在30年代主流文化界和知識界繼續熱誠地、全然地追求現代性時，一些現代傾向（modernist）的文化知識份子在電影和其他媒體中更多元地實踐着五四時期菁英知識份子的"全盤反傳統主義"(Totalistic Antitraditionalism)，他們將這種熱情訴諸于積極塑造以新興的知識女性為代表的中國"新女性"身上。 然而，在對電影這樣新興舶來品的媒介使用和對西方一些基本"電影語言"（cinematography）的效仿中，某些源于儒家的中國核心傳統價值和審美觀念，被有意識或無意識地挪用到電影人物形塑和審美韻味的建構中。這樣，不僅傳統經典的"儒家閨秀"藉着當代知識女性的新身份被重新包裝和再現，一些極具中國美學特色的電影處理技巧也在其中雛形漸現。更重要地，傳統閨秀的美學特點解釋了新的受教育女性謂之"新"的原由。本文（1）將從"美德"這一概念的傳承和模糊性入手，追溯禮教、道德之于傳統人物建構的意義和時代困境；（2）通過淺論閨秀人物與儒家美學思想的關係，以梳理多重道德審美的層次，並提煉"節"、"止"、 "制"的傳統美學建構機理；（3）通過提煉的這套可以參照施行的電影分析途徑，分析相關電影並蒐集分析證據；（4）借用銀幕內外的實踐策略來梳理和回應"傳統與現代"不同層次的矛盾衝突、協作重構，最後不僅可以進一步探究以30年代電影人為代表的人物思想矛盾，還可以辨析中國現代性的駁雜深刻之處。 In the 1930s when dominant intellectuals were cordially and overtly aspiring over modernity, a bunch of modernist intellectuals diversely practiced Totalistic Antitraditionalism inherited from MFM (May Fourth Movement) elite, on silver screen and other media. The educated women are both mediated representatives of Chinese "new" women and bearers of modernists' passion and dreams. Nevertheless, while accessing the film (as exotic and "new" medium then) and imitating western cinematography, some traditional core values and aesthetic ideologies rooted in Confucianism are consciously or unconsciously appropriated in constructing characteristic and auratic aesthetics on silver screen. Hence, not only the classic Confucian guixiu has been repacked and represented with new identity as contemporary educated women, but also some Chinese aesthetical patterns have emerged in film. More importantly, the aesthetics embedded in classic guixiu explain why new educated women are representatives of the "new". This paper (1) starts with the inheritance and ambiguity of the concept "meide (virtue)", before deploying how conventional Li (rites) and Daode (moral) contribute to both constructive significance and chronic dilemma of characters. (2) By virtue of analyzing classic guixiu and Confucius aesthetics, it is further enacted how moral aesthetics are enriched with multiple layers. Moreover, a type of constructive mechanism related to abridge (jie), stop (zhi) and restraint (zhi) is generalized. (3) Then, it deduced some framework that could be approached to filmic analysis as well as collecting data. (4) Lastly, the question about "traditional and modern" will be echoed with on and off screen strategic practices, in terms of contradiction, conflict, collaboration and reconstitution on different levels. Thus, not only the rooted dilemma in the 1930s could be revealed by means of analyzing contradictions of filmic people, but also the hybridity, heterogeneous and profundity of Chinese modernity could be further indicated.

My argument is that the Wong Fei-hung film series, Once Upon a Time in China (Tsui Hark, Chapters 1, 2, 3), not only affirms the ideas of Confucianism but also criticizes them. Tsui Hark’s film series express Hong Kong’s tension of selecting eastern tradition and western modernity before it returned to mainland China in 1997, which represents the selection of entirely different values between East and West. Though the film series was made from 1991 to 1993, Hark started considering how to eliminate the uncertainty in selecting ideology after Hong Kong’s return. He provides his answer by combining eastern Confucianism and western modernity to lead Hong Kong to build a more inclusive nationalism. This new nationalism not only transforms tense uncertainty into positive potentiality but also avoids the intense conflict between those who select eastern values and those who select western ones. Tsui Hark's affirmation to Confucianism includes the traditional moral principles which are kindness, righteousness, wisdom, sincerity and “father guides son”. Meanwhile, he affirms the individualism and anti-tradition of modernity. For Hong Kong, Hark's implication is to let them take the Chinese nation as the prerequisite for safeguarding the unification of China and abiding by the leadership of state sovereignty, as well as accepting the traditional Confucian morality. In addition, as a modern city, Hong Kong should continue to carry forward individualism and anti-tradition of modernity to satisfies the individual's reasonable desires and challenge the traditional with creativity. In this thesis, I support this argument by analyzing two aspects of these films: character and genre.

