A Philosophical Defense of Culture : Perspectives From Confucianism and Cassirer

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.ISBN : 9781438483191 Contents Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction Historical Reconstruction of Wen The Contemporary Relevance of Cassirer and Confucianism Existing Literature on Wen Outline of Chapters 1 Humanism and Language: Cassirer and the Xici (系辞) Xici: Humanism and Language (Wen 文) Cassirer: Humanism and Language/Symbol-making Naive Realism versus Symbolic Idealism Six Characteristic Corollaries of Naive Realism From Substance to Function Cassirer’s Account of Functionalism The Six Characteristics in History Holism and Structuralism: Points 1, 2, 3, and 4 Language and Freedom: Points 5 and 6 Cassirer’s Linguistic Turn Nature, Organism, and Ziran (自然) 2 Li Xiang Yi Jin Yi (立象以尽意): Giving (Symbolic) Form to Phenomena Xiang (象) in the Xici Symbols and Reality Xici 2.2 Symbolic Pregnancy Symbolic Pregnancy and Xici 2.2 Tian Ren He Yi (天人合一) and Symbolic Idealism Symbolic Idealism and the Zhongyong (中庸) The Universal and the Particular Goethe’s Archetypal Phenomena (Urphänomene) Language: The Concrete Universal The Linguistic Turn of the Xici 3 Shi Yan Zhi (诗言志): Giving (Poetic) Form to Qing (情) Knowing Others: Shi Yan Zhi (诗言志) Aesthetic Forms and Morality Giving Form to Emotions Yijing (意境): The Benevolent Continuity of Man and Nature The Aesthetic Education of Man Conclusion 4 Wen Yi Zai Dao (文以载道): Giving (Linguistic) Form to Dao The Philosophical Significance of Wen Wen (文), Li (理), and Xiang (象) The Canonization of Wen as the Trigrams The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons (文心雕龙) and “The Origins of Wen” (文原) The Boundedness of Spirit and Form 5 Zhi You Wen Ye (质犹文也): Giving (Human) Form to the Self Wen in the Analects Freedom and Form Ancient Wen Graphs Wen, Bildung, and the Aesthetic Education of Man Cassirer’s Aesthetic Individual In Defense of Culture 6 Wu Yi Wu Wen (物一无文): Organic Harmony Cassirer and “Harmony in Contrariety” between the Symbolic Forms The Dogma of Substance versus (Critical Idealist) Unity as Function Leibniz and Organism Cassirer’s Interpretation of Goethe’s Idealistic Morphology Humboldt and Language Herder and History Needham, Whitehead, and Correlative Cosmology Organicist Thinking in Confucianism The Continuation of Life Harmony and Mutual Responsiveness (ganying 感应) Symbolic Forms for a New Humanity Organic Harmony as an Ethics in Cassirer’s Oeuvre Culture and 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 文原) Glossary Notes Works Cited Index 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.--Provided by publisher 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. We n 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 Machine generated contents note: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