National Studies as a"Special Spirit"—on Deng Shi and Huang Jie's Views on National Studies,Modern Consciousness and Their Interpretation of Tradition
This article attempts to sort out the origins of Deng Shi and Huang Jie's modern consciousness,and explores the foundation of their views on traditional Chinese learning.The article posits that while Deng Shi and Huang Jie's discourse on traditional scholarship is influenced by social evolution theory and modern Japan,they noticeably differ from Fukuzawa Yukichi's radical critique of Confucian ethical concepts in"An Outline of a Theory of Civilization"in terms of the relationship between people's virtues and wisdom.Deng Shi and Huang Jie use nationalist discourse and a framework of Chinese learning to discuss and interpret traditional scholarship.They are not aim is not to veer towards extreme conservatism or populism,but to propose a set of ideas to transform national thinking and fuse the essence of Chinese and Western academic thought,based on cosmopolitanism and a universal understanding of human spirit.For example,when Deng Shi proposes reflecting on the"mind of those who govern"in both Chinese and Western contexts,he is able to recognize the transformative role of universal values such as"equality"and"freedom"from Western political thought in updating and transforming China's political tradition.Huang Jie refers to"essence of the nation"as a"particular spirit"and"independent thought",aiming to explore the question of how the essence of the nation unfolds as a form of scholarship primarily at the academic level.Firstly,as a representative of national ideology and spirit,the"essence of the nation"requires an independent national sovereignty as an objective condition for its existence.Secondly,from the perspective of social evolution theory,as the"essence"of thought and spirit,it possesses the characteristics of evolution and transformation.When the"essence of the nation"becomes a"spirit"desired by everyone,it can evolve from an idea possessed by one's own people into a universal idea shared by human civilization.If a country cannot provide the basis for"protecting"and"developing"the essence of its nation,there is a risk of losing it or passing it on to another country.Therefore,there is a fundamental interdependent relationship between a nation and its essence,which is summed up as"there can be no national essence without a nation,and a nation cannot be founded without a national essence."
Chinese studiesnationmoralityspirittraditionmodernity
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