Thesis advisor: David Rasmussen / The debate between political liberalism and liberal perfectionism has taken center stage in contemporary literature on liberal political theory. According to political liberalism, the most sensible thing to do for political philosophy is to apply “the principle of toleration” to itself in order to arrive at a public conception of justice that is independent of controversial moral, philosophical, and religious doctrines. According to liberal perfectionism, basic liberal ideals and principles are compatible with the view that the state should direct citizens to live good or meaningful lives, and discourage them from pursuing bad or worthless ones. Both political liberalism and liberal perfectionism have developed substantial arguments to support their positions, and the debate between them has helped to shape the intellectual landscape of contemporary political philosophy. At the periphery of the mainstream liberal discourse, there has been growing interest in establishing and maintaining at least some liberal and democratic ideals and institutions in the burgeoning and increasingly pluralistic region of East Asia. One of the recent developments has led to sophisticated attempts to bring out the political side of Confucianism, the dominant source of cultural influence in the region. As some Confucian scholars have pointed out, East Asian societies, like their Western counterparts, are under the influence of reasonable pluralism, which diversifies and even divides the population in a region that used to be highly homogeneous. Thus, a plausible political theory and a timely model of democracy for East Asia must reflect this crucial change. This dissertation aims to contribute to both the internal debate in liberalism and the application of political liberalism to the process of democratization in East Asia. In my view, political liberalism offers the most promising vision for liberal democracy, and it can be defended against three perfectionist objections. First, the objection that the political conception of justice cannot be separated from morality in the comprehensive sense will be defused by introducing what I call the public conception of morality. Second, the objection that political liberalism’s asymmetric treatment of the right and the good is problematic will be addressed by defending the distinction between foundational and justificatory disagreements. Third, the objection that Rawls’ inclusion of epistemic elements in the concept of reasonableness necessarily makes political liberalism perfectionist and weakens the political liberal account of respect for persons will be defeated by revising the understanding of epistemic reasonableness. Beyond Rawls’ original intention to limit the scope of political liberalism to only existing and well-ordered liberal democracies, political liberalism has the potential to inspire and contribute to democratic establishment and improvement in East Asia. Specifically, I will first demonstrate that both comprehensive and moderate approaches to political Confucianism suffer from practical and theoretical difficulties. Then, with the support of political liberalism, I will propose a model of democracy that has a multivariate structure for citizens to come to terms with democracy in their own ways, a neutral state to ensure the establishment and stability of democracy, and an active public role for Confucianism to prevent it from being confined to the private sphere. This model represents a more promising future for democracy in East Asia. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2017. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Philosophy.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This study analyzes 21 high and ultra-high-net-worth data points whose entities migrated from mainland China into Southeast Asia, and now, with their descendants, have settled in Singapore. Though removed from China over generations, they still retain a continuum of evolved values that were germinated from Confucian morals, rituals, and values — more popularly recognized as Chineseness. This study investigates these traditions, ethos, and value systems through the lens of philanthropy. The principal results and conclusions are: 1) Due to push and pull factors, millions of Chinese migrants fanned out into the Nanyang (Southeast Asia) from mid-1800s to the late 1900s. The first-generation diasporic Chinese (G1) left China with a sojourner mentality. Hence their early philanthropic action mirrored sojourners’ mindsets and pointed their giving back to China, the motherland. 2) As Chinese diaspora and their ethnic Chinese descendants (G2, G3, G4) eventually settled as nationals into various countries of Southeast Asia, new hybrid Chinese identities emerged. 3) Their Confucian Chinese values were confronted and severely tested – very often remolded and evolved as they assimilated, acculturated, and converged with social norms dictated by local indigenous cultures, and political, social, and economic circumstances of the times. 4) Confucian values — honoring the family name and continuing the ancestral lineage — behest multi-generations to stick together in strength. With self-help and mutual aid philanthropy, they thrived in the Nanyang. Very soon, Chinese diaspora’s economic success propelled them into leadership. As leaders of local communities, their loyalties, generosity, and philanthropic action shifted as new generations, locally born, begin to identify as nationals of these countries and engender gratitude to where they built their wealth. Eventually, generosity to China by follow-on generations pulled back or ceased. 5) In philanthropy, the age-old values of family, ancestry, humility, and benevolence now give younger generations of ethnic Chinese pride and purpose to give outside of the traditional familial lines to create opportunities and transform lives in the communities where they work and live – including public good for the countries where they operate their businesses in Southeast Asia and beyond.

