Identity and Differences Between Chinese and Western Cultural Philosophy〔*〕

Abstract:Cultural philosophy refers to the study of cultural principles with philosophical viewpoints and methods to form a theoretical system of cultural views and cultural activities.It mainly discusses the history and development of culture,the motive force and conditions of culture,the role of tradition in social history,the comparison of various cultures,and the conflict and blending of cultures.This paper attempts to explore an effective way to integrate the two modes of thinking of Chinese and Western cultural philosophy through a comparative analysis of the differences and identity between Chinese and Western cultural philosophy.The study of cultural identity and differences between China and Western countries has a certain practical significance for cross-cultural communication in China.

Key words:cultural philosophy;differences;identity

Ⅰ.Introduction

With the increasingly frequent cultural exchanges between China and the West,the integration and convergence of multi-cultures is an inevitable trend in the development of Chinese and Western cultures.The spread of Chinese Confucian thoughts abroad is also the key to Chinese culture “going out”.However,there are some cultural hinders between China and the West due to the differences in cultures.Through the analysis of the identity and differences between Chinese and Western cultural philosophy,this paper aims to find an effective way to integrate the two thinking modes of Chinese and Western philosophy.

Ⅱ.Literature review

Cultural philosophy,as a new discipline,is an inevitable development of humanism and scientism in Western Philosophy in the twentieth Century.Cultural philosophy is a specialized human science,which is about generation,existence and creative development of human beings.The universality of human interest reveals the identity of cultural philosophy between China and the West,and the regional and historical differences lead to the differences of cultural philosophy,which are due to different thinking modes between the two cultures,and result in differences in knowledge,methods,intelligence,will,ideas,emotions,habits and languages.It is these differences that make them different,such as scientific traditions,cultural systems and historical forms between China and the West.The philosophical thinking methods of the two cultural systems have their own advantages.

1.Cultural philosophy

What is culture?Culture is not only a social phenomenon but a certain cultural characteristics and cultural collection shared and transmitted by a group of members of a particular society.It is manifested in all aspects of social life as an abstract concept.In a broad sense,everything created by human beings is called culture;in a narrow sense,it refers to spiritual civilization,concepts and forms,including philosophy,science,religion,technology,literature,education and customs and so on.Cultural philosophy refers to the study of cultural principles from the viewpoint and the method principle of philosophy to form a theoretical system of cultural views and cultural activities,which mainly discusses the history and development of culture,the motive force and conditions of culture,the role of tradition in social history,the comparison of various cultures,and the conflict and blending of cultures.Cultural philosophy is not an external combination of culture and philosophy,which contains an important transformation and transition of philosophical theoretical paradigm.In the field of cultural philosophy,the objective world and its knowledge are not given and unchanged,but constantly generated in the symbolic activities of human beings.Language,science,mythology,religion,art,philosophy and other forms of cultural symbols are the production of human spirit and labor.Through the creation of culture,human beings provide unlimited and rich meaning regulations to the world,constantly confirm and create themselves through cultural creation.

2.Differences between Chinese and western cultural philosophy

Chinese and western cultural philosophies are actually two different values of the world.Aristotle’s “metaphysics” used in the western world is a study based on physics and it is carried out through reasoning,with which causal thinking develops.The concept of “metaphysics” in ancient Chinese philosophy refers to those who transcended “form”,that is,the “real body” is beyond their perceptual perception.On this basis,the relational thinking develops.Therefore,there are great differences between Chinese and Western cultural philosophy.

(1)The difference between rational logic thinking based on objectivity and perceptual intuition thinking based on subjectivity

People living in different cultural backgrounds have different ways of learning the world outside:Chinese traditional thinking is a kind of subjective,perceptual and direct way of thinking,while western thinking pays more attention to the objective and rational logical thinking.Aristotle’s “metaphysics” as the physical basis of the study,is carried out through reasoning,which is the key to interpretation of physical phenomena,that is,to study causality.This philosophical theory derives from the world outlook of agriculture and handicraft culture in the western world.Metaphysics is equally important to Chinese thinking.Starting from the intuition of human goodness,Chinese philosophy points out the absolute transcendence between heaven and man and the way of their coexistence ─ the unity between heaven and man.Confucian thinkers represented by Confucius put forward the idea of “ruling by virtue” to survive the society at the moment.The core of Confucianism is the unity of kidnap and pursuit of harmony in society.Generally speaking,the ancient Chinese traditional culture advocates “virtue” and the “Tao” doctrine in Chinese philosophy,which is sublimated to “virtue”,that is,everyone’s nature comes from the soul power of the universe ─ “Ming De” ─ good virtue.Ji Xianlin pointed out that the Orientals focus on savvy,intuition and imagination,while the Westerners value analysis.Since ancient times,Chinese people have paid attention to intuitive experience,that is to say,they were accustomed to expressing abstract things with the help of intuitive experience,observing things with perceptual knowledge,and then expressing things vividly through associative reasoning and analysis,reflecting objective facts,not being good at rational analysis and logical thinking.In Chinese traditional culture,whether Confucius’ harmony between man and nature or Laozi’s “Tao”doctrine emphasizes intuitive understanding,which is usually grasped vaguely and directly from the whole by perception.They adopted intuition toreveal the essence and law of things instead of logical reasoning.This is totally different from the western philosophy of culture.

