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Wien, 2013
Berichte des Osterreichischen lnstituts flir China- und Slidostasienforschung Nr.: 66
Materialien der gleichnamigen Konferenz vom 04. und 05. Dezember 2012
Veranstalter: Das Osterreichische Institut fur China- und Slidostasienforschung und das
Konfuzius Institut an der Universitat Wien in Kooperation mit dem BMJ, dem BMeiA,
der OGCF und der Song Qingling Gesellschaft Osterreich
Die Drucklegung wurde unterstlitzt durch das BMJ und das BmeiA
Grafik: Elisabeth Truxa
Modern Confucianism and the Chinese Theories of
Modernization
Jana S. Rošker·
Abstract:
The last decades witnessed a number of important reversals of what we previously thought to be basic trends in hi story. The so-cal led Confucian
revival (Contemporary or Modern Confucianism, ~fi~) doubtless
belongs to such reversals. For almost a century, Confucianism has
been condemned to the "dustbin" of history as an ideology rendered
defunct by Chinese progress toward modernity. The philosophical current of Modern Confucianism was mainly developed during the 201h
Century in Taiwan and Hong Kong. Beginning in the early eighties,
Contemporary Modern Confucianism also began to reappear in the
mainland China as one of the most important ideological concerns.
It stili forms the most influential and important stream of thought in contemporary Chinese theory. This current is distinguished by a
comprehensive attempt to revitalize traditional (particularly Confucian
and Neo-Confucian) thought by means of new influences borrowed or
derived from Western systems. It is defined by a search for synthesis
between Western and Chinese traditional thought, aiming to elaborate
a new system of ideas and values, suitable to resolve social and political problems of the modern, globalized world. Due to the fact that in
Western (Especially in European) academic circles, there is stili very
little known about this stream of thought, the present article aims to introduce some of the specific features, as well as the general impact
of this stream of thought; it will furthermore try to interpolate the
contemporary Modern Confucian discourse into the methodological
and essential framework of the present-day world philosophy.
* Prof. Jana S. Rošker, PhD, Professor of Sinology and Head of the Department of Asian and African Studies, Faculty of Arts, Ljubljana University
21
Keywords: Modern Confucianism, Chinese modernity, modernization, Chinese philosophy, Asian values
1. Introduction
At the edge of the 21 51 century, Asian societies redrew the map of
progress, since the ba lance of economic (and increasingly also political),
power is shifting from the Euro-American to the Asian regions. This shift is confronting us with several problems that are mostly connected
with various transformations of material and ideal patterns of social
and political life. These transformations are not only defining the
development of Asian societies as such, but also strongly influencing international relations on a global level. Strategic solutions for such
problems need to consider broader perspectives in the context of
particular cultural and traditional backgrounds. Our points of view cannot remain limited to economic, social, and ecological issues, but
must also include political and social functions of ideologies. This
means that they also have to take into account cultural conditioned values, representing the axial epistemological grounds on which the
most characteristic and enduring institutions of particular societies rest.
ln Eastern Asian, and especially in Chinese societies, these values have
been represented by the so-called Confucian revival which manifests itself in the Modern Confucian (xinruxue if11~) stream of thought.
For over two decades now, we have been witnessing a remarkable
reversal of Confucianism in the global world. However, in spite of the
fact that there has been a magnificent amount of books and articles on this topic published in Chinese, there is stili a considerable lack of
respective academic work results in Western languages. Especially in
Europe, the Confucian revJval and the consolidation of the so-called "New Asian values" are gaining more and more interest - not only
among sinologists, but also among representatives of various other disciplines in the social studies and humanities.
22
As a major source of social values, Modern Confucian theory assumes
essential significance amidst the proliferation of instrumental rationality
in contemporary China. This neo-conservative current is distinguished
by a multifaceted attempt to revitalize traditional thought by means of
new influences borrowed or derived from Western systems. The current
defines itself with a search for a synthesis between "Western" and
traditional Chinese thought, aiming to elaborate a new system of ideas
and values, suitable for the modern, globalized society. Thus, Modern
Confucian discourses are based on the supposition that Confucian
thought could be amalgamated with capitalistic development. lts
proponents also believe that a renewed form of this traditional Chinese
system of social, political and moral thought could serve as a basis for
endowing modern life with ethical meaning and as a "spiritual salve"
for the alienation which appeared as an undesirable side-effect of
capitalist competition and profit-seeking.
