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The philosophical feature of Confucianism and
its position in inter-cultural dialogue: Universalism or non-universalism? |
| ZHANG Xianglong, |
| Department of Philosophy,
Peking University, Beijing 100871, China; |
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Abstract Confucianism is a rather typical non-universalism, even though it does believe that its own doctrines are indeed the ultimate truth, and denies the validity of any higher, universalist meta-standard. Therefore, when facing the contemporary culture intercourse, Confucianism advocates genuine discourse: It rejects any cultural conflict to-the-death, refuses to engage in universalist competition and antagonism, and maintains a mutually-beneficial interaction with other cultures. However, it also adheres to a “free-to-terminate-relations” principle, which implies that any side is free to terminate, at any time, all potential and actual interactions, whenever it feels that its original cultural vitality is threatened. In other words, cultural interactions must only occur when the cultural uniqueness and independence of all participating sides is guaranteed.
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| Keywords
Confucian non-universalism
original ecological culture
“free-to-terminate-relations”
principle in cultural dialogue
alterity (otherness)
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Issue Date: 05 December 2009
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