(2)The differences between individual thinking and holistic thinking

The economic development of the West originated from the Greek peninsula mainly on handicraft industry and navigation.Due to the development of handicraft industry,people paid more attention to the degree of processing and the technology used.Through comparative analysis,handicraft industry has been developing continuously.Because of people’s interest in geometry,mathematics,astronomy and other disciplines,people have formed a scientific tradition of attaching importance to exploring the mysteries of nature.Therefore,the rational logical thinking method focusing on the objective has been prevalent in the Western cultural philosophy.In modern times,western scientific experiments have developed rapidly,and the way of thinking has a strong positivism.Especially since the Industrial Revolution,people’s way of thinking has tended to be fair due to the edification of organizational,democratic and scientific nature,forming the theory of self-realization,and the spirit of competition has become more prominent.The Westerners are more concerned about the nature of things themselves,and prefer to analyze and study individuals.For example,western philosophy attaches importance to confrontation and emphasizes the conflict and struggle between opposites.They divided the unified world into two completely different worlds.The Westerners are good at discovering internal differences and opposites in a unified world and studying the opposites separately,thus revealing the multilevel and complexity of things.The Western philosophers insist on dichotomy,that is,subject and object.It is this cosmology that makes the Westerners explore and pay special attention to individuals.This kind of individual and analytical thinking makes them good at solving specific problems.They look at the world from the perspective of decomposition,emphasizing the idea of one to many,decomposing the whole into parts,and devoting themselves to the study of the natural things.

In the East,the self-sufficient natural economy represented by Chinese culture is the basic economic form,and it lasted until modern times,forming a stable pattern of production and labor combination for thousands of years:the pattern of small-scale peasant production with one household as the production unit,the pattern of Men tilling the farm and women weaving,the purpose of self-sufficient production,the pattern of male and female farming and self-sufficient production.To survive,the ancient Chinese must live in harmony with their surroundings,including human,natural and social conditions.From the point of view of thinking,Chinese people are unified and integrated.Chinese traditional thinking belongs to a holistic thinking of life.Chinese philosophy stresses the integration of “Yin and Yang”,and does not deny the struggle against opposites.It focuses more on individuals,nature and society as a whole.It does not advocate separation,but advocates the integration and coherence of grasp,seeking “unity of nature and man”,“unity of knowledge and action”,“unity of scene” of natural harmony.Ethics and morality occupy an important position in people’s hearts.Such a value orientation has the following results:

* To strengthen the interdependence between people and make the society stable;

* To exclude personal interests,resulting in the loss of personal personality and interests;

* To attach importance to personal cultivation,self-cultivation as the basis for life.

Yi Zhuan by Confucius further puts forward the holistic view of “Taiqi (the Great Ultimate) comes into being first,which gives birth to two states(Yin and Yang or Heaven and Earth);Two states then developed into four images,which give rise to eight hexagrams.” It also connects the whole to the four seasons’ movement,spatial orientation,forming a thinking mode of organic holism,which lays a solid foundation for Chinese cultural philosophy.

