Multicultural Modernity: From the 9/11 Disaster to Wang Hui's Discourse on Chinese Modernity

Author: Wu Guanjun
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-12-01
Features: The appendix at the end of the book was added on the night before it was published, in the form of Q&A, summarizing the author's reflections on plural modernity and the Kantian stance of the writer. Readers who are not fond of normative texts at the beginning can start with this part at the end of the book. In Chapters 1 and 2, the author will discuss the two normative connotations of plural modernity, respectively. Chapter 1 primarily provides a comprehensive theoretical response to the "liberalism-new left-wing" debate in China's intellectual circles and the respective rationales behind them by tracing the Enlightenment heritage of the Kantian tradition. Chapter 2 attempts to normatively elaborate a Kantian cultural democratic perspective against the suffocating backdrop of the "9·11" disaster. Subsequently, the author responds to Wang Hui's arguments on Chinese modernity by clarifying the historical construction of plural modernity (Chapter 3), challenges Wang Hui's critique of liberal rights by upholding fundamental rights (Chapter 4), and criticizes Wang Hui's views on issues such as homogenization, authenticity, cultural identity, and recognition struggles using cultural democracy (Chapter 5). The appendix at the end of the book was added on the night before it was published, in the form of Q&A, summarizing the author's reflections on plural modernity and the writer's Kantian stance. Readers who are not fond of normative texts at the beginning can start with this part at the end of the book.