New Confucianism: A Critical Examination

JOHN MAKEHAM is Reader in Chinese, Centre for Asian Studies, Adelaide University. For most of the last decade he has worked in the area of pre-modern Confucian intellectual history. Between 1993-2001 he studied the Chinese commentary tradition on the Analects from the second to the nineteenth centuries, a period substantially contemporaneous with the rise and decline of scriptural Confucianism (Transmitters and Creators: Chinese Commentators and Commentaries on the Analects, Harvard Asia Center, 2003). His current research project on contemporary discourse on Confucianism is a direct outgrowth of his work on early periods in Confucian intellectual history. He has also published Name and Actuality in Early Chinese Thought (SUNY, 1994) and a translation of the Han Dynasty Confucian thinker Xu Gan's (170-217) Balanced Discourses (Yale, 2002).

• Introduction PART ONE The Retrospective Creation of New Confucianism; J.Makeham The New Daotong; J.Makeham PART TWO Reconstructing the Confucian Ideal in 1980s China: the 'Culture Craze and New Confucianism; S.Xianlin Li Zehou and New Confucianism; S.Chan PART THREE What is Confucian and New about the Thought of Mou Zongsan?; S.Chan A Modern Chinese Philosophy Built Upon Critically Received Traditions: Feng Youlan's New Principle-centered Learning and the Question of its Relationship to Contemporary New Ruist (Confucian) Philosophies; L.Pfister PART FOUR The Last Buddhist: The Philosophy of Liang Shuming; J.Hanafin Xiong Shili's Metaphysics; N.Yu-kwan

"In the early twentieth century, Confucianism was declared dead, both as an intellectual movement and as a social force. However, Confucianism has now been rehabilitated in mainland China, and is increasingly influential as a world philosophy. Both its critics and its admirers must admit that the most influential contemporary version of Confucianism is the so-called 'New Confucianism.' The essays in this informative and interesting volume describe the rise and development of New Confucianism, the new debates over Confucian orthodoxy, and critically introduce the thought of several major New Confucian thinkers, including Xiong Shili, Mou Zongsan and Feng Youlan. This book is a significant contribution because little is available in English on New Confucianism. Among the highlights of this anthology are the essays by editor John Makeham, who is one of the leading authorities on Confucianism today. Ironically, Makeham challenges the very notion that New Confucianism has a specific identity. This collection of essays is required reading for anyone interested in Confucianism or contemporary Chinese thought." - Bryan W. Van Norden, Vassar College