Dredging the Spirit of Chinese and Foreign Humanities

Author: Compiled by the Institute of Philosophy, Beijing Academy of Social Sciences
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-10-01
Features: The book is finally titled The Echoes of Humanistic Spirit in China and the World. This does not mean that humanistic spirit has never been discovered or explored in history, but rather that it has gradually declined in real-life social contexts. The humanistic spirit we commonly refer to is humanism or humanitarianism, which is the same word in English. Chinese translations include humanistic ethics, humanism, and humanitarianism. These translation methods have been used until today, and Chinese people still employ these three expressions to refer to humanism. The book is divided into five parts:
Part 1: The Sources of Humanistic Spirit in China and the World. For the origins of Chinese humanistic spirit, it begins with the religious concepts and ritual-music culture of the Western Zhou Dynasty, demonstrating how they laid the foundation for the formation of Chinese humanistic spirit in the era of the Hundred Schools of Thought. The origins of Western humanistic spirit start with Homer’s epics, providing an in-depth exploration of how this Greek Bible contains all the opportunities for the development of Greek-Western humanitarianism.
Part 2: Buddhist and Daoist Humanistic Spirit. The Buddhist humanistic spirit focuses on how the original Indian Buddhism, with its roots in India, blended with Confucian and Daoist cultures in China, forming a unique Chinese cultural tradition. It systematically reveals the humanistic concerns of original Buddhism, its views on liberation from life, the egalitarianism of Buddhist faith; as well as the worldly Nirvana perspective, theory of Buddha-nature, and Bodhisattva practice of Mahayana Buddhism. The Daoist humanistic spirit first explores the relationship between Daoism and humanism and education. It points out that through Daoist education, society can be transformed into a harmonious world where the Dao prevails, which is the ideal of Daoist humanistic spirit. Further, it delves into Daoism’s views on social order and the meaning of life, revealing the ideals of Daoist humanistic spirit.
Part 3: Western Enlightenment and Humanistic Spirit. The Enlightenment is a reshaping of Western culture, filled with discussions on human nature. The exploration of Western Enlightenment and human nature primarily addresses the following questions: Why were Enlightenment scholars so concerned with human nature? In what sense did the study of human nature become the foundation of other sciences? What characteristics did the human nature as seen by Enlightenment thinkers possess? What impact did it have? The humanistic implications of the scientific revolution in the 16th and 17th centuries are explored from the perspectives of astronomy, physics, biology, scientific methods, and the philosophy of scientific revolution.
Part 4: Eastern Enlightenment and Humanistic Spirit. This part selects Russia and China, two giants of the East, to examine their intellectual journeys in the 19th and 20th centuries. It reveals the clash and fusion of Eastern and Western cultures during the process of Westernization, as well as the trajectories of modern culture in Russia and China, and the unique humanistic spirit of modern people.
Part 5: The Modern Revelation. From a historical perspective, the book turns its focus to the modern era, concentrating on modern humanistic spirit. Starting from the premise of sustainable development, it explores its alignment with humanistic spirit, reflects on anthropocentrism, and proposes the significance of ecological ethics for modern humanistic spirit.