On the Kierkegaardian philosophy of culture and its implications in the Chinese and Japanese context (post-1842)

This thesis aims to establish a Kierkegaardian philosophy of culture to address the theoretical problems of modern East Asian philosophy of culture, particularly Chinese New Confucianism and the Kyoto School (represented by Mou Zong-San and Watsuji Tetsuro respectively) who try to formulate their cultural subjectivities for the sake of cultural modernisation. Both schools adopt Hegelian philosophy of culture and therefore inherit the problems of Hegelian dialectics which Kierkegaard criticises. While Kierkegaard himself does not develop a philosophy of culture, this thesis argues that his concepts of culture in terms of the manifestations of passions, community and contemporaneity are useful resources for the formulation of East Asian cultural selves. Firstly, in chapter 1, I argue that there are two tasks of modern East Asian philosophers of culture: how to understand a culture (epistemic task) and how to establish a cultural self (ontological task). Secondly, in chapter 2, I argue that there are three theoretical problems in Mou’s and Watsuji’s Hegelian philosophies of culture, namely, the impossibility of change in cultural value, the lack of empirical method and the neglect of openness of interpretation. Thirdly, in chapter 3, I argue that Kierkegaard’s definition of culture in terms of the manifestations of passions explain East Asian cultural development more consistently than Hegelian dialectics. Fourthly, in chapter 4, I establish a Kierkegaardian philosophy of culture and argue that a cultural self is formulated by the concepts of community and contemporaneity where individuals express their passions according to their free wills. Finally, I argue that Kierkegaardian philosophy of culture fulfils both the ontological and epistemic tasks of East Asian philosophers and solves the theoretical problems they encounter when they adopt Hegelian dialectics

Utopia and Modernity in China

The contradictions of modernisation run through the whole of modern Chinese history. The abundance of manufactured goods being sold in the west attests to China’s industrial revolution, but this capitalist vision of 'utopia' sits uneasily with traditional Chinese values. It is also in conflict with the socialism that has been the bedrock of Chinese society since the foundation of the People’s Republic in 1949. Utopia and Modernity in China examines the conflicts inherent in China's attempt to achieve a 'utopia' by advancing production and technology. Through the lenses of literature, arts, law, the press and the environment, the contributors interrogate the contradictions of modernisation in Chinese society and its fundamental challenges. By unpicking both China's vision of utopia and its realities and the increasing tension between traditional Chinese values and those of the west, this book offers a unique insight into the cultural forces that are part of reshaping today’s China

Cultural China 2021

Cultural China is a unique annual publication for up-to-date, informed and accessible commentary about Chinese and Sinophone languages, cultural practices, politics and production, and their critical analysis. It builds on the University of Westminster’s Contemporary China Centre Blog, providing additional reflective introductory pieces to contextualise each of the seven chapters. The articles in this Review speak to the challenging and eventful year that was 2021 as it unfolded across cultural China. Thematically, they range from health and medicine, environment, food, children and parenting, via film, red culture and calls for action. Many of the articles in this book focus on the People’s Republic of China, but they also draw attention to the multiple Chinese and Sinophone cultural practices that exist within, across, and beyond national borders. The Review is distinctive in its cultural studies-based approach and contributes a much-needed critical perspective from the Humanities to the study of cultural China. It aims to promote interdisciplinary dialogue and debate about the social, cultural, political, and historical dynamics that inform life in cultural China today, offering academics, activists, practitioners, and politicians a key reference with which to situate current events in and relating to cultural China in a wider context

Cultural China 2021

Cultural China is a unique annual publication for up-to-date, informed and accessible commentary about Chinese and Sinophone languages, cultural practices, politics and production, and their critical analysis. It builds on the University of Westminster’s Contemporary China Centre Blog, providing additional reflective introductory pieces to contextualise each of the seven chapters. The articles in this Review speak to the challenging and eventful year that was 2021 as it unfolded across cultural China. Thematically, they range from health and medicine, environment, food, children and parenting, via film, red culture and calls for action. Many of the articles in this book focus on the People’s Republic of China, but they also draw attention to the multiple Chinese and Sinophone cultural practices that exist within, across, and beyond national borders. The Review is distinctive in its cultural studies-based approach and contributes a much-needed critical perspective from the Humanities to the study of cultural China. It aims to promote interdisciplinary dialogue and debate about the social, cultural, political, and historical dynamics that inform life in cultural China today, offering academics, activists, practitioners, and politicians a key reference with which to situate current events in and relating to cultural China in a wider context

The Writer's Art: Tao Yuanqing and the Formation of Modern Chinese Design (1900-1930)

