Liang Shuming’s Concept of Culture: The Chinese Way

The article is devoted to the analysis of the discussions around the theory of cultural interactions by Chinese philosopher Liang Shuming. The teaching was formed in the 1920s in the framework of New Culture Movement and resonated both with contemporaries and nowadays thinkers contemplating global changes. The relevance of the study of Liang Shuming’s ideas on culture is due to its popularity in the culture of modern China. The study aims to identify the starting points that made it possible to form the modern concept of culture with Chinese characteristics. In accordance with the set goal, it was necessary to solve the following tasks: 1) analyze the views of Liang Shuming on the relationship between Western and Chinese cultures; 2) clarify the specifics of Liang Shuming’s conceptual apparatus, considering the key ideas of his book Eastern and Western Cultures and Their Philosophies; 3) identify the features of the interpretation of Liang’s ideas about the role of Chinese culture in various philosophical traditions; 4) describe the key ideas of discussions about the role of Chinese culture in the 1920s; 5) trace the reception of Liang Shuming’s ideas in modern Chinese philosophy. The study is based on the original works of Liang Shuming and their critical reviews from both Europe and the Americas. The methods employed are those of comparative analysis and the hermeneutic approach. Turning to Liang's teachings allowed us to use this specific example to trace the features of the formation of the theory of interaction between Western and Chinese culture in the Chinese version of the philosophy of culture. As a result of the research, new sources on Chinese philosophy of culture are introduced into scientific circulation, allowing us to expand and deepen the interpretation of the problems of the relationship between Western and Chinese cultures and values in the context of the problems posed by Liang Shuming. Their analysis against the backdrop of discussions a century ago shows that the idea of a triune Chinese culture as the future of world civilization remains debatable today. At the same time, the philosophy of the special Chinese way actively absorbs the ideas of dialectical interaction between East and West, which lie in line with Liang’s reasoning about China as a world civilization.

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