The Contemporary Neo-Confucian Response to Western Philosophy

Contemporary Neo-Confucianism is the third important movement in the history of Confucianism after the Pre-Qin Confucianism and Song-Ming Neo-Confucianism.Only this time the aim of the Confucian thinkers is to revive the Confucian spirit to meet the challenge of Modern Western Philosophy which has gained upper hand in the intellectual competition.Contemporary Neo-Confucianism emerged as a response to May Fourth Movement in which a complete Westernization of Chinese Culture was trumpeted.Zhang Jun-mai(Carsun Chang)initiated the between science and metaphysics. Yet the understanding of Western Philosophy demonstrated on either side of the debate is not deep enough,nor is their critique of Western philosophy very convincing.The second generation Contemporary Neo-Confucianism went through its embryonic stage during the Anti-Japanese War.Although its major figures(Tang Jun-yi and Mou Zong-san) inherited from their Master Xiong Shi-li,who belongs to the first generation,the idea of fully developing xing zhi(original wisdom) and making it the master of liang zhi(measuring wisdom), they nevertheless adopted either Kantian or Hegelian language to express Confucian Spirit.Theirs is an effort to establish the moral and cognitive subjectivity through inner cultivation.Mou and Tang breathed new life into the otherwise languid,implausible and powerless thought about traditional culture at the moment.On New Year's Day in 1958,four scholars(Tang Jun-yi,Mou Zong-san,Xu Fu-guan and Zhang Jun-mai) who had fled to Hong Kong,Taiwan or foreign countries after 1949,signed the famous Manifesto for a Reappraisal of Sinology and Reconstruction of Chinese Culture. By so doing they committed themselves to preserving traditional Chinese Spirit and to making contributions to the whole world.In addition to this,they also made a decision to absorb Western science and democracy in order to improve the knowledge system and political practice of Chinese Culture.Well versed in both Western and Chinese intellectual traditions,the major figures of the third generation,Liu Shu-xian and Du Wei-ming,are able to follow closely the recent development of world culture.They believe that human being and our Mother Earth could persist and thrive only on condition that we view diverse forms of life as different manifestations of one principle,and in due course respect each other's difference while never giving up the hope to reach an agreement and to live in one harmonious world.