The Confucian revival, which manifests itself in the Modern Confucian current, belongs to the most important streams of thought in contemporary Chinese philosophy. The Rebirth of the Moral Selfi ntroduces this stream of thought by focusing on the second generation Modern Confucians?Mou Zongsan, Tang Junyi, Xu Fuguan and Fang Dongmei. These scholars argue that traditional Confucianism, as a specifically Chinese social, political, and moral system of thought can, if adapted to the modern era, serve as the foundation for an ethically meaningful modern life. In this most timely monograph, Jana S. Rošker is visionary in anticipating the role of Confucianism might serve as a world resource in reshaping a newly emerging cultural order for our own time and place.
COBISS.SI-ID: 59249762
Li Zehou stands among the most influential Chinese philosophers in the post -Mao era. His notion of subjectality (zhutixing) is of paramount importance for current developments in contemporary Chinese philosophy. It belongs to the central concepts in Li's theoretical framework, around which his entire philosophical system is constructed. With his elaboration of this concept, Li expanded the problem of the self in post - revolutionary modernism. The present article analyzes the theoretical bases of this concept, exposes its importance in the scope of contemporary Chinese theory and shows why and how it represents a call for a new humanism. Through a multidimensional comparative perspective, the author also explains why the human subject, which is based upon Li's notion of subjectality, has the potential not only to transform (post)modern alienation into a real “human condition”, that is, into spiritually fulfilled society of autonomous individuals but also to fill up the prevailing vacuum of values.
COBISS.SI-ID: 66184546
The present article provides an introduction to and explanation of several problems, linked to the specific features of the classical Chinese logic. This term refers to ancient discourses that were developed before the arrival of significant external influences and which flourished in China until the first unification of China, during the Qin Dynasty (221 BC). Taking as its premise that logic implies both universal and culturally conditioned elements, the author describes the historical background of Chinese logic, the main schools of Chinese logical thought, the current state of research in this area and the crucial concepts and methods applied in classical Chinese logic. The close link between Chinese logic and the Chinese language is also stressed.
COBISS.SI-ID: 57377634
In the last decades of the 20th century, the revival of traditional Confucianism assumed increasing importance and relevance. The revitalization of its complex philosophical heritage thus became part of the most important theoretical currents in contemporary East Asian societies. Due to its potentially stabilizing social function and compatibility with capitalism, Confucianism is often seen as the Asian equivalent of Max Weber’s “protestant ethic”. In modern sinology, this view is known as the “post-Confucian hypothesis”. The appearance of the “vacuum of values” in modern China and its problematization and connection to the transformation of the structure, role, and function of social knowledge provide a good example of the consequences of explosive social transformation. This also raises the question of whether the Confucian modernization model is indeed capable of generating a non-individualistic version of modernity. Proceeding from this hypothesis, the present paper aims to show that the purported relation between modernity and individualism, which international modernization theories have always viewed as “inevitable” or “intrinsic”, is, in fact, little more than an outcome of Western historical paradigms.
COBISS.SI-ID: 58175330
The present monograph is the first book in the Slovenian language which deals with Chinese art history and thus represents a pioneering work in the field of Chinese art history in Slovenia. It is dedicated to the funerary art of the Han Dynasty (206BC–220AD) and, in particular, to Han tombs with murals, and examines the reflection of the traditional Chinese cosmological system – yin-yang wuxing and Gaitian theories – in the architectural design and iconographic composition of these tombs. The study provides a detailed discussion of the artistic and cosmological connotations of Han grave art, which had a significant impact on the development of cultural, social and ideological (and thus also political) aspects of that period. It analyses the artistic composition of the paintings, which mirrors the ancient Chinese view of the world and the coinciding religious and philosophical ideas that underpinned the structure of the social order of China at that time. Of particular interest is Prof. Vampelj Suhadolnik's refutation of the prevailing thesis in Chinese art history, which attributes a Buddhist connotation to the lotus motif found on tomb ceilings. Through a comparative analysis of visual and textual sources, she demonstrates that the lotus motif is also deeply rooted in the ancient Chinese tradition, and most probably developed from a solar symbol.
COBISS.SI-ID: 287905024
The book explores dilemmas regarding the effects of consumer culture on the secularization of religion. Author finds the key to understanding religion in a consumer society in the so-called popular religiosity, which she analyzes against the socio-economic and political contexts from early modern to contemporary Japanese society. Using various case studies she demonstrates how alongside official religiosity the Japanese pluralist religious field ‘allowed’ for popular religiosity with its worldly interests and practical benefits, which has had a positive catalytic role in the modernization processes. A contemporary counterpoint to such traditional popular religiosity is presented through empirical research conducted at Togenuki JizoŻ - a popular religious site in Tokyo. The street vendors of food and clothing in front of the temple are seen to borrow religious symbols to successfully promote their products, whereas the buying of products embellished with religious symbols (i.e. during the so-called ennichi festivities) may serve as a means of affirming social identities and establishing temporary communal contexts, within which religious practices take place at relatively regular intervals, thus strengthening the beliefs behind the religious symbols.
COBISS.SI-ID: 277940992
The idea of Japan being an ethnically homogenous nation has been widely acknowledged throughout history. As a result, foreigners started to represent a “problem” after the Second World War. Increased number of immigrants in recent years, together with a stronger pressure on the state to recognize the diversity of its society, shifted attention to the concept of “multicultural Japan.” This text explores the emergence of the idea of a “multicultural coexistence”, and focuses on the integration of foreigners in Japan. In the foreground of this endeavour has long been the Korean minority. Another challenge for the Japanese society presents the more recent arrival of a new wave of immigrants, among which are those from South Korea.
COBISS.SI-ID: 40763437
This is the first chapter of a monograph on the topic of mindfulness and education. It gives an overview of traditional Buddhist and modern conceptualisations and applications of mindfulness and then discusses major methodological issues arising from the processes of the cultural de- and re-contextualisation of mindfulness from Buddhist into Western discourse. The focuses in Western mindfulness approaches and research are outlined and linked to broader epistemological questions, stemming from the disjunctures between traditional Buddhist presentations of mindfulness and contemporary Western conceptualisations, identifying the latter as situated within a therapeutic framework and Western constructs of knowledge. This chapter also suggests ways in which the current approaches to, and research on, mindfulness could benefit from appropriate reconnections with the source tradition(s). It suggests that the re-linking of mindfulness with values, ethics, and understanding interconnectedness of all beings, which are at the core of Buddhist discourses, could broaden current Western perceptions and applications of mindfulness programs in education, and add a new lens for exploring current social, environmental and other issues.
COBISS.SI-ID: 63814498
The paper explores the development of Confucian thought in Japan, showing that Confucianism with its key concept of the Way remained the foundation of Japanese intellectual circles while witnessing numerous transformations and reinterpretations. The new nation state built by the Meiji revolutionaries thus in its content became a mixture of various intellectual currents. The Meiji state was a modern, industrial and technologically advanced state indentifying itself with the imperial system and native shinto tradition while being institutionally held together by a firm Confucian ideology. The paper reveals the processes of establishing modern national consciousness through reinterpretation of apparent traditions, the process applicable also to the creation of Slovene nation.
COBISS.SI-ID: 63165026
This paper explores different possible equivalents of the word »peace« in classical and traditional Chinese contexts. It focuses especially on the term an and analyzes it by introducing the notion of ethical spatiality. The analysis of this concept brings forward a particular understanding of the spatial notion of peace on three levels: of a person, of a state and of nature.
COBISS.SI-ID: 1539242180