(3)The differences between linear thinking and roundabout way of thinking

The Western cultural philosophy stems from the development of handicraft industry and commodity exchanges.In interpersonal communication,people tended to regard contracts as the basis,pursuit of freedom,equality and consistency,emphasized the expression of personal opinions.They tended to express in a straight to show their attitudes towards others,used deductive or inductive style in speaking and writing,put forward opinions or opinions directly,and then turned to the background,condition and so on in order to arouse the attention of listeners or readers.Because of their cultural analytic characteristics,their thinking is carried out in a linear way,from point to line,with line as the main body of the linear mode of thinking,that is,Aristotle’s logical mode of thinking,which is linear,taking logical positivism as a means,emphasized partial analysis.In the study of each specific thing,researchers always like to separate it from the intricate links,independently investigate them,study its entity and attributes with strong empirical and speculative color,and are good at using natural science results,emphasizing rational knowledge.The Westerners believe that the world is unified,non-contradictory and platoon,and therefore they can seek the opposite of the world.The “either-or” idea holds that a proposition is either right or wrong,and there is no intermediate choice.Therefore,the development of western culture is a linear process of continuous destruction and rebirth,which is a historical process of advancing in the process of negation.From Aristotle’s logical speculation to Bacon’s inductive logic to the modern thinking system,the westerners’ pursuit of the integrity of rational thinking system has reached an unattainable height.Thus it can be seen that the Westerners understand the objective world with their wisdom,uncover the mystery of the universe,and use the laws to transform the world for their use.This kind of thinking mode,which pays attention to the objective world,logical speculation and structural interpretation of the object of cognition,makes the western philosophy have a strong logic rigor and integrity of the system,thus promoting the development of Western science and technology.

Different from the western traditional culture,Chinese culture originates from self-sufficient farming culture,and people have to depend on each other and cooperate with each other to survive.Therefore,a culture with the orientation of collective and others has been formed.The mode of thinking is circular,taking intuition and experience as tools,stressing the overall structure of things,attaching importance to practical experience and intuitive experience,grasping the essence of things in a direct and fuzzy way,conducting comprehensive analysis,grasping things as a whole,focusing on the function,structure and relationship of things.In the study of each specific things,researchers always put it in a broader environmental system,sitting high and overlooking,focusing on practicality and experience summary.In daily life,the Chinese people pay attention to smoothness,do not like to be hard-pressed,and are accustomed to speaking in a roundabout way.This is a concrete manifestation of the circular circuitous thinking mode of eastern cultural philosophy.In language,Chinese people tend to use “meaning” to make words rich and perceptible.Chinese expression often depends on the author’s image thinking and inspiration thinking to link sentences into chapters.The functions and levels between sentences and paragraphs are often placed in a secondary position,whereas the westerners emphasize rational and logical thinking in writing articles.They attach importance to mathematics and logic,whose way of thinking focuses on speculative abstraction.The regulation of objective objects is promoted by rational thinking and logical system.

(4)Social structural differences between democratic system and patriarchal system

The Western politics and culture,originating from the Mediterranean,are relatively developed in industry and commerce,mainly based on the city-state Republican system,which is characterized by a single ethnic,common geographical basis,the city center and the surrounding cities combined,conducive to commercial development.This social structure,which originated from the development of handicraft industry and commodity exchange,tends to be based on contracts and advocates free trade and equality.This tradition is conducive to the development of democracy.In the long development of Chinese feudal society,the social structure is a hierarchy of feudal patriarchal clan system based on blood relationship and marriage ties.There is a strict hierarchy in society and family,such as “monarch and ministers,father and son”,“men’s superiority to women”,“Respect for seniority” and so on.The essence of this patriarchal system is the continuation of the family world.Ritualism is the cornerstone of social peace.The combination of autocratic system and patriarchal system forms the social and political structure of “the country is homogeneous”.

3.Identity of Chinese and Western Cultural Philosophy

The identity of cultural philosophy is a philosophical category corresponding to opposites and differences.Identity of contradiction means that opposition and unity are two aspects of contradiction.The opposition of contradiction is also called struggle,and the unity of contradiction is called identity.The struggle refers to the nature and tendency of mutual exclusion and separation between the two sides.Identity means that both sides of the contradiction are interdependent and interconnected,which is different from unity.Unity means that two things will eventually become the same.Culture has identity,because culture,as a unique phenomenon of human society,is the total sum of existing,inheritance,creation and development of all group social phenomena and group spirit.Culture is created and shared by human beings.It includes not only the ideological parts such as world outlook,life outlook,social values,but also the non-ideological parts such as natural science and technology,language and writing.However,the cultures of different groups have their own characteristics.Therefore,culture has identity and the world culture has the same nature,but different cultures can coexist,be interdependent and interlinked.

