儒家文化与当前全球性挑战的应对

Confucian Culture and Its Responsiveness to Contemporary Global Challenges

儒家的“天下”在日常用语中意为“世界”,同时,它也是一个地缘政治术语。作为“世界秩序”,它具有更深层次的哲学与历史意义。儒家“天下观”超越了国与国之间的界限,追求“和而不同”的包容性多元主义,它能够避免绝对主义和碎片化的相对主义,重视关系的恰当性和对多样性的呈现。儒家哲学倡导家庭伦理,尤其是赋予“孝”以宇宙意义,同时将之作为一种深思熟虑的策略,以发挥人类活动的能动创造性。儒家伦理尊重差异,将人与人之间的差异升华为相互性的丰富资源。对人类生态而言,关系恰当性与多样性不能以个体主体(个体主体并不存在)的设想作为基础,而是必须作为家、国与域境的有关成员之间协作活动的作用而出现。关系恰当与呈现的多样性可以从特定人群内人与人之间的文化差异扩展到国际社会内各国文化之间的差异。如果不同文化之间具有关系恰当性,并且所有差异皆能享受包容与恰当的对待,那么不同的生活与思维方式之间便可以相互适应,而差异间的相互作用也将促生文化多样性的出现。

The Chinese term“tianxia”in everyday parlance means“world”,but it is also a geopolitical term.As a“world order”,it has deeper philosophical and historical significance.The Confucian view of“the world”transcends the borders among countries and pursues an inclusive pluralism of“harmony within difference”.It thus precludes absolutism and a fragmented relativism with a focus on relational equity and the subsequent achievement of diversity.Confucian philosophy advocates family ethics,elevating“family reverence”(xiao)to a cosmic status while at the same time using it as a deliberate strategy to animate of human activities.Confucian ethics respects difference,activating the differences that obtain among people as resources for mutual enrichment.In the human ecology,relational equity and diversity cannot be grounded in the assumption of individual subjects(that do not exist),but must emerge as a function of the collaborative activities among members of family,community,and polity.Diversity achieved through relational equity can extend from cultural differences among people within a given population to differences between cultures within the international community.When there is an appropriate relationship among cultures and their differences are accommodated,different ways of living and thinking will interact with each other,enabling their differences to make a difference.