Ancient Chinese Philosophy Research Articles

АНТРОПОЛОГИЧЕСКИЕ ИДЕИ В ФИЛОСОФСКОЙ ТРАДИЦИИ ДРЕВНЕГО КИТАЯ

The article analyzes the problem of human nature in the philosophical tradition of Ancient China, starting from the mythological worldview to the prominent representatives of Confucianism - Mencius and Xunzi. It is noted that in ancient Chinese philosophical traditions, man is part of the cosmos, as well as in many ancient Greek teachings. The author makes a comparative analysis of anthropological ideas in ancient Chinese philosophy and in the philosophy of Plato, Aristotle, and European philosophers of the 17th – 18th centuries. Considering human nature in the worldview of Mencius and Xunzi, he shows the distinctive features in their worldview. It is noted that Mencius, when revealing the character of human nature, tended to start with goodness, while Xunzi believed that man is evil by nature. In conclusion, it is concluded that in ancient Chinese philosophy, ultimately, human nature and his destiny depend on Heaven

The Influence of Art Philosophy on Chinese Classical Garden Landscape Design

In the modern design concept, it is necessary to pay attention to what design principles, as well as the current problems in the process of Chinese classical garden landscape design. The root cause is that modern designers do not have enough learning and understanding of art philosophy, which leads to the discussion of art philosophy. Through the analysis of ancient Chinese philosophy, the influence of Confucianism, Zen, Taoism and Buddhism on Chinese classical gardens is sorted out, and the guiding role of art philosophy in Chinese classical garden landscape design is further clarified.

ON THE NATIONAL-CULTURAL SEMANTICS OF THE VALUE ‘YOU SHAN’ (৻ழ) IN CHINESE

The article examines the national-cultural semantics of ‘You Shan’ (৻ழ) in Chinese from the perspective of linguoculturology reflected in etymology, dictionary and periodicals. Authoritative Chinese dictionaries and the main corpora of the Chinese language (the Chinese language corpus of the State Commission on Language and Writing, the BCC corpus, the National press index database) served as the research material. The analysis made it possible to conclude that ‘You Shan’ is a traditional virtue and one of the main socialist values in China. It has rich semantics including such elements as friendship, mutual assistance, auspiciousness, sincerity, etc. The semantic realm of ‘You Shan’ is continuously expanding, from the most elementary relations between people to relations between nations and countries. The subject of ‘You Shan’ can be people and animals, and the applicable objects can be animals, the environment, and even things. ‘You Shan’ plays a positive role in the formation of national or personal image, and promotes close interpersonal relationships and social harmony. However, according to the principle of the ‘golden mean’ in ancient Chinese philosophy, to be too friendly is not advocated. Sometimes, ‘You Shan’ is regarded as a disguise for dominance and personal goals, which is negatively evaluated since sincerity is included in its original meaning.

Zhao Xiaosheng’s Tai Chi:


 The implementation of China Reform and Opening-up policy in 1978 gave birth to the Chinese new wave music, with an idiosyncratic manner of rebelliousness, individuality and innovation that brought a break-through in Chinese new music of the past. In this paper, we focused on a representative piano solo work Tai Chi (1987) by composer Zhao Xiaosheng who explored the ancient Chinese philosophy I Ching and the Tang Dynasty musical form Tang Daqu using Allen Forte’s pitch class set theory. We analyzed how Zhao employed the Western sonata and Chinese Tang Daqu to reflect the yin-yang dualism, based on the composer’s statement in the interview, researchers’ analyses, and authors’ suggestion. By decoding the pitch-class permutations that correspond to the 64 hexagrams of I Ching, the mathematical logic becomes the main way to combine the I Ching with serial music. Nevertheless, the compatibility between musical expression and commentaries of hexagrams is not reflected in the piano solo Tai Chi. Therefore, we discussed the entanglement of a compositional identity formation based on contradicting elements from that of the traditional Chinese musical culture and Western art music, with questions about the accretion and authenticity in the contemporaneity and musicalization of the ancient I Ching. 