2. Some Methodological Concerns
For European scholars, the understanding of East-Asian cultures is
always linked to the issue of differences in language, tradition, history
and socialization processes. Thus, the interpretation of various aspects
and elements of such cultures also involves the geographic, political
and economic position of the interpreter, as well as that of the object
being interpreted. ln recent years, it has become clear to most people
that "Western epistemology" represents only one of many different
models of human comprehension. ln current intercultural research,
however, it is stili common to project elements of the contents and
forms of discourses which have been overshadowed by the dominant
(Western) academic methodologies, upon the research object. Thus, the
proposed research is following the main methodological principles of
intercultural research, taking into consideration the incommensurability
between different, culturally divergently conditioned paradigms or,
in other words, of theoretical frameworks which arose in differently
formed discourses of various cultural and linguistic environments.
23
Through the lens of intercultural philosophy, the present article examines
the methods by which Modern Confucian philosophers changed the
framework within which traditional Chinese philosophical inquiry has
been carried out. The article investigates this paradigm shift, critically
focusing upon the question whether it has indeed- as has been widely
presupposed in contemporary Sinology - become axiomatic for the
further development of intercultural theoretical syntheses between
Europe and China. The present investigation is namely based upon
the presumption, according to which intercultural research approaches
within the field of modernization theory may elaborate on the existing
national research and thus contribute to joint synthetic development of
cross-cultural theory in the respective research area.
Over the past few decades, Sinology and modern Chinese philosophy
have devoted increasing attention to investigating and comparing the
substantial and methodological assumptions of the so-called "Eastern"
and "Western" traditions. The growing number of studies in this area is
due to, among other things, the increasingly urgent need to clarify the
methodological foundations of the modern theory of science, which
must keep abreast of the technological and political developments
of modern societies. The present article will thus focus upon specific
reactions of Modern Confucian philosophies to modernization. This
approach leads towards establishing or defining a historically consistent,
specifically "Chinese" view of modernity and transformation, which
manifests itself in the spiritually enriched subject, founded on the basis
of new morality of axiological enriched reason.
3. The Historical Backround
ln traditional China, Confucianism served as a state doctrine, based
upon ethical paradigms which were declared to derive directly from
Confucius' thought, as formulated in the 41h Century B.C. ln this respect,
the formal critique of all other ideologies was absolutely logical, due
to their incompatibility with this paradigmatic "truth", while on a
symbolic level the "genuine" teachings of Confucius represented that
24
legal instance which ensured, in the context of traditional culture, the
generally accepted "property" (JE) of social interactions, and especially
the "proper" implementation of government policies. Based on this
view of society, and its ideologies and values system, it appears as
perfectly logical that the educated elite should, during periods of
crisis, seek a solution to social chaos by exploring and correcting the
"implementation" of this ideological foundation of the state.
Although a dogmatism of this kind resembles the ideological functions
of state religions in Western societies, the difference lies in the
absolute pragmatism and utilitarianism of Confucian ethics, while the
consequences of this difference are much more far-reaching than may
first appear. And while it is definitely true that the Confucians did not
permit any critical questioning of the prevailing doctrine in the social
sphere (i.e. in the area to which it actually referred), its neglect of the
metaphysical sphere and the absence of any imperative to prave the
accuracy of its ethical premises with non-social arguments, meant that
Confucianism - as opposed to Christian or lslamic ideal systems - at
least tolerated a certain subjective freedom. ln any case, in China, the
"proper origin" of any essential paradigm stili forms the basis of the
"legitimacy" of any theory. The only difference in this regard between
classical and modern China is that Confucianism was replaced by
Marxist dialectical materialism more than half a century ago.
After representing the central state doctrine and ideological foundation
of traditional Chinese society for two thousand years, beginning in the
19th Century it became clear that Confucianism, at least in its orthodox
traditional form, could no longer serve as an ideal basis for the further
development of modern society. ln the early 20th Century, this criticism
of Confucianism was best exemplified in the May 4th Movement, which
had both a nationalist aspect in its opposition to Japa nese and Western
imperialism, as well as a function of interna! reform in its sweeping
criticism of the ossification and deleterious effects of traditional state
doctrine. However, this period also planted the seeds of so-called
25
Modern Confucianism 01iJT11~)1, which arose as a critical attempt to
revitalize and modernize this fundamental ancient tradition of thought.
