Transcendentalism and Chinese Perceptions of Western Individualism and Spirituality
Journal Title: Religions - Year 2017, Vol 8, Issue 8
Abstract
The article presents essential aspects of the intellectual debates in China over the theoretical achievement of Transcendentalism to generate a conception of individualism that bears the mark of Confucian and Daoist influences. The peculiar profile of the Transcendentalist individual avoids western dimensions that have been perceived in China as overindividualistic. Therefore, the inquiry over Transcendentalism opens up the intellectual debates on how traditional Confucian and Daoist teachings may be used also in China to bring about a renewed conception of the self and the individual’s life in social relationships that would be closer to a modern understanding of individualism. The Chinese problematization of the value of the individual in Chinese traditional culture sheds light on the non-western debates regarding cultural renewal.
Authors and Affiliations
Sikong Zhao and Ionut Untea
Keywords
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- EP ID EP25752
- DOI https://doi.org/10.3390/rel8080159
- Views 315
- Downloads 12
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