Abstract:Compared with the rapid development of Chinese economy, which is the leading one in the world, modern philosophy and aesthetics in China are in a position that is subordinate to the West. In contemporary Chinese aesthetics, for instance, there have occurred heated discussions and a craze for aesthetics as well as various rampant Zhuyi in the 1950s and 1980s. However, the debate of Zhuyi in the 1950s was described as politicized and of a low level. The bustle of Zhuyi in the 1980s bore witness to all kinds of doctrines and -isms in Western philosophy and aesthetics that also found their way into China, although Chinese philosophers and aestheticians remained merely spectators to these processes. A closer look can disclose the reasons behind the absence of Zhuyi in Chinese philosophy and reveals the roles played by aesthetics and the humanities as a whole in the earlier bustle of Zhuyi. There are subjective and objective reasons for the weakness of Chinese academic power. There exists a severe imbalance between underdeveloped Chinese philosophy and aesthetics and the developed economy. Eliminating the imbalance is essential for China to pursue development further, but the emergence of a new balance is not possible without the establishment of Zhuyi and schools.
Aleš Erjavec proposed the global philosophical quadrilateral, giving Chinese philosophy, aesthetics, and humanities an expectation. However, the realization of this expectation hinges on the question whether Chinese philosophy as well as aesthetics and the humanities can rid themselves of the staggering level of 'voice' and develop their 'speech' . To make 'speech' , any nation should have its own idea, theory and Zhuyi. How to overcome the embarrassment that 'quadrilateral' expectation implies? Time spatialization and four-phase development theories of the Bie-modern, and great leap forward pause theory have provided an answer. The quadrilateral expectation as shown by Aleš Erjavec, is encountering the antagonism between 'cosmopolitanism' and 'nationalism' . The key to resolving this antagonism is 'my' original achievement consisting of 'Chinese traditional philosophy, Western philosophy, Marxism and I (myself)' . Bie-modernism is a Zhuyi of self-regulation, self-renewal and self-transcendence and of their practical implementation.
Introductory essayPublished online: September 15, 2017How to cite this article: Erjavec, Aleš, and Wang Jianjiang. "Introduction: China and the West: Zhuyi and -isms." AM Journal of Art and Media Studies 13 (2017): 91. doi: 10.25038/am.v0i13.187
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