China is the birthplace of Oriental culture,and Chinese culture is the representative of Oriental culture.The western culture and oriental culture together constitute the two major cultures in the world today.The intersection of different cultures is of great significance to the development of human history,and it is this intersection that constitutes the richness of human history.Examples of interdependence and interpenetration between Chinese and Western cultures are everywhere.In the Western Han Dynasty,the Silk Road pioneered by Zhang Qian began in Chang’an,capital of the Western Han Dynasty,and reached Ploughshan (Alexandria,Egypt,Rome).In 73 AD,Banchao of the Eastern Han Dynasty reopened the Western Regions,and the Roman Empire first followed the Silk Road to Luoyang of the Eastern Han Dynasty.This is the first contact between Europe and China,spreading China’s scientific and technological culture,bringing other civilizations and promoting cultural exchanges and cooperation between China and the West.The Sea Silk Road,also known as the ceramic road,originated in Qin and Han Dynasties,flourished in the Sui and Tang Dynasties,prospered in Song and Yuan Dynasties,and reached its peak in the early Ming Dynasty.The western route is from China’s coastal ports to South Asia,Arabia and East Africa.In the Ming Dynasty,Zheng He traveled to the West.His voyage has expanded overseas trade,promoted economic exchanges and development between China and foreign countries,disseminated Chinese civilization,promoted two-way exchanges and common progress of Chinese and foreign cultures,extended exchanges among countries in the world,and consolidated and developed friendly relations between China and Asian and African countries.Another event was Marco Polo’s visit to China,and his experience was later recorded in Marco Polo’s Travels,where he praised China’s prosperity;developed industry and commerce,bustling markets,gorgeous and cheap silk brocades,grand and magnificent capital,perfect and convenient post-Road transportation,and currency in general circulation.Marco Polo’s Travels enriched Europeans’ geographical knowledge,aroused Europeans’ ardent yearning for the East,and exerted a tremendous influence on the subsequent opening of new routes.The Eastern Expedition of Alexander the Great and the Asian-European Empire of Genghis Khan indirectly promoted cultural exchanges between the East and the West.In addition,the spread of China’s four great inventions has played a major role in the development of the world.The inventions were also introduced into Europe through Arabs,which had a great impact on European society.

In short,it is this intercultural interaction that constitutes the richness of human history.The exchanges between the East and the West promote the process of globalization.

Ⅲ.The practical significance of identity and difference between Chinese and western cultural philosophy

Nowadays,economic activities between China and the West are frequent,and cultural exchanges are more frequent than ever before.The total amount of economic and trade between China and the West is continuously increasing.With the globalization of the world economy,more and more contacts will be made in the human world.Facts have proved that China is inseparable from the West,and the West cannot develop without China.At the same time,the charm of Chinese culture in the western world is also increasing.The Westerners are more and more interested in Chinese culture.Confucius institutes around the world take root in many western countries,and the products of “Made-in-China”are all over the world.Therefore,cultural identity plays an important role between the cultures of China and the West.So as Chinese people,how should we understand the cultural identity and differences between China and the West in order to carry forward our culture?The answer should be positive,seeking common ground while reserving differences.

1.Correctly understanding the differences between Chinese and western cultural philosophies by historical materialism

Whether it is Chinese cultural philosophy or Western cultural philosophy,different cultures have their own strengths and weaknesses due to regional limitations and historical development.Cultural complementarity is very important.Throughout all aspects of human life in China and the West,it is not difficult to find that the Western culture has the weakness of thinking alone,attaching too much importance to the individual,emphasizing personality,but ignoring the whole.To some extent,the Chinese cultural philosophy pays more attention to the whole and neglects or sacrifices individual interests.Furthermore,the view of “duality opposition” in the Western cultural philosophy has some limitations,and its theory cannot deal with all the problems of the polarity opposition between the spiritual world and the material world,the ideal world and the real world.The overall harmonious spirit of Chinese culture can make up for its shortcomings.It holds that the world should focus on comprehensive development and realize the harmony between man and the world,man and nature.Therefore,the Chinese people should establish a correct cultural outlook,neither aggrandizing nor belittling oneself,nor blindly pursuing the Western culture.Cultural self-confidence should be established,and cultural consciousness cultivated.National strength is not only reflected from the development of material civilization but also that of spiritual improvement.

2.Culture “coming in” and “going out”

The study of the Chinese and Western cultural philosophies aims at learning from others’ strengths and making up for our own shortcomings.We should establish an equal cross-cultural communication platform and build a two-way transmission of culture.The so-called “please come in” is to introduce the western culture,but this kind of introduction is by no means a mixture of foreign things,but we should have their own standards of telling the good from the bad.We must insist that what we use for ourselves is not simply “take” but must be innovative or transformational,with a strong foundation that is,“Beating someone by playing his games better”.Besides,we should not blindly introduce it but with distinction.Through equal cultural exchanges and rational analysis,people can understand and grasp the advantages and disadvantages of foreign cultures.As long as they are conducive to our development,we welcome them.

