Категория гуманности в китайской культурно-философской традиции

Abstract

In Chinese cultural and philosophic tradition, the most important value is virtue. It is on virtue that building a prosperous society depends, and in Chinese system of values, humanism is the main type of virtue. The Chinese concept of humanism is hugely different from that in the West. This article provides the analysis of some distinctive features of the Chinese category of humanism, and of the meaning of the term humanism (“ren”) according to the Chinese linguistic reality. Man in China is not understood as a free individuality, but rather as a means of achieving public and national goals. In the West, this could be considered a human rights abuse, but according to the Chinese philosophic tradition, a humane society exists where individual interests rank lower than the prosperity of the whole nation. Relationships in that kind of society are built under the principle of strict hierarchy in both public and family relations. At the same time, family is the supreme value in Chinese philosophic tradition. Family is the only place where one can achieve happiness and spiritual self-actualization. However, the strict hierarchy of family relations also relegates individualism and personal fulfillment to the background, with the common weal in the fore. Due to neglect of personal interest as a historically developed trait of the Chinese national character, nationalism, collectivism and self-sacrifice are peculiar for the Chinese nation. The article presents an analysis of some of the most important events in the 20th century history of China in order to prove the above statement.