Deconstruction and Reconstruction of the Onto--A New Interpretation of the History of Japanese Thought

Author: Cheng Chung-ying
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-02-27
Features: The theme of this issue explores the role and status of ontology-hermeneutics in the ideological and cultural transformation of an ethnic group or tradition. This transformation must have both the structure and reconstruction of ontological consciousness. This issue is titled "The Deconstruction and Reconstruction of Onto-Hermeneutics," edited by the author, inviting Han Jun to compile and serve as the executive editor. Han Jun and the author met at the Second International Taoist Conference, where they engaged in fruitful academic exchanges. Later, the author met him in Tokyo, where he deeply appreciated the author's development of ontology-hermeneutics. The author was also interested in Han Jun's research on Japan's modern academic and cultural reform movements, particularly valuing his study of the rise of Japanese classical studies and its impact from the first half of the 18th century to the early 19th century. This research in Japanese academia has long been unresolved, but Han Jun, with his profound foundation in Japanese and extensive knowledge of ancient and medieval Chinese and Chinese thought history, delved into the original works of Ogyū Sorai, Daitō Haruta, and Kaibō Seirō, referencing a vast amount of Japanese and Chinese literature. He wrote a highly regarded doctoral dissertation on the study of Japan's modern Neo-Confucianism, which was first published in Chinese in 2003. In the articles of this issue, we further analyze and highlight the transformation, structure, and reconstruction of the ontological paradigm from the perspective of the emergence of Japanese classical studies and the development of ancient and medieval Confucianism and Legalism in China. This also emphasizes the great importance of methodology and ontology in the transformation and reconstruction of the ontological paradigm, as well as the significance of interpretation based on the ontological paradigm in integrating new social, economic, and cultural changes and establishing a new era of ontological paradigms. Theoretically, it not only demonstrates that ontological consciousness involves the reconstruction of an "effect history" but also clarifies that understanding and interpretation are important pathways for reconstructing social values and norms. However, I also point out that the meaning of ontology is not limited to "effect history"; it has profound implications in ontology, epistemology, and value philosophy. Regarding this point, the author elaborates and discusses it in a special article in this issue.