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This workshop will focus on a special phenomenon in the “modern” Chinese intellectual history, namely, the conflicts and dialogue between the Chinese counter-Enlightenment and modernity. In the process of world modernization, the Enlightenment project or mode of thinking played a crucial role. Modern science and technology, market economy, division of labor, bureaucracy and management, rule of law, democracy, ideas of universal human rights and individualism are all inseparable from the Enlightenment rationalism that is deeply rooted in the Western intellectual tradition. A new world view and mode of thinking based on Western rationality, especially that of Enlightenment rationalism, is something that the Chinese have to face in their search for modernity.
The Chinese, however, also have highly developed and sophisticated world views and modes of thinking characterized by Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist traditions. Traditional Chinese thinkers tend to see the notions of time, reality, world order, ethics and the idea of rationality itself in ways almost completely different from the modern Westerners. Therefore, it is natural that the meeting of the two civilizations will create some fundamental conflicts. When the Chinese during the turn of the previous century first met the powerful rational world view from the West, the impact upon them was tremendous. An iconoclast movement that developed based on Western rationalism proclaimed the futility of the entire traditional Chinese world views and modes of thinking as long as they were different from Western rationalism. This is what we usually call the Chinese Enlightenment that blossomed during the May Fourth Period (1915-1927). There were, however, many other intellectuals who tried to criticize the foreign rationality from a traditional perspective or to develop a dialogue between the traditional and Western rationality. Many more Chinese intellectuals, while advocating Western rationalism in their consciousness, were strongly influenced by the non-Enlightenment and counter-Enlightenment elements that they inevitably obtained from their upbringing. The Counter-Enlightenment thought in China, whether conscious or unconscious, reflects a most serious doubt of modernity and the Enlightenment project behind it. Its reaction and dialogue with Enlightenment created some tremendous impact on “modern” Chinese history. It is the intention of this workshop to investigate into the conflicts and dialogues between Chinese Counter-Enlightenment and modernity, so as to know more clearly about not only modern China but also the basic characteristics of both the Chinese and modern Western civilizations.
The programme of the workshop will be announced on www.iias.nl.
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Which Chinese dialect do you speak?
Cantonese
56% [5 Votes]
Mandarin
33% [3 Votes]
Hakka
11% [1 Vote]
Wenzhou
0% [0 Votes]
Other
0% [0 Votes]
Votes: 9
Started: 03/08/2010
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