Research on the impact of e-commerce platform’s AI resources on seller opportunism: a cultivational governance mechanism

PurposeDrawing on the wisdom of ancient Chinese philosopher Xunzi, this paper aims to present a novel mechanism for governing opportunism, referred to as “cultivational governance.” By examining the role of artificial intelligence (AI) resources possessed by e-commerce platforms, the authors explore how these resources contribute to mitigating seller opportunism. The central hypothesis of this study posits that two distinct types of AI resources, namely, AI technology resources and AI human resources, serve as crucial factors in curbing seller opportunism. Furthermore, the authors propose that platform digital empowerment and value cocreation act as mediating variables linking AI resources to opportunism.Design/methodology/approachBased on the resource-based view and resource orchestration theory, the authors developed a framework and tested it using survey data from sellers. This framework encompasses five key variables: e-commerce platform’s AI technology resources, AI human resources, platform digital empowerment, value cocreation and seller opportunism. Regression analysis was used for data analysis.FindingsThe empirical results validate the effectiveness of cultivational governance mechanisms, as both AI resources effectively suppress seller opportunism through digital empowerment and value cocreation. Specifically, e-commerce platforms’ AI technology resources significantly promote value cocreation and platform digital empowerment, while AI human resources primarily contribute to platform digital empowerment. Although platform digital empowerment encourages value cocreation, its direct impact on reducing seller opportunism was not supported. Notably, value cocreation negatively affects seller opportunism.Originality/valueThe present research mainly contributes to the marketing channel governance literature by introducing a new approach to inhibit opportunism, namely, the cultivational governance mechanism.

The suggestions of ancient Chinese philosophy and medicine for contemporary scientific research, and integrative care.

According to Kelley et al. (2023), BBI Integrative ‘recognises the historical importance of Eastern health practices in the entire field of PNI’ (psychoneuroimmunology). We applaud this editorial innovation and believe that it is an important step in advancing the ability to provide healing to human beings.This article aims to illustrate suggestions for scientific research and integrative care derived from studying the ancient Chinese medicine and philosophy using pathophysiological and clinical examples. It shows how some fundamental categories of ancient Chinese philosophies, such as the yin–yang theory, and healing models, such as yang sheng (nurturing life), can help us understand how the immune system works and where the foundations of health are rooted. It also examines some examples of the yin–yang dialectic in immunology, such as T helper 1 (Th1) circuit control by the same cells that initially produce cytokines (IL-12 and IFN-γ) to activate this circuit and then produce Th2 circuit cytokines (IL-4) to moderate it. In addition, the transformation of regulatory T-cells into inflammatory T-cells (Th17) and the IL-6 dual pro- or anti-inflammatory face, depends on the context. In the first example, yin is present in yang. In the second, the yang is in the yin. Finally, we present an example of the cytokine yin–yang. This article also shows the surprising concordances of ancient Chinese chronobiology with the modern science of circadian rhythms and the unknown connections between organs, such as between the lungs and gut, which has drawn the attention of modern scientific research only recently. Finally, this article highlights the peculiar approach of ancient Chinese medicine to prevention and treatment, called yang sheng, which shows strong concordance with the model proposed by Psychoneuroendocrineimmunology.

A Design Methodology to Maintain Authenticity in Contemporary Restoration & Renovation Projects

The growing instability of present circumstances has raised global anxiety and cognitive crisis. Designers start to doubt and rethink the relationship between space, people, and the future. In the ten wings of Yi (which is also known as I Ching or Book of Changes), ancient Chinese philosophers state that knowing the past is the key to learning about the future. Design plays a big role in the heritage of historical architecture, and the history will always be a critical source for design. In order to maintain authenticity of the space, this research structures the proposal of a new design methodology that will link the target space with the history of the site and set out design schemes, creating catalog of criteria and reviewing the old construction to understand the value of the past in the design practice of restoration and renovation projects.