Culture and politics are inseparable. How to realize the cultural factors of Chinese traditional politics and its influence and enlightenment on the contemporary era has been one of the most important issues with great concern of the academic community. Starting from Confucianism, this paper uses qualitative analysis and Marxist theory of cultural criticism to provide an in-depth interpretation of traditional Chinese politics. The main content of the paper is divided into three parts. The first part provides a systematic study of the background of the emergence of Confucian political philosophy in the pre-Qin period. Its main content covers the economic, political, and cultural aspects of the Warring States period. The second part analyzes the values of pre-Qin Confucian political philosophy. This part mainly deals with the theories of heavenly and human nature of three Confucian scholars, Confucius, Mencius, and Xunzi. The third part interprets traditional Chinese politics in the context of Confucianism by focusing on the blood patriarchal culture, the social-based culture, the ethical culture, and the political culture of the sages, respectively. Through a summary of the characteristics and contradictions of traditional Chinese politics, an objective understanding of the emergence, development,...

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This study is a comparative analysis of the rise of Neo-Confucianism in China during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, and the emergence of the school of Kabbalah in France and Spain during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries CE. This comparison is grounded in the observation that the two schools, in spite of their obvious differences, were an outcome of separate reactions to the rising popularity of foreign paradigms. I draw a distinction between synthetic and analytic modes of operation (modalities), arguing they represent contrasting cultural paradigms characterized by divergent cognitive, social, linguistic, and cultural temperaments. I argue that both the classical Chinese and Jewish worldviews conformed to the basic characteristics of the synthetic modality, and that they entered a period of acute crisis as a result of the rising popularity of the analytic Buddhist and Greek philosophical traditions respectively. As I define it, the synthetic worldview is characterized by the affirmation of the body and this-worldly life, an emphasis on ritual and community, cultural particularism, and associative, non-analytical modes of thought. The contrasting analytic worldview stresses individualism, de-contextualization of data, other-worldliness, contemplative spirituality, and universalism. In the context of this project, I develop a methodological framework I call genetic-morphology. This methodology seeks to integrate a synchronic search for cross-cultural patterns with an emphasis on the diachronic evolution of traditions as they change and adapt to new environmental conditions. It also integrates data from diverse academic fields such as religious studies, anthropology, cross-cultural psychology, biology, and systems theory. As such this study offers a gestalt appreciation of cultural systems, their internal dynamic, the symbiotic relationship between their constituent parts, and the function of information in their operation. This dissertation concludes that Kabbalah and Neo-Confucianism can be understood as "defense theologies," or adaptive responses devised to protect their classical synthetic modes of operation from the cultural pressures of analytic paradigms. Kabbalah and Neo-Confucianism were unique in their ability to appropriate powerful features from analytic traditions and subordinate them to native synthetic sensibilities, thereby equipping the Jewish and Chinese traditions with revolutionary theologies that dismantled the challenges of foreign analytic paradigms.