This current was distinguished by a comprehensive attempt to revitalize
traditional (particularly Confucian and Neo-Confucian) thought by
means of new influences borrowed or derived from Western systems.
ln this search for synthesis, the spirit of German idealism was especially
important, while certain approaches of the Viennese circle also attracted
a number of exponents of this current. During the first twenty-five years
of the People's Republic this current, at least officially, was reduced
to silence; however, their main concerns continued to be developed
by Taiwanese theorists and, to a certain extent, also by those from
Hong Kong. Over the last two decades, with the explosive economic
liberalization of the People's Republic of China, this current had been
gradually rehabilitated and its tendency to revitalize traditional thought
stili forms one of the main streams of contemporary Chinese theory.
However, the way that has led Confucianism to such a bright and
positive renewal, cannot be regarded as an easy one at all.
For China, the 201h Century was a period of continuous upheaval and
sweeping social change. At the end of the 191h Century, the ancient
"Middle Kingdom" - despite its immense geopolitical dimensions -
found itself on the margins of the modern world, as part of its semi
colonial periphery. While Western culture manifested itself at its most
violent and aggressive in the form of economic and military invasions,
Western philosophy, which entered China in the tra in of Western capital
and its troops, was seen mainly as a challenge. (Cheng, Chung-ying,
2003: 171) This challenge was expressed in the specific language of
modern formallogic and analysis and in the social function of reason as
embodied in modern science and technology, as well as in the Western
idea of the state, law and democracy. At a more technical level, it
also appeared in forms of Cartesian Dualism and their structure of
1 The term Xinruxue *frf\f!Jjl: has sometimes been translated literally as The New Confucianism or as Contemporary Confucianism by some Western authors. To avoid confusing it with the traditional School of Principles (li xue J'!ll.Jll:), generally denoted as Neo-Confucianism or New Con.focianism in Western sources (including the present work), we shall omit the literal translation and apply the most frequently used term, Modern Confucianism.
26
mutually contradictory polarities and in the forma! frame of traditional
European dialectic, as well as in the concepts and categories specific
to the Western history of thought, such as the nations of substance,
objectivity, truth, and so forth. Especially challenging were the
elementary methodological conditions that determined this confusing
set of new, mostly unknown categories and concepts, such as the
demand for evidence or the formally flawless establishment of essential
assumptions and conclusions, explicit argumentation and accurately
formulated definitions.
Despite the need to understand, explore and apply Western ideas
and ideal concatenations, the acceptance of these foreign theories
was essentially a superficial phenomenon and the Chinese tradition
of thought proved to be much more resistant and flexible than first
appeared. Although the sinificated "Marxism- Leninism" that prevailed
in China during the latter half of the 20th Century as the new state
ideology derived from Western theories, social functions continued to
be regulated to a great extent by traditional Confucian concepts.
Modern Confucians viewed modernization mainly asa rationalization of
the world. Asa discourse in which the "signposts" for a rehabilitation of
traditionalism were most clearly expressed, Modern Confucianism can
be considered as originating with the famous Declaration for a renewed
va!uation of Chinese cu/ture asa world heritage (~rpOOQ.}(tt~'St!tJY.A
±'§§), which was published by a group of philosophers from Taiwan
and Hong Kong, on January 1, 1958. The declaration included an anti
communist panegyric of Western-style democracy and affirmed the
importance of patriotism and preserving traditional values. ln defining
the goals and contents of Modern Confucianism, it represented the
basic manifesto of this current. The key under signers of the declaration
were Carsun Chang (Zhang Junmai S&ttltiJ, 1887 - 1969), Mou Zongsan
.$.*= (1909- 1995), Tang Junyi Jl!ftt~J!: (1909- 1978) and Xu Fuguan
t~~- (1903- 1982), who are stili widely regarded as the founders of
Modern Confucianism, understood asa system which provided a more
systematic reinterpretation of traditional Chinese philosophy based
on a profounder and more integral command of the foundations of
27
Western, especially Platonic, Kantian and Hegelian, thought (Bunnin
2002, p. 11).