The Role and Effect of Ancient Chinese Philosophy and Psychology Theory on the Development of Chinese Psychology

At present, the techniques and methodologies of modern psychology that are more used in China are more products of the system of Western countries. This shows from the side that we still have a lot of deficiencies in our understanding and application of our own philosophy and psychology culture, but in certain moments and environmental contexts, we have no way to deny that the substitution of ancient philosophy and psychology from China into our country's national conditions often makes the problem easier to understand and be dealt with. For example, the "Book of Poems", "Zhouyi", "Book of Shang" and other early classical literary and historical chronicles, which clearly record many psychological ideas about human body-mind relationship, self-awareness, group psychology, and individual psychological processes. I think that as Chinese psychologists in the 21st century, we should learn more about the ancient philosophical texts from our country through the comparison and integration of modern western psychology and Western modern and ancient philosophy, and finally summarize the modernized psychological methodology under China's own unique Oriental system. From the perspective of inductance, human beings' ability to sense and detect a large amount of natural information is still insufficient, and it has become a fetters for the prediction of natural disasters such as earthquakes and the broader development of future predictability. Even I personally think that maybe we are blinded by the continuity and universality of science. The development of science and technology depends more on the calculation of the combination of numbers and logic. Although this is reasonable, when more unreasonable things appear, it will make it difficult for humans to get out of the original thinking mode, which leads to this type of thing becoming an eternal unknown in human society.

A Biocultural Dialogue between Thoreau and Taoist Thought: Rethinking Environmental Ethics, Nature, Spirituality and Place

A fundamental question of the 21st century centers around the role and place of humans in their environment. Given the great acceleration of consumptive practices engaged in the 20th century, humans stand on the brink of a 6th extinction event. In order to determine our place and role in our global environment, we need to reflect on where we are and what the future will be—we need to focus on the habits of our “co-inhabitation” of the planet. Given the positive and negative impacts of international and global activities, intercultural dialogues are necessary for the care of the ecology of the planet, and one of the most prescient dialogues is between Eastern and Western world views. While much comparative research has been conducted regarding the connection between American Transcendentalism and Chinese ancient philosophy, relatively little philosophical work has been conducted to demonstrate the connectivity between Henry David Thoreau and Taoism. Yet there are, in fact, profound similarities between the American naturalist and Chinese philosophy, in particular Taoism. This paper aimed to discover and manifest the connection and similarities between the philosophy of Thoreau and the ancient worldview of Taoism. Through this comparative study and intercultural dialogue, we seek to trace historical precedents and intercultural dialogue between American Transcendentalism and ancient Chinese philosophy in order to explore the groundwork for a new vision of environmental awareness in order to promote a better future with a community of co-inhabitants and emphasis on the well-being of all.

Analysis of the Rise and Fall of the Qin Dynasty in Relation to Legalism

This study mainly focuses on how the ancient Chinese philosophy, Legalism, affected the Qin in its warring state and empire periods. This essay will proceed chronologically from how the idea of Legalism emerged in Qin-Shang Yangs law reformation, how it brought Qin to become a glorious state in the warring state period, how it affected Qin to become a centralized empire with the system of prefectures and counties, and finally, how it caused the fall of Qin. Legalism was one of the core reasons why Qin could evolve into the first empire and others could not, but due to its cruelty, it was abandoned by the empire afterward eventually. Legalism was a practical philosophy under some specific circumstances but not always. The core of Legalism is how everyone will be doing things due to their best interest, so there is a need for strict and precise laws is correct. However, the way of processing Legalism in an extreme way was not acceptable under a peace period, and Qin fell to establish cultural recognition of the new empire.

Fengshui

In this article, we will define fengshui as a contemporary hybrid way of thinking with a long history that unfolds from ancient Chinese philosophy and the art of ruling, through Song Neo-Confucianism, to modern Western ecologic interpretations. We will particularly highlight the cosmological and moral ratio of this art in the philosophical thought of Zhu Xi and Cai Yuanding, which we will propose as the possible source of a renovated moral fengshui. After this historical framework, we will present the process of the scientifization of fengshui as a building technology. Therefore, we will put into question this enframing of fengshui as a modern technology through both Heidegger’s lens and Li Zehou’s definition of “proper measure” (du 度). Following this hermeneutical analysis, we will propose jiyi 技藝 (technique-art) as the most suitable definition of fengshui and we will present the ethical dimension behind it (i.e., filial piety towards nature). In the conclusions, we will argue that fengshui is not, properly speaking, an environmental philosophy or an ecologism, since these two concepts are too rooted in Western philosophical culture (i.e., transcendence and the separateness of humans and nature). However, we are convinced that fengshui could fruitfully contribute to a deeper ecological awareness with a Chinese character on both the local and global scales.

