Der Konfuzianismus: Ursprunge-Entwicklungen-Perspektiven (review)

Der Konfuzianismus: Ursprünge—Entwicklungen—Perspektiven contains revised versions of papers presented at a symposium held on April 18 and 19, 1997, at the University of Leipzig. This symposium on the subject of "Confucianism: Origins— Developments—Perspectives" was jointly organized by the Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy of the Academia Sinica, Taipei, and the East Asia Institute of the University of Leipzig. Due to the complexity of the subject, it was decided to limit the range of subject matter to developments within Chinese society. The essays included in this volume are divided into four sections.

The preface by editors Ralf Moritz and Lee Ming-huei (pp. 11-52) serves as an introduction to the essays that follow. From the perspective of social and intellectual history, the editors provide a concise but comprehensive outline of the development of Confucianism as a significant cultural phenomenon over the last two millennia. The diverse contributions to this volume cover an immense variety of thematic and methodological approaches, each presented within the context of historical developments, serving to provide an orientation for general readers as well as trained sinologists.

Considering the enormity of the historical dimensions and the inherently dynamic nature of their subject, the editors raise this question: to what extent it is legitimate to use the term "Confucianism" to define a phenomenon that down through the centuries has undergone such significant changes in the form of its ideological instrumentalization and such tremendous conceptual development? In response to this question, the editors suggest that it is possible to establish minimum criteria for supporting the idea of a conceptual continuity: for example, Confucianism basically claims to have played a determining role in "shaping social and political reality" (p. 11), in demanding a "socially responsible way of life" through the moral cultivation of the individual (p. 14), and in establishing a commonly shared set of normative values oriented toward social and ideological integration.

Thus, Confucianism appears to be a "manifestation as well as a co-creator of a distinctive cultural quality" (p. 52). In the editors' opinion, the examination of the Confucian tradition is therefore crucial to an appropriate understanding of "the structures and functional mechanisms . . . [of a specific] culture," and of "the type of rationality which is characteristic of this culture as well as processes of assimilation and adaptation" (ibid.). Confucian thought continues to prove its vitality within the present-day intellectual discourse on cultural identity that is taking place against the current background of globalization (in mainland China and elsewhere); modern Confucianists maintain a persistent orientation toward what the editors call a "we-community" that is significant in light of the high degree of differentiation and conflict typical of modern civilization. Consequently the authors see (modern) Confucianism as an "appeal to an intercultural dialogue on core values" as well as a "subject of constant academic concern."

The following is a brief description of the central themes that are the focus of the respective essays in this volume.

Section 1, "Origins," begins with an essay by Wolfgang Kubin (pp. 55-63), who uses the concept of the "civilization of memory" (Gedächtniskultur) to deal with a problem of fundamental significance for the entire Confucian tradition: the formation of a collective memory, which is discernible as early as the Lunyu in the concept of xue. The capacity for a social contextualization of the individual is mainly due to xue, the "act of Learning" (p. 61), the essential cultural function of which consists of mediating "memory, community, and order" (p. 63). By putting special emphasis on one of its aspects—emulation/imitation—Kubin sees xue as the "art of assimilation" (Kunst der Aneignung) (p. 59) as well as an important condition for cultural continuity.

Huang Chun-chieh (pp. 64-75), in an essay translated by Thomas Jansen, compares the characteristic features of Chinese and Western hermeneutics by analyzing diverse modes of textual exegesis of the Mengzi as found within...