Because of ideological reasons, Modern Confucianism was reduced to silence for the most of the 20'h Century in the P.R. China. lts main
concerns continued to be developed by Taiwanese theorists and, to
a certain extent, also by those from Hong Kong. ln contrast to the
People's Republic, where until twenty years ago, Confucianism was
regarded as the ideology of a superseded "feudalism", a number of intellectuals living in these societies (both of which were determined by
post-colonia! discourses) began to oppose the increasingly dominant
Westernization of their countries, and started looking mainly to the framework of Confucian thought for alternatives to these developments.
Modern Confucian investigations have been based mostly on the supposition that Confucian thought could be completely amalgamated
with the system of capitalist development. Many of its proponents
also believed that a renewed form of this traditional Chinese system of social, political and moral thought could serve as a basis for
endowing modern life with new ethical meaning and as a spiritual
salve for the alienation which appeared as an undesirable side-effect
of capitalist competition and profit-seeking. Their efforts to revitalize and reconstruct traditional Confucian thought can therefore be seen
as an attempt to counter the dominant ideological trends and preserve
Chinese cultural identity, while also contributing to the development of
philosophical and theoretical dialogue between China and the West.
4. Philosophy
ln order to achieve these aims, these scholars primarily focused upan
ontological problems which had been introduced by Western systems of thought, but elaborated by specific traditional Chinese approaches
and methods. The Modern Confucians believed that questions related to the ultimate reality of the cosmos, the substance of being and
the Absolute determined the meaning of life and were crucial to the
28
establishment of a new value system that has to be compatible with
current social conditions on the one side, but also enable preservation
of integral cultural and personal identities on the other. Ontology as
the philosophical discipline that would provide clear solutions to the problems, faced by the pioneers of the Modern Confucian thought,
beginning with that of Western modernization, and with the conviction
that only through a genuine and clear comprehension of the cosmic substance would modern man be able to find his spiritual home again.
Such a focus upon the ontological questions naturally also implied
the searching for a suitable methodology that could enable them to
carry out an exhaustive analysis and a consistent explanation of their
controversial concept of the immanent transcendence2.
The Modern Confucian quest for a "proper" orientation, i.e. their
searching for new, clearly marked signposts which were seen as pointing the way towards modern culture, was also providing them
basic criteria for solving practical problems in the sphere of politics and
the economy. ln the Modern Confucian contexts, such a framework of
orientations is namely of ultimate importance, for without it, society
would slip into a generalized spiritual malaise, in which the actions
of individuals would be determined by the purely mechanistic laws of technocratic utility.
From the very beginning of their elaborations, the Modern Confucian scholars also focused upon the comprehension and elaboration of
Western thought for the purposes of finding spiritual guidelines for the
modernization in course. ln this way, they hoped to enrich the Chinese
spiritual world and to prevent the processes of spiritual disorder and alienation.
ln otherwords, the pri mary goal was to formulate and to elaborate on the specific reactions of traditional Chinese philosophy to modernization.
This approach is defined by the analysis of traditional Chinese ideas,
2 In Western sources, this method is also called "immanent metaphysics" (Forke), "radical internalism" (Lenk), immanent transcendence (Rošker), etc. ln the Modern Confucian discourses, it is mostly den o ted as neizaichaoyuexing 1*1 :tEJ!iH~t'.:t.
29
comparable to the three crucial concepts of modernization, namely
the concept of subject, the concept of rationality and the concept
of humanism. Modern Confucian philosophers have namely also
attempted to integrate humanity by Self-lntegration of the subject; they
believed that this approach could lead towards establishing or defining
a specifically "Chinese" view of modernity and transformation, which
manifests itself in the spiritually enriched subject, founded on the basis
of new morality of axiological enriched reason.
The focus upon ontological questions can thus be seen as a specific
reaction of traditional Chinese philosophy to modernization. According
to Modern Confucian interpretations, classical Confucianism saw Heaven
or Nature (::R) as the ultimate noumenon, which was transcendental and
represented the elementary entity, creating and changing everything
that exists. ln their view, the Confucian comprehension of being arose
namely mainly from the concept of Heaven/Nature (::R):
")M~PJJ~M~~PJ[2JjJ1M~Uff::frP~? !Wt~ ,::R' mM~~". "Which concept can /ead us to break through existence?
It is the concept of 'Nature"'. (Mou Zongsan 1983, Vol. 29, p. 75)
The Modern Confucian Heaven was also immanent; it presented human
beings with nature ('li), essentially determined by the elementary
Confucian virtue of humanity (1=). However, in their interpretations
of traditional systems, the Modern Confucians went a step further:
in their discourses, human nature ('li) became that potential which
not only formed the moral or spiritual Self, but simultaneously also
transcended the individual's empirical and physiological characteristics.
By acting in accordance with humanity (1=), man could experience
the unification with Heaven/Nature (::RA1'i-), and thus comprehend
the genuine meaning and value of his existence. Their basic approach
was defined by the analysis of traditional Chinese philosophical ideas,
comparable to the three crucial concepts of modernization, namely
the concept of subject, the concept of rationality and the concept of
humanism. According to Modern Confucians, classical Confucianism
(especially the Neo-Confucian philosophy) has elaborated these nations
30
in the categories of the spiritual Self (xingti ttU) in the sense of the self-reflexive will, humanism (ren 1=) in the sense of both, the source
and the end of the development of the individual and the community, as well as the (specifically Chinese) principle of reasonableness (li JI),
avoiding the Western dualism of rationality and feeling.
According to Modern Confucians, the basic feature of the Confucian
worldview was its focus on positive aspects of human life, and the fact that it proceeded from the concept of the subject. They doubtless saw
this positive approach in the repeated Confucian negation of mystical
and rationally incomprehensible aspects of life, which also explained
why all of Confucian metaphysics was imbued with the problem of morality. ln this discourse, ethics and ethical implications transcended
the world of strictly mechanistically structured pragmatics. The search
for possible ways to endow existence with ethical meaning, which
in Western philosophies was most often seen as belonging to the domain of religious studies, remained very much a problem for the
rationality of metaphysics in the context of Confucian thought. From
a Western perspective, this somehow shifted the boundary between
the philosophical and religious ethics that were specifically expressed
in Confucian and Neo-Confucian discourses of subjectivity and social
nature.
Modern Confucian investigations into Daoist philosophy were especially important for their redefinition of the concept of absence (~), which
in both China and the West has been generally and a-critically equated
with the Western idea of nothingness and non- existence:
.. ~~ffff:ff~B<J~IW:, {El. ~lit , ~ ' ž. lUfW~~~Jl{tf:DI~~, -t!?.PJ ~EEJfl"-{OOff:ff~, J3~JM;7FJi::W1J~fJ~B<Jff:ff~, Tfff~JI~· ~Ef<J (practical), QW.~Ef<J;{fff~ ". ''Absence is not of an ontological nature; but once the wisdom
concerning it is complete, it can also imply ontology. But this is not an ontology of the Western type; it is an ontology which
has been defined by practise, and which can therefore be cal/ed
'practical ontology"'. (ibid, p. 93)
31
According to them, ,nothingness' is not an ontological concept, but
a practical concept which ultimately means letting things be. Modern
Confucians concurred that letting things take their own course through
a mental state of ,emptiness and with no attachment' was great
wisdom. Thus, Daoist metaphysics is based on a practical concept
of ,nothingness'. ln this sense, Daoism has a ,practical ontology' or
,practical metaphysics."(Tang, Refeng 2002, p. 331) Analogously,
the Daoist concept you (~) can in no way be equated with being or
existence, since it expresses a mental orientation:
,Being' is not taking something to put into empty ,nothingness:· it is the directing of mental states. And with ,nothingness' and ,being', we can understand ,dao' ... (ibid)
5. Tradition and Modernity
Modernity is a term which constitutes a sort of subtle destruction, not
only of traditional cultures, but also of the so-called creative nucleus of
cultures (Ricoeur 1998: 279), i.e., the nucleus on the basis of which we
interpret life, and which could also be called the ethical and mythical
nucleus of life. An important consequence of the present trans
nationalization of the capital may also be the fact that, for the first time
in the history of capitalism, the capitalist mode of production appears
as an authentically global abstraction, divorced from its historically
specific origins in Europe. ln other words, the narrative of capitalism is
no longer a narrative of the history of Europe. For the first time, non
European capital ist societies are making their own claims on the history
of capitalism and the history of modernization.
Marx and other classical theorists of modernity more typically assumed,
rather than trying to explain, the imperviousness of traditional Chinese
culture to modernization:
"The bourgeoisie, by the rapid improvement of all instruments of production. by the immense/y facilitated means of commu-
32
nication, draws all nations, even the most barbarian, into
civilization. The cheap prices of its commodities are the heavy arti/lery with which it batters dawn all Chinese walls, with which it forces the barbarians' intensely obstinate hatred of foreigners to capitulate." (Marx & Engels 2010, p.36).
While the Maoist historiography relegated Confucianism to the past,
most of the Western modernization theories also implied the necessity
of abandoning Confucianism if China were ever to develop a dynamic
modern society. The philosophers of the new Modern Confucianism, on the other hand, were engaged in efforts to find some reconciliation
between "Western" and "Chinese" values, out of which would emerge
a theoretical model of modernization that cannot be equated with
"Western ization ".
Based upan Max Weber's argument that the Protestant ethic was extremely useful in promoting the rise and the spread of modernization,
the proposed research will critically examine the notion that has
gradually emerged in the last two decades in Taiwan, that societies
based upan the Confucian ethic may in many ways be superior to the
West in the pursuit of industrialization, affluence and modernization. Weber also wrote extensively on Asia, especially China and lndia,
concluding that Asian cultural and philosophical or religious traditions
were deeply uncongenial to modernization.
"Confucianism, we have seen, was (in intent) a rational ethic
which reduced tension with the world to an absolute minimum. Completely absent in Confucian ethic [sic} was any tension
between nature and deity, between ethical demand and human shortcoming, consciousness of sin and need for salvation, conduct on earth and compensation in the beyond, religious duty and sociopolitica/ reality. Hence, there was no leverage for
influencing conduct through inner forces freed of tradition and convention." (Weber 1989, p. 227)
33
ln contrast to such biased and not well-grounded viewpoints, the
philosophers of the new Modern Confucianism were engaged in efforts to find some reconciliation between "Western" and "East Asian" values, out of which would emerge a theoretical model of modernization that
cannot be equated with "Westernization". Since Modern Confucians
viewed modernization mainly as a rationalization of the world, their
works reflect the special relationship that has been mainly elaborated
in the specific circumstances of modern Asian societies, namely the
relation between the new Confucian cultures and the rapid emergence of a super-industrial world economy. Thus, their discourses are based
upon the notion that societies based upon the Confucian ethic may in
many ways be superior to the West in the pursuit of industrialization, affluence and modernization. Let us briefly examine the question
about the main elements that provide the amalgamation of traditional
East Asian values into the framework of capitalistic ideologies. These
elements, which have been thoroughly pointed out by most of the
Modern Confucian theoreticians, are:
• The hierarchic structure of the society;
• Obedience to the formal authority; and • ldentification with the social group of which the individual is part,
beginning with family and ending with the enterprise in which he/
she works.
The typical values that determine "Modern Confucian" societies that
were meticulously elaborated in the works of Modern Confucian
philosophers and shall be viewed against the background of the specifically Chinese mode of modernization are summarized below:
• High evaluation of education
• Priority of social over individual interests • Emphasis on harmonious human relations (not only in the sense
of a strict hierarchical structure, but also in the sense of mutual
complementarity) • Positive attitude to the affairs of this world
• Sustained lifestyle of discipline and self-cultivation
34
• Not only respect for authority, but also mutual respect • Concern for stable family and community life.
6. Conclusion
The main tasks of Modern Confucianism are not only connected to
the issue of evolving new contemporary values from the Confucian tradition, but also to the fact that this tradition as such has to be
adapted to fit into the axiological framework of modern values.
Stili, the "conspiracy theory" which presupposes a massive Western
(especially American) support for the stream of Contemporary modern Confucianism (Dirlik1995:270), seems to be exaggerated. We must
namely not forget, that one of the main declarative goals of Modern
Confucianism was the creation of syntheses between Western and
traditional Chinese thought on the one side, and introduction and
explanation of the specific features of traditional theoretical and
methodological foundations of Chinese philosophy to the Western
world on the other.
Proceeding from the notion of the so-called "vacuum of values (vr {1[1{.3:':)" that determines the alienation which defines modern postcapitalist societies in the global world, it is also important to analyze
the question whether such an East Asian model is really on its way to
generate a non-individualistic version of modernity, because if so, then
the previously "inevitable" or "inherent" relation between modernity
and individualism would have proven itself to be nothing more than an outcome of specific (i.e. Western) historical circumstances. The Modern
Confucianism movement showed that such a Western-centered
perspective on modernity is no longer valid, because in their works, the representatives of this movement reopen the question about the
relation of modern capitalism and culture in a new way and on a new
level of intercultural philosophical methodology.
35
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