Social Sciences in China Review

No.4, 2017

East Asian Confucianism as Confucian Classical Hermeneutics (Abstract)

Fu Yongjun

East Asian Confucianism relies mainly on classical hermeneutics. Classical hermeneutics is not only a methodology but also a mode of existence and development to East Asian Confucianism. The reasons for this can be seen from three aspects of classical consciousness, practical orientation and pluralistic unity. The construction of East Asian Confucianism has always been closely related to the interpretation of classics by Confucian scholars, and they are supplementary to each other. East Asian Confucianism is actually an East Asian Confucian classical hermeneutics, which emphasizes “interpreting through personal enlightenment.” This interpretation is not only a process of subjective reconstruction, but also a process of reading them based on “pre-structure,” a process of discovering the meaning of classics through “fusion of horizons.” By constructing and clarifying the existence of the interpreter, this kind of interpretation reveals the significance of the classics in universal and historical ways, thus continuously provides new meanings to the present.