Imprints of the thing in itself : Li Zehou's critique of critical philosophy and the historicization of the transcendental

Kant's concept of the "thing in itself" constitutes a formidable challenge to the project of "(anthropological-)historical ontology" with which the name of Li Zehou has become synonymous. Li's radical reinterpretation of Kant's critical philosophy, which locates the conditions of the possibility of knowledge and experience within historical and social evolution and thus seeks to allow for a form of human self-determination, brings us face to face with the dose relation between the epistemological/ontological and normative dimensions of the notion of the thing in itself. My paper attempts to tease out some of the conceptual presuppositions and repercussions of Li's approach to the thing in itself in the Critique of Critical Philosophy (Pipan zhexue zhi pipan), while locating his reading in the broader context of Kant's transcendentalism

The semantics of wisdom in the philosophy of Tang Junyi : between transformative knowledge and transcendental reflexivity

In this article, I offer a provisional analysis of the philosophical semantics of "wisdom" in the thought of the New Confucian thinker Tang Junyi. I begin by providing some pointers concerning the concept of wisdom in general and situating the discourse on wisdom in comparative philosophy in the context of the later Foucault's and Pierre Hadot's historical investigations into ancient Graeco-Roman philosophy as a mode of spiritual self-cultivation and self-transformation. In the remainder of the paper, I try to describe and think through what Foucault identifies as a "Cartesian moment," in which self-knowledge becomes the ultimate precondition for the ethico-spiritual project of "caring for the self," in Tang's approach of wisdom. In the course of my argument, I outline the complex relation between his vision of a renewed Confucian mode of religious practice on the one hand and his philosophical presuppositions concerning the transcendental status of subjectivity and the reflexivity of consciousness on the other

When spirit in Utter dismemberment finds itself : reflections on new confucian philosophy and the problem of historical discontinuity

In this article I inquire into the question of cultural continuity against the background of the problem of modernity through the medium of the specific case of New Confucian philosophy. I reflect on the import of the concept of "culture" from a historical point of view and investigate how the Hegelian notion of "Spirit" was employed by modern Confucian philosophers such as Mou Zongsan and Tang Junyi as a conceptual strategy in the face of the structural and semantic discontinuities resulting from modernization. I single out the symbolic May Fourth Movement in order to approach Mou's and Tang's attitude towards historical (dis) continuity and point towards the contemporary significance of their philosophical undertaking

„Wenn der Geist in vollkommener Zersplitterung sich selbst findet“. Reflexionen über die neue konfuzianische Philosophie und das Problem der historischen Diskontinuität

In this article I inquire into the question of cultural continuity against the background of the problem of modernity through the medium of the specific case of New Confucian philosophy. I reflect on the import of the concept of “culture” from a historical point of view and investigate how the Hegelian notion of “Spirit” was employed by modern Confucian philosophers such as Mou Zongsan and Tang Junyi as a conceptual strategy in the face of the structural and semantic discontinuities resulting from modernization. I single out the symbolic May Fourth Movement in order to approach Mou’s and Tang’s attitude towards historical (dis)continuity and point towards the contemporary significance of their philosophical undertaking.U radu se razmatra pitanje kulturnog kontinuiteta u kontekstu problema moderniteta kroz medij posebnog slučaja filozofije novog konfucijanizma. Iz historijske perspektive ispituje se uvoz pojma ‘kultura’ te istražuje kako su moderni konfucijanistički filozofi poput Mou Zongsana i Tang Junyija koristili hegelijanski pojam duha kao konceptualnu strategiju suočavajući se sa strukturnim i semantičkim diskontinuitetima koji su nastali modernizacijom. Pri tomu se posebna pažnja posvećuje simboličkom Pokretu četvrtog svibnja kako bi se približilo Mouovim i Tangovim stavovima o povijesnom (dis)kontinuitetu te uputilo na suvremeni značaj njihova filozofskog pothvata.Cet article analyse l’idée de continuité dans le contexte du problème de la modernité à travers le cas particulier de la philosophie du nouveau confucianisme. Il interroge l’introduction du concept de « culture » d’un point de vue historique et analyse la manière dont les philosophes confucianistes modernes comme Mou Zongsan et Tang ont utilisé le concept Hegelien d’esprit en tant que concept stratégique, se confrontant avec les discontinuités structurelles et sémantiques qui sont survenues avec la modernisation. De plus, une attention particulière est consacrée au mouvement du 4-mai dans le but de se rapprocher des positions de Mou et de Tang sur la (dis)continuité historique et d’initier à la signification contemporaine de leurs entreprises philosophiques.In diesem Artikel stelle ich Untersuchungen an über die Frage der kulturellen Kontinuität vor dem Hintergrund des Problems der Modernität durch das Medium des spezifischen Falls des neuen Konfuzianismus. Vom historischen Standpunkt aus befasse mich ich mit der Bedeutung des Begriffs „Kultur“ und untersuche, wie moderne konfuzianische Philosophen wie Mou Zongsan und Tang Junyi die hegelianische Notion des „Geistes“ als konzeptuelle Strategie angewendet haben, und zwar im Lichte der aus der Modernisierung resultierenden strukturellen und semantischen Diskontinuitäten. Dabei würde ich die symbolische Bewegung des vierten Mai herausheben, um an Mous und Tangs Einstellung zur historischen (Dis)kontinuität heranzugehen sowie auf die zeitgenössische Bedeutung ihres philosophischen Unternehmens hinzudeuten

