As a result of a new understanding of the relation between theory and practice, the "New Frankfurt School," with Jürgen Habermas as its major representative, highly values the philosophical tradition of American pragmatism, in contrast to the first generation Critical Theorists represented by Max Horkheimer. In Habermas, the idea of"critique" is, both substantially and methodologically, closely connected with the idea of "praxis" in the following senses: communicative action, rational argumentation, public discussion and political culture. "Critique" is thus found to be (...) immanent in "praxis"; or, a la Horkheimer, pragmatism turns out to be a "critical philosophical analysis" without "falling back upon objective reason and mythology.". (shrink)

This response to Asger S?rensen?s paper From Ontology to Epistemology: Tong, Mao and Hegel is made on the basis of a reflection on the author?s intellectual development with special reference to the idea of?dialectics?. This development is mainly composed of three periods, in which the author formed his strong antipathy toward dialectics as a mere tool of power, learnt to understand the importance of?dialogical logic? in providing conceptual tools for human knowledge of a type of reality which is both (...) objective and subjective - human practices - and attempted to understand the?dialectics of rationalization? by integrating?dialectics? in the Western tradition of Critical Theory with the Chinese tradition of?dialectics? systematically interpreted by Feng Qi since the 1990s. (shrink)

Many people show great interest in the idea of “overlapping consensus” proposed by John Rawls. On the basis of a careful reading of different understandings of this idea, or the “overlapping consensus” on the idea of “overlapping consensus,” we can say that there are three levels of “overlapping consensus.” At the first level, people with different positions treat each other in the same reasonable attitude. At the second level, people holding different values support the same norms on the basis of (...) their respective values or by taking each other’s perspectives in the moral discourse. At the third level, people who currently hold different “moral sources” of the shared norms are never-the-less ready to be engaged in a common learning process that aims for a “fusion of horizons” in the future. Overlapping consensuses at all these levels should not only be discussed in political philosophy, or discovered in political culture, but also constructed in political practice. (shrink)

Universalism can be religious or secular; within the category of secular universalism, a distinction can be made (especially in China) between universalism focused on ‘universality’ or the universal validity of certain ideas and universalism focused on ‘generality’ or the general extension of certain ideas. Within the category of universality-based universalism, ‘value universalism’ holds one or some values to be universally valid and ‘culture universalism’ holds a certain culture or a certain way of ranking various values to be universally valid. Within (...) the category of ‘value universalism’, a distinction can be made between ‘dialogue-oriented universalism’, which argues for the priority of the right to communication over other rights and ‘monologueoriented universalism’, according to which one subject can unilaterally decide what is of universal validity for all. Not only ‘monologue-oriented universalism’, but also ‘dialogue-oriented universalism’ can be understood in a Euro-centrist way; there is thus a distinction between West-centrist and non-West-centrist varieties of universalism. The key to avoiding West-centrist universalism while upholding universalism is to make a distinction between essentialist universalism and constructivist universalism, and to see what is universally shared by all relevant parties as something to be constructed through the process of ‘Verkehr’ in Marx’s sense that is informed by the process of ‘Kommunikation’ in Habermas’s sense. (shrink)

The identity issue involves not only the issue of "who are we?" but also the issue of "who should we be?" These two issues are not simply factual issues, they are also issues of values and norms. In recent years, moral philosophy and legal philosophy have once again become major subjects of study in the West. Issues of ethics and law are increasingly drawing serious attention from all strata of society and these issues constitute an important vantage point for understanding (...) contemporary Western society. (shrink)

On May 1, 1995, there was an exceptional amount of activity in Bergen, a city in the western part of Norway. It had been raining for several weeks on end, but on this day the sky was unusually clear and cloudless. In this city with a population of only some two hundred thousand, there were thousands of people who had gathered to hold their annual protest-type assembly and parade. At eleven in the morning, the assembly started in the city's central (...) plaza. Afterward, everyone sang the "Internationale" and set out on the parade route on the theme "Nei Til EU." Nei means no, and EU stands for the European Union. The people singing the "Internationale" were, in fact, demonstrating against Norway's participation in the European Union—the international union comprised of the countries of Europe or at least most of Western Europe. (shrink)

