Tradition encountering modernity : Zhang Junmai's contemporary neo-Confucianism

Abstract

Zhang Junmai (1887–1969) was a famous politician and philosopher of 20^th-century China. For his advocacy of reviving Confucianism from 1923 to his death, he has normally been considered one of the great contributors to the promotion of traditional culture and creation of a contemporary neo-Confucian philosophy. However, though Zhang Junmai has never disappeared from scholarship, a detailed exploration of his neo-Confucian philosophy has been lacking. This thesis is devoted to addressing this gap in the research and attempts to elaborate various spheres of Zhang Junmai’s neo-Confucian philosophy: metaphysics, moral philosophy, the issue of knowledge, and political philosophy. As part of an overall evaluation of his philosophy, this thesis identifies as important two qualities of Zhang’s philosophical achievements (global-mindedness and interlinking of the physical and metaphysical worlds) and takes issue with the criticism that Zhang’s thought is pan-moralistic. We argue that what he inherited from traditional Confucianism was the belief that moral values have priority over other values, which does not entail the intrusion of morality on other cultural spheres. This is also the common ground he shared with other contemporary neo-Confucianists.

Date of Award	2020
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology