In this paper I will delve into Li Zehou’s idea that “harmony is higher than justice (hexie gaoyu zhengyi 和諧高於正義)”. Firstly, I will situate this proposal within the context of the contemporary debate ...on harmony and justice in Western and Chinese traditions. The position Li holds generally belongs to those who see justice and harmony as representative of a West-East difference. However, it can be developed to promote a more nuanced understanding. After giving due consideration, brief though it must be, to his argument, I will sketch some of the other major views on the relationship between harmony and justice, providing a critique from Li’s perspective. In the final section I seek to expand on Li’s theory by outlining a more collaborative path for thinking about harmony and justice.
Mahayana, Theravada, ancient, modern? Even at the most basic level, the diversity of Buddhism makes a comprehensive approach daunting. This book is a first step in solving the problem. In ...foregrounding the bodies of practitioners, a solid platform for analysing the philosophy of Buddhism begins to become apparent. Building upon somaesthetics Buddhism is seen for its ameliorative effect, which spans the range of how the mind integrates with the body. This exploration of positive effect spans from dreams to medicine. Beyond the historical side of these questions, a contemporary analysis includes its intersection with art, philosophy, and ethnography.
The present paper deals with Li Zehou’s contributions to the discussions of Marxism in the second half of the 20th century. In Li’s philosophy, Marx’s theories were reshaped, modified, and upgraded ...in a theoretical framework that differed from the original. He agreed with Marx’s presumption that the making and using of tools was the basic material practice, which made human evolution possible. Nevertheless, he saw Marx’s further development of this theory as problematic, because he saw it as being one-sided: progress from the means of production to the relations of production, and then on to the superstructure, only concerned the external developments of the relation between the manufacture and use of tools. At this point, Li was more interested in their internal influences, i.e., in the ways in which the making and use of tools has reshaped the human mind. He was highly sceptical of Marxist economic theories and criticized the crucial concepts elaborated by Marx in his Capital through the lens of Kantian “transcendental illusions”. Proceeding from his combination of Marx and Kant, the present paper will critically analyse some crucial differences between the Marxian idea of the class struggle as a driving force of social progress, and Li’s own version of historical materialism.
Li Zehou believes that human psychology, just like humanness or “human nature”, is not fixed or given, but is rather something characterized by changing developmental forms of human pragmatic reason, ...which is formed over millions of years, and is still continuously accumulating and changing. However, reason alone is by no means something that would absolutely separate humans from their sensuality and thus from other animals. The difference between human beings and animals primarily occurs somewhere else, namely in the very realm of the specifically human social existence, which is defined by “subjectality” (zhutixing 主體性) and includes specific human values. In this context, Li shows that Confucian pragmatic reason is formed and functions within the “emotio-rational formation” (qingli jiegou 情理結構), which is deeply rooted in the human world. It is based on actual human conditions and arises from human social emotionality, transforming these culturally integrated general communal emotions through rites in the process of “condensation of reason” (lixing ningju 理性凝聚) into rational concepts of right and wrong, good and evil. The rationality of these concepts governs the subjective personal feelings of each member of a community; the pragmatic nature of this rationality, however, is tightly linked to and intertwined with human emotions. In the concrete social life, these rational concepts can nevertheless dissolve—through the process of the “melting of reason” (lixing ronghua 理性融化)––in the heart-minds of people and thus become an integral part of individual emotions. This paper aims to posit the Confucian pragmatic reason into the framework of Li Zehou’s ethics and political axiology.
This introduction offers a short account of Li Zehou's philosophical influence in China and abroad. A lexicon is included that briefly explains some of Li's own concepts, mentioned in his text A ...Response to Michael Sandel and Other Matters. Many of Li's writings are drawn on, with a particular focus on explaining his ideas according to how they are employed in his Response.
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Li Zehou sodi med najvplivnejše sodobne kitajske filozofe. V pričujočem članku si bomo podrobneje ogledali globinsko strukturo njegove teorije ter se posvetili analizi in interpretaciji njegovega ...koncepta sedimentacije (jidian 积淀), ki predstavlja osrednji pojem in paradigmatsko osnovo njegove miselnosti. V tem sistemu sedimentacija pomeni specifično vrsto kolektivnega spomina in proces, v katerem se informacije in izkustva v kodirani obliki nalagajo v našo zavest. V tem kontekstu avtorica analizira Li Zehoujeve poskuse izdelave dialektične rešitve protislovja med vsebino in obliko človeškega spomina. Skozi optiko tega pojma, ki ga Li razumeva kot akumulacijo družbeno racionaliziranih, arhetipskih form zaznave in izkušenj, ki so uskladiščene v človeškem spominu, bomo njegovo filozofijo tudi kritično primerjali z nekaterimi podobnimi, četudi ne identičnimi izhodišči moderne zahodne teorije.
The Daodejing has inconsistent editions and versions. There are controversial issues that lie in the theme, the intention, the significance, and the semantic meaning of the Daodejing. This article ...takes “Dao ke dao fei chang Dao” as an anchor to reexamine the different paths to the Dao of the Daodejing. We regard all of the editions and versions as an enrichment of the Daodejing. Drawing on the Chinese exegetics, we obtain two basic meanings of the verb dao (“to speak” and “to follow”), and two basic meanings of the adjective chang (“eternal” and “common”). Based on a philosophical analysis and review of the sinological interpretations, we discriminate three ways of speaking (conceptual way, metaphorical way, and transcendental way), two modes of following (to imitate the Dao and to merge identically with the Dao), and three types of eternal (immutable eternal, constantly changing as eternal, and eternal in the core). By examining different paths to the Dao, we conclude that Laozi’s Dao cannot be expressed conceptually or metaphorically. We must comprehend the Dao in a transcendental way. The Dao constantly changes with a stable core or law but differs from physical law, dialectical logic, and logos in the Western context. People can follow the Dao and become identical to it.
As regards the how-to-live concern in his practical philosophy of subjectality, Li Zehou takes the full-fledged development of human capacity as an alternative to address the issue. Comprising three ...dimensions in terms of free intuition, free will, and free enjoyment, human capacity is claimed to escalate mainly through a trifold aesthetic engagement in the acts of illuminating the true, furnishing the good, and making life worth living through the beautiful. It is at this stage that the whole becoming of human as human will be attainable in light of human subjectality as the acme of human capacity and the ultimate outcome of human fulfillment.
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19.
Confucian Post-Liberalism Carleo III, Robert Anthony
Azijske študije (Spletna izd.),
01/2020, Volume:
8, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Open access
This paper reviews parallel attacks on the ethical basis of liberal principles from within and without that tradition, one the Confucian-Kantian perspective of contemporary philosopher Li Zehou 李澤厚 ...and the other the un-Kantian “post-liberalism” of John Gray. Both reject foundational claims regarding the universality of liberal values and principles while still affirming the universal value of those principles via their practical function in fostering for human flourishing. I point out that Gray’s anti-foundationalist liberalism not only aligns with the Confucian elements of Li Zehou’s theory, but may even be enriched by them.
Li Zehou coins the term “guanxi-ism” (relationalism) to confirm the Confucian self with its two aspects of social relations and independent character, while elaborating the classical Confucian ...notions of individuality, autonomy, and self-realization in his many works, especially in Reading the Analects Today. Li argues that Confucius interprets external ritual as a person’ own internal intention and drive, and as a result elevates social and ethical regulations as personal emotions and the autonomous power of decision. With a certain transformative construction, Li expects that this Confucian project can be efficiently applied in developing humanity and reconstructing the cultural order in today’s world.
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