Urban networks have been widely examined using infrastructure connection and firm connection data. In particular, urban networks constructed based on firm connection data have been used to depict the circulation of capital, information, personnel, and products between cities. Existing studies on firm connection networks rely on either inter- or intrafirm relationships. However, there exist various important extra-firm relationships, such as those between firms and governments, research institutions, and nonprofit organizations. This study innovatively incorporates the extra-firm relationships between governments and firms (...) into urban network construction to provide new insights into the field of urban network research. Using Northeast China as a case study, we construct government procurement activity connection networks for both central projects and local projects at the regional and national scales. Social network analysis and regression analysis are used to analyze the network characteristics and factors associated with the network structure. The results show that three provincial capitals hold dominant positions across all the networks. While these capitals serve as GPA suppliers in the region, they are mainly GPA consumers nationally. The factors of spatial proximity, economic development, population, and provincial boundaries were found to be significantly associated with GPA connections. Our study provides important insights into the role of cities in firm-government supply-demand networks. This research can be used to help formulate effective strategies to improve a city’s competitiveness and cities’ cooperation in the GPA supply-demand network. (shrink)

Tong Shijun holds a concept of dialectics which can also be found in Mao’s writings and in classical Chinese philosophy. Tong, however, is ambivalent in his attitude to dialectics in this sense, and for this reason he recommends Chinese philosophy to focus more on formal logic. My point will be that with another concept of dialectics Tong can have dialectics without giving up on logic and epistemology. This argument is given substance by an analysis of texts (...) by Mao, Tong and Hegel. (shrink)

本书以形而上学文体为背景,通过对康德哲学与牟氏哲学的比较研究,重构了牟氏的道德形上学体系,逻辑地再现了牟氏对良知作为意义本体的构筑过程。.

Name der Zeitschrift: Semiotica Jahrgang: 2014 Heft: 202 Seiten: 345-364.

1. Tongju ŭi kukche chŏngch'ihak, chŏngch'i sasang -- 2. Tongju ŭi kŭndae kukche chŏngch'iron -- 3. Tongju ŭi kwŏnyŏngnon kwa chŏnp'a iron -- 4. Tongju ŭi oegyosa, minjokchuŭiron -- 5. Tongju ŭi mirae segye chŏngch'iron.

Im Jahr 2002 wurde seitens der chinesischen Regierung die Forderung der Entfaltung der exzellenten nationalkulturellen Tradition aufgestellt. Nach einem Kultur-Gipfelforum mit dem Hauptthema "Globalisierung und die Chinesische Kultur" unter der Leitung von bedeutenden Wissenschaftlern wie Ren Jiyu, Ji Xianlin u. a. im Jahre 2004 stieg die Wertschätzung des Konfuzianismus als Kernbestandteil "exzellenter Nationalkultur". Folglich wächst heutzutage das Interesse an konfuzianischen Klassikern wieder, vorwiegend für Lunyu. Infolge des gestiegenen Interesses versuchten Autoren im neuen Zeitalter in China, diesen Klassiker neu auszulegen. Am (...) bekanntesten wurden die Bücher von Yu Dan. Einflussreich waren auch die Interpretationen von Li Ling und He Xin. Folglich werden diese neuen Interpretationen hier als Formen der Rekonstruktion der konfuzianischen Tradition behandelt und in drei Arten klassifiziert: volkstümlich, populärwissenschaftlich sowie akademisch. Die Theorie dieser Forschungsarbeit stützt sich auf dem Traditionsbegriff. Infolgedessen wird die Tradition aus der neologistischen Perspektive, im alltagssprachlichen Bezug, nach politischem Verständnis und im wissenschaftlichen Gebiet analysiert. Dann wird die Tradition als ein Konstrukt definiert, das aus über Generationen weitergegebenen Kulturelementen besteht. Daher wird der Konfuzianismus sowohl als ein bedeutsames Element der chinesischen Tradition als auch als eine konfuzianische Tradition betrachtet. Die Forschung wählt drei einflussreiche Interpretationen dieser Art aus, um einen kritischen Zugang zum Prozess der Neuschaffung von "Tradition" im gegenwärtigen China zu finden. Die Interpretationen scheinen die Nachfrage und Erwartungen von Gesellschaft und Politik gleichermassen zu befriedigen und können daher als Linsen dienen, mittels derer wichtige soziale und politische Anliegen und Entwicklungen Chinas seit der Jahrtausendwende in Augenschein genommen werden können. (shrink)