Yes / This paper explores whether MacIntyrean virtue ethics concepts are applicable in non-Western business contexts, specifically in SMEs in Taiwan a country strongly influenced by the Confucian tradition. It also explores what differences exist between different polities in this respect, and specifically interprets observed differences between the Taiwanese study and previous studies conducted in Europe and Asia. Based on case study research, the findings support the generalizability of the MacIntyrean framework. Drawing on the institutional logics perspective and synthesizing this with MacIntyrean concepts, the paper explains the differences between the studies largely by reference to the Confucian tradition operating at both the micro-level within firms and at the macro-level as a means of harmonizing the potentially competing institutional logics to which firms are subject. The recent weakening of this tradition, however, suggests that increased conflict may characterize the future.

Yes / The concept of the self and its relation to moral action is complex and subject to varying interpretations, not only between different academic disciplines but also across time and space. This paper presents empirical evidence from a cross-cultural study on the Buddhist and Confucian notions of self in SMEs in Vietnam and Taiwan. The study employs Hwang’s Mandala Model of the Self, and its extension into Shiah’s non-self-model, to interpret how these two Eastern philosophical representations of the self, the Confucian relational self and Buddhist non-self, can lead to moral action. By demonstrating the strengths of the model, emphasizing how social and cultural influences constrain the individual self and promote the social person leading to moral action, the paper extends understanding of the self with empirical evidence of the mechanisms involved in organizational contexts

La présente étude sur la justice sud-coréenne, passée et présente, cherche à énoncer les termes ou les valeurs qui pourraient guider vers une meilleure compréhension de cette notion. Elle ambitionne d’éclairer la particularité de sa tradition judiciaire qui a connu moult bouleversements et dont la perception actuelle est brouillée. Conceptualisée et institutionnalisée dans sa forme contemporaine sur un moule occidental, la justice s’inscrit dans une tradition juridique singulière et ancienne proprement coréenne. Comparativement à la tradition « légaliste » occidentale la pensée juridique coréenne s’appuie sur une morale tirée du confucianisme. Cette éthique fondée sur le savoir, les vertus et les convenances, va contribuer à façonner une théorie et une pratique de la justice dont l’influence perdure jusqu’à aujourd’hui. Pour découvrir le sens de la justice en Corée du Sud, la première partie cherche à définir l’ensemble des idées qui se rattachent au principe de justice afin d’en définir le « sens » au sens de signification. La deuxième partie traite de la justice en tant qu’institution judiciaire et ambitionne d’en retracer le fil historique afin d’en expliquer le « sens » compris comme la direction et les évolutions que connaissent les différentes formes d’administration de la justice. La troisième partie s’intéresse au sens de la justice en tant que ressenti, c’est-à-dire à la façon dont les Sud-Coréens, perçoivent et se saisissent de la justice au moyen des « sens ». Pour ce faire, c’est la perception de l’idée et de l’image de la justice comprise à la fois comme principe et comme fonction judiciaire qui est étudiée ainsi que sa réception. / This study on the South Korean justice, past and present, seeks to set out the terms or values that could guide towards a better understanding of this concept. It aims to reveal the distinctive aspects of its legal tradition that went through multiple upheavals and whose current perception is blurred.Conceptualized and institutionalized in its contemporary form on a western mold, justice is in itself a unique and ancient Korean legal tradition. Compared to the Western « legalistic » view, traditional Korean legal thought is based on a moral drawn from Confucianism. This ethic based on knowledge, virtue, and etiquette, will help shape a theory and practice of justice whose influence endures to this day.To discover the meanings of justice in South Korea and clarify what justice means and represents through time, the first part attempts to define all the ideas connected with the principle of justice. The second part discuss the judicial institution and aims to trace its historical thread to explain the changes experienced by the different forms of administration of justice. The third part focuses on the feelings of justice. It aims to describe how South Koreans perceive and grasp justice. To do this, it is the perception of the idea and the image of justice understood both as a principle and judicial function that is analyzed, as well as the way this perception is received.