Tradition and Modernity
A Humanist View
Published on 17. June 2009
Book
Hardback
396 pages
978-90-04-16578-6 (ISBN)
Description
The Question for Twentieth-Century China has been the integration of tradition and modernity. In this collection of essays written over a period of some twenty years (1987-2006), Chen Lai reflects on the question in an informative and original way. He reads behind the political slogans and engages with the thought both of Max Weber, Talcott Parsons and Western sociology, and representative Chinese thinkers, notably Feng Youlan and Liang Shuming. While the focus is on China, the book also appeals to anyone interested in this fascinating question of how to modernise whilst retaining the positive values of tradition. Chen Lai's unique and balanced grasp of society marks him out as the foremost thinker in China on this topic today.
Reviews / Votes
"The editors have wisely chosen to lead off the series with a collection of essays by Chen Lai, who is mainland China's most prominent scholar in the history of Confucian philosophy. The translation by Edmund Ryden is excellent, and the translator has added helpful footnotes to explain some of the references for the general reader...I strongly recommend this book for anybody who is interested in the history of twentieth-century Confucianism and what it can offer to China and the world."Daniel Bell, Tsinghua University
"This book is the first comprehensive English-language translation of key academic works by Chen Lai (??) - a leading mainland philosopher and Dean of Tsinghua University's Guoxue Research Institute (???????).[...] Together the chapters provide deep insight into the ways that one of China's key contemporary intellectuals has grappled with the question of how to best utilise China's traditional culture for the nation's modernising aspirations.[...]Edmund Ryden's translator's notes are an important addition to this wonderfully translated volume.[...] Ryden's annotations provide a useful guide.They simultaneously clarify possible "less-known" facts and events, thus ensuring that the book is accessible to the general reader and experts alike."
Selena Dramlic, University of Hong Kong, China Perspectives [Online], December 2011.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Leiden
Netherlands
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 246 mm
Width: 165 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
771 gr
ISBN-13
978-90-04-16578-6 (9789004165786)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Chen Lai, PhD. (Peking University), is a Professor of Philosophy and the director of the Center for Confucian Study and the History of Chinese Philosophy at Peking University. He is one of China's most prominent scholars of the history of Chinese philosophy, is an honorary professor at eleven universities and is a member of the editorial boards of sixteen academic journals.
Edmund Ryden, PhD. (SOAS, London University), translated Key Concepts in Chinese Philosophy (Yale 2002) and the Laozi: Daodejing (Oxford World's Classics 2008). He has also written on the philosophical background to human rights in a Chinese context.
Edmund Ryden, PhD. (SOAS, London University), translated Key Concepts in Chinese Philosophy (Yale 2002) and the Laozi: Daodejing (Oxford World's Classics 2008). He has also written on the philosophical background to human rights in a Chinese context.
Content
Series Editors' Foreword
Translator's Preface
Introduction: The Humanist View
1. Retrospect and Prospect for Contemporary Chinese Thought
2. Resolving the Tension between Tradition and Modernity: Reflections on the May Fourth Cultural Tide
3. The May Fourth Tide and Modernity
4. Radicalism in the Cultural Movement of the 20th Century
5. Modern Chinese Culture and the Difficulties of Confucian Learning
6. Liang Shuming's Early View of Oriental and Western Culture
7. The Establishment and Development of Feng Youlan's View of Culture
8. A Reflection on the New School of Principle and Thoughts on Modernity
9. Confucian Thought and the World of Modern East Asia
10. Confucian Ethics and China's Modernisation
11. East Asian Tradition according to Modernisation Theory
12. A Sense of Predicament and Inter-dependency
13. Liang Shuming and Max Weber on Chinese Culture
14. Values, Authority, Tradition and Chinese Philosophy
15. The Difficulty of Undertaking National Studies Research in the Nineties: The problem of the national studies fever and research into traditional culture
16. The Value and Status of Traditional Chinese Culture
Postscript: Talking of Tradition at the Turn of the Century
Postface to the revised edition
Translator's Preface
Introduction: The Humanist View
1. Retrospect and Prospect for Contemporary Chinese Thought
2. Resolving the Tension between Tradition and Modernity: Reflections on the May Fourth Cultural Tide
3. The May Fourth Tide and Modernity
4. Radicalism in the Cultural Movement of the 20th Century
5. Modern Chinese Culture and the Difficulties of Confucian Learning
6. Liang Shuming's Early View of Oriental and Western Culture
7. The Establishment and Development of Feng Youlan's View of Culture
8. A Reflection on the New School of Principle and Thoughts on Modernity
9. Confucian Thought and the World of Modern East Asia
10. Confucian Ethics and China's Modernisation
11. East Asian Tradition according to Modernisation Theory
12. A Sense of Predicament and Inter-dependency
13. Liang Shuming and Max Weber on Chinese Culture
14. Values, Authority, Tradition and Chinese Philosophy
15. The Difficulty of Undertaking National Studies Research in the Nineties: The problem of the national studies fever and research into traditional culture
16. The Value and Status of Traditional Chinese Culture
Postscript: Talking of Tradition at the Turn of the Century
Postface to the revised edition