The 'learning of life' : on some motifs in Mou Zongsan’s autobiography at fifty

While the twentieth-century Confucian thinker Mou Zongsan (1909–1995) has left behind one of the most thought-provoking and intensively studied bodies of philosophical writings in modern Chinese intellectual history, his own life and its relation to his philosophy (or “learning”), a theme at the centre of his Autobiography at Fifty from the mid1950s, has so far remained largely unexamined. After some introductory remarks on the context and outlook of the Autobiography, my paper turns to the close relation between Mou’s conception of life and his approach to the “cultural life” of China as a nation. In doing so, I examine the notion of a distinctly Chinese (more precisely, Confucian) “learning of life” in his writing and explore the motif of “life in itself ” running through the Autobiography. I argue that this motif is crucial for gaining a better understanding of Mou’s relation to his teacher Xiong Shili (1885–1968), his own father, the social conditions of his childhood in rural Shandong, as well as his overall approach to subjectivity as a space for articulating socio-political concerns

Onkraj vojskujočih se držav: Prva svetovna vojna in odrešilna kritika modernosti v delu Du Yaquana (1873–1933)

The intellectual impact of the First World War in China is often understood as having led to a disenchantment with the West and a discrediting of the authority of “science”, while at the same time ushering in a renewed sense of cultural as well as national “awakening”. Important developments such as the May Fourth Movement, the rise of Chinese Marxism, and the emergence of modern Confucianism have become integral parts of the narrative surrounding the effects of the “European War” in China, and bear witness to the contested relation between tradition and modernity in twentieth-century Chinese thought. Through a case study of a number of wartime and post-war texts written by the “cultural conservative” thinker and publicist Du Yaquan (1873–1933), this paper tries to draw attention to the complexity and occasional ambiguity of responses to the “Great War” in modern Chinese intellectual history. More specifically, the following pages offer an analysis of Du’s critique of “materialism” in the context of his quest for social freedom and cultural continuity, his enduring commitment to scientific notions of social evolution and political governance, and his approach to the relations among war, the nation-state, the individual, and the international interstate order developed against the background of the First World War.Vpliv prve svetovne vojne naj bi na Kitajskem v intelektualnem smislu pripeljal do razočaranja nad Zahodom in do diskreditacije avtoritete »znanosti«, hkrati pa naj bi povzročil obnovljen občutek kulturnega in narodnega »prebujenja«. Pomembni dogodki, kot so četrtomajsko gibanje, vzpon kitajskega marksizma in pojav modernega konfucijanstva, so postali sestavni deli pripovedi o učinkih »evropske vojne« na Kitajskem ter pričajo o problematičnem odnosu med tradicijo in modernostjo v kitajski misli 20. stoletja. S pomočjo študije primera številnih vojnih in povojnih besedil »kulturno konservativnega« misleca in publicista Du Yaquana (1873–1933) članek poskuša opozoriti na kompleksnost in občasno nejasnost odgovorov na »veliko vojno« v moderni kitajski intelektualni zgodovini. Rečeno natančneje, naslednje strani ponujajo analizo Dujeve kritike »materializma« v kontekstu njegovega iskanja družbene svobode in kulturne kontinuitete, njegove trajne zavezanosti znanstvenim pojmom družbenega razvoja in političnega upravljanja ter njegovega pristopa k odnosom med vojno, nacionalno državo, posameznikom in mednarodnim meddržavnim redom, ki so se vzpostavili v ozadju prve svetovne vojne