Open Letter to President Xi Jinping on the Climate Crisis

Although climate models predict that global heating will prove more devastating for China than for many other countries, and economic models have shown that a transition to a low-carbon economy would strengthen China in the long run, the Chinese leadership has failed to reduce fossil fuel consumption enough to avoid extremes of weather that are devastating the country. Not long after becoming president, Xi Jinping announced a project to ground “socialism with Chinese characteristics” in selected ideas from ancient Chinese philosophy and culture, promoting the agenda through quotations in his speeches from the Chinese classics, and especially Confucian and Daoist thought. These ideas turn out to be perfectly suited for a ‘reframing’ of worldviews that is required for thinking more productively about the climate crisis and developing political measures for dealing with it effectively. However, the Chinese leadership has failed to live up to its inspiring words, and has instead reverted to aggressive and repressive policies that are more in line with Chinese Legalism and Stalinism than with the Confucian, Daoist, and Marxist ideas that Xi Jinping has advocated. This has dealt a severe blow to China’s standing in the world and caused a huge loss of ‘soft power’ accumulated by previous regimes. With the United States in a shambles, the way is open for China to follow through on its promotion of traditional Chinese philosophy and take the lead, for the sake of the long-term well-being of its own people, in tackling the climate crisis—and thereby gain the greatest soft power triumph in history.

The national idea and ideology of personalism as a humanitarian aura of Ukrainianity

The study analyzed the role and significance of the Ukrainian national idea (UNI) and national ideology for the establishment of independence, in particular, for the spiritual victory of Ukrainians in the Russian-Ukrainian war. UNI is considered not only as a response to socio-political and economic problems of the Ukrainian nation’s development, but also as a multi-aspect – existential, metaphysical, global – challenge. In order to resolve this complex of problems, a fundamental rethinking of views on human and society and the mechanisms of their interaction was carried out. The essence of the author’s theory of stages of the person’s spiritual development has been formulated as a metaphysical theory of personality, that has a historic-philosophical tradition originating from ancient Chinese and ancient philosophy. A person in the process of his socio-political and spiritual development is able to go through the following stages of spiritual formation: dependent, mediocre person, personality and genius, although he can stop at lower stages of development. On this basis, it is proved that there can be only two paradigms of human existence: either impersonal or personal, and their fundamental features are formulated. The concepts of equality and spiritual hierarchy have been carried out. Skovoroda’s idea of unequal equality is interpreted as a combination of equality and hierarchy: civil-political, legal equality and spiritual hierarchy. It was offered to prioritize the spiritual and metaphysical theory of personality as the basis of UNI, in which the last one is the substance, that is, the primary carrier of social existence. UNI appears as a response to the dominance of the mediocre person and the depersonalized paradigm of his existence, as a unity of primary principles and primary sources (personalities), who are their creators and actors. Such understanding of the Ukrainian idea provides grounds for a holistic solution to the socio-political, existential, pedagogical, historical, and metaphysical problems of the nation and has the prospect of spiritual improvement of the covital society. On the basis of metaphysical theory of personality and UNI, the main provisions of the national ideology were formulated, the purpose of which is to form a critical mass of ethnically conscious personalities. It is argued that a military victory requires the establishment in the public consciousness of the fundamental provisions of the UNI and the ideology of personalism. It is offered to put the guiding principles of the UNI and the ideology of personalism as a framework condition of the social contract, that will contribute to overcoming impersonal tendencies in Ukrainian society.

Against Renaissance Perspective: The Soaring Gaze

This essay explores whether ontology is internal to traditional Chinese culture from the perspective of the view from above. Ancient Chinese philosophy, poetry, and art abound with all kinds of descriptions of viewing from above. Such views from on high, as illustrated by famous works discussed in this essay, usually admit of no fixed focus; that is, there is no ontic being, concealed or disclosed, controlling the perceiving eyes. The gaze from above, which is either fluid or decentered, in some cases does not even focus on any real object. It merely reveals an abstract historical review or an attitudinal stance. As such, the fushi gaze, devoid of any concrete object of perception or any central point of reference, always points to the absence of ontology.

