Xiong Shili, Liang Shuming, Ma Yifu and Feng Youlan. These philosophical systems are not a response to a certain western cultural trend of thought, but a response to the impact and challenge of the whole modern western culture. At the same time, they are also the product of the high consciousness of national rejuvenation in this period. The general upsurge of Chinese national rejuvenation consciousness became the fundamental support of Confucian philosophy in this period. In other words, without a strong sense of national rejuvenation in this period, it is impossible to have the modern construction of these Confucian philosophies.

In this development period of Confucian philosophy, Xiong Shili adhered to the original philosophy thought founded by Mencius and established the original mind as an absolute entity according to the principle of justice. This entity is the entity of the universe, so at the same time, a set of cosmology about "change in change" has been established, so his philosophical system is a system that pays attention to the construction of cosmology. Ma Yifu integrated the traditional Confucian classics with Neo-Confucianism, and thought that all Daoism (that is, all disciplines we are talking about today) were unified in the Six Arts. The six arts he talked about are the six classics, so his philosophical system is a system that pays attention to rebuilding classics. Feng Youlan inherited Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism's emphasis on the rational world, and established a rational world in philosophy by absorbing western neo-realism, which is an important part of Confucian philosophy metaphysics. Therefore, Feng Youlan's philosophical system is a philosophical system that pays attention to metaphysical construction. Liang Shuming studied the eastern and western cultural theories in his early years, and then he constantly constructed new philosophy. From 1940s to 1970s, he has been working hard to complete a book called "People's Heart and Life". Liang Shuming believes that psychology is the basis of ethics, so his philosophy system is based on psychology. He Lin, on the other hand, emphasized "taking Confucianism as the body and western learning as the use", or "taking national spirit as the body and western learning as the use", and systematically designed the revival of Confucianism.

The works of the above-mentioned modern Confucian philosophers (also known as neo-Confucianism) show that constructive and new Confucianism appeared in this period. This new Confucian response to the times basically adopted a philosophical approach. In other words, this is an era in which "philosophical response" is the main way of Confucianism. The preparation, elaboration and even construction of these important philosophical thought systems are directly related to the upsurge of national rejuvenation consciousness brought by War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. Because this is an era of rising national consciousness and national rejuvenation consciousness, the reconstruction of national culture and philosophy has also been greatly developed. He Lin expressed this cultural consciousness at that time, and he thought: "The current era of China is an era of national rejuvenation. National rejuvenation is not only the victory of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, but also the freedom, independence and equality of the Chinese nation in international politics. National rejuvenation should be the rejuvenation of national culture in essence. The main trend and fundamental component of the revival of national culture is the revival of Confucianism and the revival of Confucian culture. " "The fate of Confucianism is the same as and inseparable from the future and destiny of the nation and the ups and downs of the nation."

Contemporary "Presence" of Confucianism: Academic Confucianism and Cultural Confucianism

Neo-Confucianism undertakes its own mission of the times in a philosophical way. However, the mission of Confucianism is not limited to "philosophically" responding to the times, but more extensive. In order to illustrate this point, we must understand the existing characteristics and functions of Confucianism in the contemporary era.

The existence of Confucianism does not mean the existence of Confucian philosophers or Confucian philosophical systems. It is a one-sided view that Confucianism only exists with Confucian philosophers. At the most basic level, Confucianism is not only a classic explanation, but also the cultural and psychological structure of China people. The value of Confucianism exists in the people and in the hearts of ordinary people; China people's ethics are still deeply influenced by traditional Confucian ethics. We call Confucianism, which exists in people's minds, "Confucianism that people don't know for daily use", and there is no consciousness. Because it is unconscious, it will be influenced by different times and environments, and it will not be able to express smoothly, and sometimes it will even be distorted.

Contemporary Confucianism has an explicit "presence" in addition to the hidden level that people don't know everyday. It must be emphasized that when we understand the "presence" of Confucianism since the reform and opening up, our concept of Confucianism must be changed. It can't be said that there must be a Confucian philosopher, Confucianism, to be "present". In contemporary China, although there have been no Confucian philosophers like those in 1930s and 1940s for more than 30 years, at this period, I think there are two aspects worthy of attention.