The dissertation examines the history of modern design in early 20th-century China. The emergent field of design looked to replace the specific cultural and historical references of visual art with an international language of geometry and abstraction. However, design practices also, encouraged extracting culturally unique visual forms by looking inward at a nation’s constructed past. The challenge of uniting these dual, and seemingly contradictory, goals was met in a collaborative book cover design project between Lu Xun (1881-1936), China’s most influential modern writer, and Tao Yuanqing (1893-1929), a painter who transformed ancient motifs into a transnational vocabulary of modern design. As the title suggests, the dissertation provides a history of modern Chinese design in four chapters, with the Lu Xun-Tao Yuanqing collaboration at its core. The investigation begins with the moment of culmination, wherein Lu Xun and Tao Yuanqing’s intersubjective dynamic allowed for evocative yet inscrutable book cover designs to be created. In the new medium of design, the writer’s anxiety regarding the inadequacy of language converged with the artist’s desire for ambiguity in art. The critical analysis then moves back to earlier instances of design and examines how the history of design in China was inflected by the World Exposition, Japan, art education, and commercial art. The inquiry finally moves forward to the discussion of Tao Yuanqing’s art and design’s relationship with a range of discursive fields in aesthetics and literary criticism, including modern notions of beauty, childlikeness, empathy, the native soil movement, cosmopolitanism, symbolism, and ambiguity in art. This part reveals how Tao Yuanqing’s innovations ironically endorsed while simultaneously subverting contemporary interpretive efforts.History of Art and Architectur

The Nature of Writing – A Theory of Grapholinguistics [book cover]

Cover illustration: Purgatory: Canto VII – The Rule of the Mountain from A Typographic Dante (2008) by Barrie Tullett (also displayed in Barrie Tullett, Typewriter Art: A Modern Anthology, London: Laurence King Publishing, 2014, p. 167). With kind permission by Barrie Tullett. The text is taken from Dante. The Divine Comedy, translated by Dorothy L. Sayers, Harmondsworth­Middlesex: The Penguin Classics, 1949. On the lower part of the illustration, one can read the concluding verses of the Canto: But now the poet was going on before; “Forward!” said he; “look how the sun doth stand Meridian­high, while on the Western shore Night sets her foot upon Morocco’s strand.

Metafictional anaphora:A comparison of different accounts

I argue that pronominal anaphora across mixed parafictional/ metafictional discourse (e.g. In The Lord of the Rings, Frodoi goes through an immense mental struggle. Hei is an intriguing fictional character! ) poses a problem for a workspace account. I evaluate different possible solutions based on a descriptivist approach, Zalta's logic of abstract objects and Recanati's dot-object theory

History of Philosophy and the Reflective Society

Make believe we are in 2028, attending the 26th World Congress of Philosophy, then the question is: how will philosophers delve into historic texts? Not on paper, but on devices. And each philosophical proposition uttered by any philosopher at any time will not stay on its own. It will instead be co-created by many others. The history of philosophy will be participative, thus contributing to the establishment of a reflective and inclusive society

The sky rained with millet and the ghosts wailed in the night: An anthropological study of Chinese calligraphy.

This thesis accounts for the social power of calligraphy in China. It begins by examining the phenomena of widespread public calligraphy and inscription. I investigate three dimensions of Chinese calligraphy - as written characters, as handwriting and as an art form. I examine both the popular view of writing, and the theological view of calligraphic experts. The main points of my argument are: 1. Handwriting is considered an extension of the body-person (shen), which makes it a suitable candidate for the Chinese love of reading 'signs' from bodily forms. As a result, handwriting is treated as revelatory of the inner self. 2. The process of learning calligraphy as a 'technique of the body' constitutes an important element in Chinese embodiment. The techniques of the brush create the type of body-person that is classified as a literati. 3. One key chapter in the dissertation focuses on Bloch's criticism of Goody's 'literacy thesis' - that better means of writing transmit knowledge more effectively. To show the fallacy of Goody's assumption, Bloch resorts to the common view of ideograms - Chinese written characters are the repository of knowledge, rather than a mere means of communication. However, analysis of material from the fields of linguistics and the modern Chinese script reform shows that Bloch's assumption is a myth. Notwithstanding, it is a myth embraced by the Chinese themselves. In this folk understanding, written characters are indeed believed to contain in themselves profound information. 4. To disenchant Chinese calligraphy, the relationship between writing techniques and magic is analysed. This explains the phenomenon of 'magical' writings by political leaders. Moreover, writing is also the way socio-political power speaks. This has undoubtedly helped to sustain calligraphy's halo. However, the power of calligraphy cannot be truly understood unless one sees calligraphy - a culturally enriched and empowered category of artefact/artwork - as an active social actor with agency of its own