Ethical Tradition and Modernity: The Problem of Ethical Culture in the Context of Modern China

Abstract

基于当代中国社会的道德文化语境, 本文重新反省了近代百余年来中国现代化进 程中道德文化传统的蝉脱与嬗变, 以及隐含在这一脱变过程中的中国现代性与中国道 德文化传统之间的复杂关系, 推导并论证了这样一个基本学术判断: 即近世中国企图 脱出传统道德文化的自由与保守之两分, 表明了“传统之后”的中国道德文化陷入了 摆脱传统与持守传统的两难纠结, 而最终的结果看似已然超乎“传统之外”, 实则仍 然在“传统之中”, 只不过社会主义新道德以革命性变革的方式, 在近代百年的“诸 神论战”中脱颖而出, 成为现代中国的主流道德文化。然而. 她并非超脱于“传统之 外”的纯粹异物, 而是且只能是中国道德文化传统和中国现代性的新的延展, 仍然是 漫长、深厚、连贯的中国道德文化传统的“变体链”。 关键词: 道德文化 现代性 传统之后 传统之中 传统之外 This paper reexamines the metamorphosis of China’s moral and cultural traditions in the course of modernization over the last hundred years and the complex relationship between Chinese modernity and the moral and cultural traditions latent in this metamorphosis, in the context of contemporary China. We deduce and demonstrate the following basic conclusion: modern China’s attempt at resolving the dichotomy of liberalism and conservatism of moral cultural traditions shows that the country’s post-tradition ethical culture faces the dilemma of whether to hold on to tradition or abandon it. However, the final result may be that modern China is still “within tradition” rather than “outside tradition.” The only difference is that new socialist morality has risen dramatically to prominence out of intellectual debates in the last century and has become the mainstream moral culture of modern China. However, this does not represent something that is purely alien or “outside tradition,” but rather a new stage in the development of Chinese moral tradition and Chinese modernity; it is still part of the chain of transmitted variants in China’s long, profound and continuous moral cultural tradition.