What Does ChatGPT Say: The DAO from Algorithmic Intelligence to Linguistic Intelligence

The well-known ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu (老子) or Laozi (6th∼4th century BC during the Spring and Autumn period) started his classic Tao Teh Ching 《道德经》 or Dao De Jing (see Fig. 1) with six Chinese characters: “道(Dao)可(Ke)道(Dao)非(Fei)常(Chang)道(Dao)”, which has been traditionally interpreted as “道可道,非常道” or “The Dao that can be spoken is not the eternal Dao”. However, mordern archaeological discoveries in 1973 and 1993 at Changsha, Hunan, and Jingmen, Hubei, China, have respectively indicated a new, yet more natural and simple interpretation: “道,可道,非常道”, or “The Dao, The Speakable Dao, The Eternal Dao”.

Chinese Path to Sports Modernization: Fitness-for-All (Chinese) and a Development Model for Developing Countries

This policy review overviews the Chinese path to sports modernization within the theoretical framework of the Chinese path to modernization, which is centered on the principle of Fitness-for-All. Over a century of endeavors, the modernization of sports in China has created a new and comprehensive sports civilization in a developing country with a large population and inadequate sports resources. The essence of the Chinese path to sports modernization can be summarized as a people-centered process of sports modernization led by the Communist Party of China that relies on a top-level design with universal participation and seeks to develop a diverse global sports governance. The development of Chinese sports will not only make a transformative contribution to China’s commitment to its second Century Goal, but it will also provide a renaissance for the ancient Chinese philosophy of health first into a people-centered modernization theory, and contribute a Chinese blueprint for the pursuit of the advancement of cross-cultural, diverse world sports civilizations and sustainable development goals.

Green carbon science: fundamental aspects.

Carbon energy has contributed to the creation of human civilization, and it can be considered that the configuration of the carbon energy system is one of the important laws that govern the operation of everything in the universe. The core of the carbon energy system is the opposition and unity of two aspects: oxidation and reduction. The operation of oxidation and reduction is based on the ternary elemental system composed of the three elements of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Its operation produces numerous reactions and reaction products. Ancient Chinese philosophy helps us to understand in depth the essence of green carbon science, to explore its scientific basis, and to identify the related platforms for technology development.

Нестабильная природа и «тьма вещей»: между европейским двоесмыслием и китайским корреляционизмом

As an embodiment of the technical thinking of European modernity, the Anthropocene as a phenomenon and as a concept relies on the idea of nature as a world separate and independent from human society. However, the obvious counterproductivity of this dualism points to the need for a new way of thinking about the relationship between humans and nonhumans. The paper examines some of the ontological insights developed in Chinese classical philosophy to indicate on what kind of relationship with nature a collective of nonhuman and human could be based. In particular, it is proposed to conceive of nature as a concept associated with a moral rather than metaphysical order. The paper begins by proposing several positions (Latour, Descola, Viveiros de Castro) that allow for the affirmation of the ontological pluralism and otherness of natures. It makes possible a different way of associating humans and nonhumans. Further, the way in which nature is inscribed in Chinese ontological conceptions that emphasise not just the unity of all things, but the moral wholeness of the world, is examined. Such a “moral cosmotechnics” presupposes the absence of human exceptionalism and treats human beings as just another thing among many things. This situation precludes anthropocentrism and does not confer on human beings a privileged position conducive to the cultivation of a detached and theorising view of nature. Instead, human existence is always understood as a self-unfolding interaction within nature. Finally, it is suggested that ancient Chinese philosophy in considering the cosmos, did not primarily proceed from a metaphysical formulation of the question leading to a separation of the collectives of human and nonhuman, but rather endowed the cosmos with an overarching morality that supports the continuous building of a collective allows any object to join in. Considering nature not as an object of knowing but as a moral subject is supposed to be a perspective through which a new “natural contract” becomes possible.

