Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.1, 2019

 

The Positive Nature of History: Exploring the Cultural Genes of the Proposed “Chinese Approach”

(Abstract)

 

Zhang Xiong, Zhu Lu and Xu Dezhong

 

The proposed “Chinese approach” is definitely not figurative or coincidental, but a result of the constancy and change in world history and the contemporary presence of the “undying universal spirit” of fine traditional Chinese culture. The inherent wisdom of traditional Confucianism will only appear once it has taken on board the experience of modernity with its encounters and transformations. Over the centuries, the historical limitations of the developmental model of Western modernity have been exposed. The ecological integration of the assimilation and sublation of modernity requires the pairing of the following: zero-sum—harmony; sympathy—conscience; rational self-interest—self-interest based on greater good. This fully and completely exhibits the philosophical realm of the integration of the essence of Chinese culture with the strong points of Western culture and thus may provide a valuable cognitive map that enables us to refine our grasp of the historical necessity and present reality of the “Chinese approach.”