A Philosophical Defense of Culture : Perspectives from Confucianism and Cassirer (Suny series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture)

Xiang, Shuchen

State University of New York Press（2021/06発売）

• 製本 Hardcover:ハードカバー版／ページ数 284 p.
• 言語 ENG
• 商品コード 9781438483191
• DDC分類 306.01

Full Description

Draws on two different but strikingly similar streams in our world tradition to argue for the contemporary philosophical relevance of "culture."

In A Philosophical Defense of Culture, Shuchen Xiang draws on the Confucian philosophy of "culture" and Ernst Cassirer's philosophy of symbolic forms to argue for the importance of "culture" as a philosophic paradigm. A defining ideal of Confucian-Chinese civilization, culture (wen) spans everything from natural patterns and the individual units that make up Chinese writing to literature and other refining vocations of the human being. Wen is thus the soul of Confucian-Chinese philosophy. Similarly, as a philosopher who bridged the classical age of German humanism and postwar modernity, Cassirer implored his and future generations to think of humankind in terms of their culture and to think of the human being as a "symbolic animal." The philosophies of culture of these two traditions, very much compatible, are of urgent relevance to our contemporary epoch. Xiang describes the similarity of their projects by way of their conception of the human being, her relationship to nature, the relationship of human culture to nature, the importance of cultural pluralism, and the role of the arts in human life, as well as the metaphysical frameworks that gave rise to such conceptions. Combining textual exegesis in classical Chinese texts and an exposition of Cassirer's most important insights against the backdrop of post-Kantian philosophy, this book is philosophy written in a cosmopolitan mode, arguing for the contemporary philosophical relevance of "culture" by drawing on and bringing together two different but strikingly similar streams in our world tradition.

Contents

Acknowledgments
Abbreviations

Introduction

1. Humanism and Language: Cassirer and the Xici ()

2. Li Xiang Yi Jin Yi (): Giving (Symbolic) Form to Phenomena

3. Shi Yan Zhi (): Giving (Poetic) Form to Qing ()

4. Wen Yi Zai Dao (): Giving (Linguistic) Form to Dao

5. Zhi You Wen Ye (): Giving (Human) Form to the Self

6. Wu Yi Wu Wen (): Organic Harmony

Conclusion

Appendix 1: Definitions of Wen

Appendix 2: A Brief History of Wen

Appendix 3: Partial Translation of Song Lian's "The Origins of Wen" (Wenyuan)

Glossary
Notes
Works Cited
Index