At the same time,our culture must “go out”.It is one of the most prominent themes of China’s current cultural development strategy.This strategy was put forward after the end of the transition period after China’s access to the WTO,and the cultural industry began to participate in the international division of labor and competition in the international cultural market.It is the inevitable extension of China’s economic “going out” in the field of cultural industry development,and also the inevitable result of China’s cultural market opening to the outside world.With the expansion of cultural exchanges,the economic and social development and the promotion of comprehensive national strength,the value of Chinese culture has become increasingly prominent and the international influence of Chinese culture has increased since the reform and opening up.The most important thing is to learn to innovate in the process of learning.In any field,inheritance and innovation are mutually reinforcing and indispensable,and interact each other,on which the development of culture is founded.The inheritance of culture is first manifested in the absorption and acceptance of the national cultural heritage and the absorption of other cultures.In cultural development,inheritance is a means of innovation.Without inheritance,culture will form a fault and cannot continue to develop.Therefore,we must inherit the 5000-year-old cultural heritage of the Chinese nation and make it carry forward with new vitality.This is innovation.We must employ the essence of the past cultural heritage,remove its dross,and make breakthroughs at the same time.Inheritance and innovation are complementary.However,attention should be paid to respecting history and fine traditions,taking into account China’s national conditions and regional characteristics so that innovation has a historical continuity to maintain the fine temperament of traditional culture and to show the style of the times.

3.Contribution of China’s wisdom to the world,making use of the concept of “harmony between man and nature” to develop relations among countries and seeking common development.

In Taoism,heaven is natural,and man is a part of nature.Therefore,Chuang-tzu said,that the appearance of man is due to nature;the emergence of nature is also due to nature.Nature and man are all one.But man formulates a variety of rules and regulations,moral norms,only to lose the original nature,becoming incompatible with nature.The purpose of human action is to “despise the saints and abandon the wisdom”,breaks down these barriers imposed on the human body,liberates human nature,and returns to nature so as to achieve a spiritual state of “all things and self are one”.In today’s world,we must love life,love nature,be able to understand the language of all life,feel the existence of life everywhere,blend with the melody of nature,be capable of obtaining the trust of each other and coexist harmoniously,coexist harmoniously with nature,and make the perfect combination of not only human and material but material and material.This philosophy of thought can be used to manage the issue around the world.The global economic crisis over the years reflected the fact that it is impossible to adopt the Western cultural philosophy model to deal with the affairs between countries,because it is obviously impossible to solve all problems by the “dual opposition” mode of thinking in the Western cultural philosophy.The Oriental cultural philosophy of “harmony between man and nature” is also worth learning from in order to build a harmonious society,develop together and seek common ground while reserving differences.

Ⅳ.Summary and discussion

We face the differences and identity of Chinese and Western cultural philosophies in a logical way.On one hand,Chinese and Western cultural philosophies constantly enrich and perfect themselves in the international dialogues and integration with many cultural forms;on the other hand,during this process,we should maintain the paradigm consciousness of cultural philosophy in order to maintain the legitimacy of cultural philosophy.Although cultural philosophy is also based on the experience description and scientific analysis of culture,it is not simply introduction of cultural phenomena or the regular mastery of cultural operation;we also pays more attention to the values of culture,instead of trying to seek the fulcrum of values for culture;And more emphasis should be put on the aesthetic cultural form,but not on the technological level of aesthetic culture.For this reason,cultural philosophy can neither be equated with culture and cultural science,nor can it be equated with cultural axiology.

As an important stipulation of philosophy,cultural philosophy reveals the possibilities and limitations of a particular culture by reflecting and questioning the ideas behind cultural symbols.Today,the world we face is a mixed body,and countries are closely linked,and no single way of thinking can exist.Different forms of thinking also need to be internationalized in order to find their place in this era of pluralism.Therefore,we should rationally contrast and analyze the Chinese and Western ways of thinking,carry forward the reasonable part,abandon its dross,take its essence,strengthen exchanges and complementarities,establish a building of logical speculation on the basis of intuitive perception,and fully integrate China’s “knowledge,emotion and meaning” with the rational speculation of the West,thus making it even more important and grasping the world in all directions.Therefore,we can only look at the world,truly understand the advantages and disadvantages of Chinese and Western ways of thinking,each drawing on their strengths,complementary advantages and disadvantages,learn from each other,from which we can gain useful inspiration.Therefore,we have no choice but to look at the world,truly understanding the advantages and disadvantages of Chinese and Western ways of thinking so that we can learn from each other and gain useful inspiration.

Notes:

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