Konfuzius Mensch, Macht und Mythos

Wang Jing

Gerd Kaminski

Richard Trappl

ISBN: 978-3-9502606-8-7

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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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