Philosophical Reflections on Truth, Goodness, and Beauty from the Perspective of Chinese and Western Cultures

Author: Deng Xiaomang
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2004-01-01
Features: In the history of Chinese academia, there are few eras that can truly be called "new." The most recent new era occurred in the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. This was a time of turbulence and suffering in Chinese history, but it was also an era of intellectual creativity and the emergence of great masters. In the intense collision between Chinese and Western learning, tradition and modernity, not only in the fields of literature, history, and philosophy but also in the realm of science, brilliant ideas and a galaxy of thinkers emerged. This was an era that could rival the Hundred Schools of Thought in pre-Qin China. If this era had lasted for several hundred years, as the pre-Qin era did, Chinese scholars could have created a modern Chinese culture, celebrated by later generations and capable of matching the dominant Western culture. But history does not allow for speculation; the merciless facts of history are that this academic new era ended too soon. Philosophical Reflections on Truth, Goodness, and Beauty in the Context of Chinese and Western Cultures explores issues such as the universality and practicality of moral principles, the relationship between moral cultivation and cognition, and the connection between aesthetic activities, using typical examples from the everyday world to illustrate the life value of ethical principles. This book is part of the series New Perspectives on Morality and Philosophy, edited by Zhao Dunhua. Faced with cultural transformation and moral construction in the 21st century, the series offers interdisciplinary integrated thinking on important issues of the era, including tradition versus modernity, Chinese learning versus Western learning, the sacred versus the secular, science versus life, values versus facts, the individual versus society, human rights versus sovereignty, and justice versus efficiency. The authors explore the meanings of truth, goodness, and beauty by drawing on the philosophical classics of Chinese and Western cultures.