The first aspect is academic Confucianism. In-depth study of traditional Confucianism, grasp the development and evolution of Confucianism, sort out the theoretical structure of Confucianism, and expound various thoughts of Confucianism, including in-depth study of modern neo-Confucianism. This system is called academic Confucianism. After more than 30 years of development, academic Confucianism has become a beautiful landscape, occupying an important position in contemporary China academic circles and having considerable influence.

The second aspect is cultural Confucianism. In the past 30 years, many of China's cultural thoughts and cultural discussions have a direct relationship with Confucianism, such as discussing the relationship between Confucianism and democracy, between Confucianism and human rights, between Confucianism and economic globalization, between Confucianism and modernization, between Confucianism and the clash of civilizations, and between Confucianism and the establishment of a harmonious society. In these discussions, many scholars expounded the positive significance of Confucianism from the standpoint of Confucian culture and discussed the operation mode of Confucianism in modern society. They not only expounded many valuable cultural concepts and thoughts, but also interacted with contemporary ideological trends in many aspects, which played a considerable role in the social and cultural level and ideological circles of contemporary China. These discussions and activities also constitute a "presence" way of Confucianism, which I call cultural Confucianism. In a sense, cultural Confucianism is a manifestation of Confucian philosophy, which plays a critical and guiding role in the daily cultural field of modern society. The existence of philosophy has different forms. Especially in contemporary society, philosophy should break through the traditional concept of pursuing only the philosophical system and pay more attention to the guidance of social culture and daily life, which also applies to Confucianism and Confucian philosophy.

Therefore, it must not be said that there have been no Confucian philosophers for more than 30 years, and Confucianism is a blank. In addition to the hidden forms of existence, we need to understand more diverse forms of Confucianism, so I use academic Confucianism and cultural Confucianism to summarize and express the "presence" of Confucianism in this era. In fact, in this era of social and cultural transformation, compared with the emergence of several abstract philosophical systems, academic Confucianism and cultural Confucianism may play a greater and deeper role in social culture and social thought, and they also constitute the foundation for the future development of Confucianism.

Prospects for the future development of Confucianism

Entering the 2 1 century, the revival of Confucianism is facing the second major historical opportunity. As mentioned earlier, the first great historical opportunity for the development of Confucianism in the past hundred years appeared in the period of War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, which was a period when the awareness of national culture and national rejuvenation rose. At present, with the in-depth development of China's modernization process, people's national cultural self-confidence and cultural consciousness are further enhanced, and the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and Chinese culture presents an unprecedented bright prospect. In this context, the second major historical opportunity for the modern revival of Confucianism has arrived. How Confucianism seizes this opportunity and how Confucian researchers participate in this revival of Confucianism has become a major issue of the times. In my opinion, in addition to the above-mentioned academic Confucianism and cultural Confucianism, there are at least several theoretical topics worthy of attention: rebuilding the national spirit, establishing moral values, laying an ethical order, creating * * * values, enhancing the cohesion of the nation-state, and further enhancing our spiritual civilization, and so on. These aspects are all important ideological and theoretical work involved in reviving Confucianism. Only by consciously participating in the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, combining with the mission of the times of national and national development, and combining with the needs of social and cultural development, can Confucianism open up broad development prospects.

In addition to these important tasks, there is also a central task that should be paid attention to, that is, the reconstruction and development of the Confucian philosophy system. In other words, with the further development of China's modernization, neo-Confucian philosophy should and will appear. It will be the witness of Chinese culture, and it will be rich and colorful. On the basis of traditional Confucianism and modern neo-Confucianism, with the cooperation of academic Confucianism and cultural Confucianism, neo-Confucian philosophy will develop and appear with the revival of China culture and the world. It can be expected that, after experiencing the cultural craze and discussion in the 1980s and the accumulation of sinology craze since the late 1990s, with the revival of the Chinese nation and culture, the emergence of neo-Confucian philosophy is just around the corner.

(The writer is the president of the Chinese Society for the History of Philosophy and the president of the Tsinghua University Institute of China Studies. )