СУЧАСНА УКРАЇНСЬКА ФІЛОСОФСЬКА СИНОЛОГІЯ В НАЦІОНАЛЬНІЙ АКАДЕМІЇ НАУК УКРАЇНИ: КЛАСИЧНІ ТА ІННОВАЦІЙНІ ШЛЯХИ ДО ВИТОКІВ

B a c k g r o u n d . According to the genre characteristics, the article is a form of publicizing analytical conclusions from the experience of research in the field of the philosophical Chinese studies at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine from 1991 to the present day. The material for understanding was supplied from the environment of scientific professional activity of prominent figures of Ukrainian philosophical Sinology from the H. Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy of the NAS of Ukraine and the A. Krymskyi Institute of Oriental Studies of the NAS of Ukraine. The scientific achievements of academic Sinologists, who are leading researchers of Chinese philosophical education, science and culture from the archaic to modern times, are highlighted. They are, namely: V. Kiktenko, V. Pyrohiv, V. Hamianin, S. Kapranov, Y. Hobova and A. Usyk. M e t h o d s . The article uses an analytical approach based on the study of historical and philosophical sources. The methodological basis of the research is the main methods of historical and philosophical science: problem-categorical analysis, socio-cultural analysis and biographical analysis. At the same time, the methods of situational and contextual analysis of scientific texts are applied. R e s u l t s . Four conditional thematic vectors of the progress of academic philosophical Sinology in modern Ukraine are classified, namely the study of: 1. the history of ancient Chinese philosophy, especially Confucianism; 2. the history of Chinese philosophy in the 19th – early 21st centuries; 3) the history of Ukrainian Sinology in the 18th – early 21st centuries; 4. the history of modern foreign Sinology. The director of the A. Krymskyi Institute of Oriental Studies of the NAS of Ukraine and the head of the Ukrainian Association of Sinologists V. Kiktenko very effectively studies all these vectors, especially the last three of them. His colleagues at the institute V. Pyrohiv, V. Hamianin and Y. Hobova mainly research the first of these vectors, and primarily the history of Confucianism. Employees of the H. Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy of the NAS of Ukraine S. Kapranov and A. Usyk are also focused scientific attention on the history of Confucianism, in particular, the second of them studies social ethics and anthropology of Confucius. C o n c l u s i o n s . As a result it was established that modern domestic philosophical academic Sinology is a qualitatively new and innovative direction of Oriental studies in independent Ukraine. This discipline was formed as a result of the two-century progress of Ukrainian Chinese studies from the era of Hetmanshina until now. V. Kiktenko and his colleagues have made a significant and already internationally recognized contribution to the study of both the classical philosophical schools of Ancient China and their ideological heirs, in particular, the leaders of the PRC and the CCP from Deng Xiaoping to Xi Jinping during these thirty years. V. Kiktenko also laid the foundations for the study both of the history of Ukrainian Chinese studies and of modern foreign, primarily Western European and North American, Sinology.

An integrated ancient Chinese philosophical perspective on corporate governance

Although the concept of corporate governance began with the emergence of corporations, the concept of governance can be traced back to ancient China. Currently, discussions of this topic focus mainly on the differences between approaches to and theories about corporate governance and examine their effectiveness, an integrated view that draws on Chinese theories and cultures is missing. This paper attempts to address the gaps by conceptually synthesizing insights from ancient Chinese philosophies to construct an integrated framework; it further defines the legal and ethical constraints while incorporating both an ancient Chinese (i.e., Eastern) philosophical perspective and Western governance elements and both national-level and firm-level variables. Drawing on institutional theory (Scott, 1995, 2004, 2008a, 2008b) and considering the interaction of legal and ethical constraints, a model — the ethical-legal model — constructs and categorizes corporate governance approaches into four types driven by different types of institutions and compares how these approaches are related to different governance perspectives (agent, stewardship and stakeholder). An autonomous (Wu Wei) governance approach is trigged when the cognitive institution is formed as a result of high levels of both legal and ethical constraints and drives autonomous corporate governance with a shift in focus from compliance to commitments