Scientific life. CONGRESSES, CONFERENCES, AND SYMPOSIA

On May 28-29, 2002, the Institute of the Far East of the Russian Academy of Sciences hosted the Eighth All-Russian Scientific Conference "Philosophy of the East Asian Region (China, Japan, Korea) and Modern Civilization".

The conference discussed a wide range of topical historical and philosophical issues, primarily related to issues of civilizational specificity and inter-civilizational interaction, which have become increasingly important in recent years. The discussion also raised important methodological issues related to the study of the ideological foundations of Far Eastern cultures in comparison with Western cultures.

In the opening speech of the Director of the Institute of Internal Medicine of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Corresponding Member M. L. Titarenko noted that currently all countries of the world, including Asian ones, are facing the problem of adapting to new conditions, the rate of change of which is sometimes so great that society does not have time to realize new factors and faces increasing negative trends. This problem has not been spared by the PRC, a state in which the situation is of great importance for Russia. As part of the objective process of globalization, world culture faces a challenge to the diversity of civilizations. In this regard, M. L. Titarenko considered the negative consequences of Western attempts to present the problem of globalization of the world on the basis of its"Westernization". "Westernization" is usually understood as "entering the world civilization". "Westernization" leads to the loss of identity and the violent destruction of the values of the nation, to the destruction of the ethnic group; this is an imaginary way out of the general systemic crisis of modern world civilization.

In particular, with the beginning of the policy of reform and openness, China began to acquire more features of extroverted development, which, on the one hand, contributes to the establishment of an inter - civilizational dialogue, and on the other hand, is fraught with a number of risks for culture: its internal code is changing, in this case, the introverted nature of Chinese civilization. This is one of the most pressing problems of globalization. Will the Chinese civilization be able to preserve its identity and value system in times of global political and economic problems, and at the same time maintain an open dialogue with other cultures?

The speaker stressed that in this context, it is important to identify the defining role of Chinese philosophy in the development of China and the Asian region as a whole, since it is the spiritual factor that has been the main, system-forming element of Chinese civilization throughout its history.

The presentation of A. E. Lukyanov, head of the Center for the Study of Spiritual Civilizations in East Asia at the IDA "Cosmogony as a principle of power", was devoted to the consideration of an extremely interesting problem - the disclosure of the principle of ideological legitimacy of power, embodied in cosmogonies. The report defined two types of power: the power of true civilization and the power of pseudo-civilization. The first type was described by the speaker as the conscious maintenance of static and dynamic algorithms of physical, spiritual and ideal-thinking action of the ethno-culture archetype by subjects of power - unions of spiritual leaders. The second - as a purposeful change in the action of the archetype by political ideologues.

page 130

V. F. Feoktistov (IDV) in the report " Was Wang Bi an idealist? Once again about the categories "u" and "yu" " highlighted the problem of translating the most important terms of Chinese philosophy into Russian. In his opinion, the distortion of philosophical categories in translation leads to a wrong idea of Chinese philosophy, the concepts of individual philosophers and entire philosophical trends. Thus, the philosopher Wang Bi (226-249) has hitherto been unreasonably regarded as an idealist. Such an inadequate interpretation, the speaker believes, is due to the incorrect translation of the terms "y" and" y " as "non-being" and "being". A careful study of Chinese primary sources shows that the fundamental concepts of Western philosophy-the categories of "being" and "non-being" - are presented in Chinese classical philosophy in a specific form, at least different from the Western tradition. It would be more accurate to express them with the words "available", "available" and, accordingly, "absent", " absent (available)". Summarizing the results of his analysis, the speaker came to the conclusion that without an adequate translation of terms, it is impossible to correctly understand the philosophical ideas themselves.

A. I. Kobzev's report "The Strange Teaching of Hui Shi" was dedicated to one of the founders and main representatives of the "school of names" (Chinese: ming jia). Having examined in detail the few evidences of Hui Shi in ancient Chinese monuments, paying special attention to the significant discrepancies in the dates of this philosopher's life and analyzing the classifications of his teachings in various ancient sources, the speaker focused on ten paradoxes ("sophisms", lit.: "deeds" - shi) of Hui Shi. Summing up, A. I. Kobzev noted that Hui Shi, for the first time in the history of Chinese thought, rejected exclusively "morally pragmatic" philosophizing and highlighted logical and linguistic problems. Subsequently, this problem was developed as an alternative methodology to the numerological " doctrine of symbols and numbers "(Chinese: xiang shu zhi xue). ancient Chinese protologics of the" school of names " of the late Monists and Xun-tzu.

Another prominent representative of the "school of names", Gongsun Long (IV-III centuries BC), became the focus of attention of N. L. Kvartalova (IDV). She devoted her report "Object language and metalanguage in the treatise "Gongsun Long-tzu" to the famous paradox of Gongsun Long "The white horse is not a horse". The speaker demonstrated that this statement is acceptable if the author uses a metalanguage when talking about the content of the concepts "horse" and "white" - in this case, the concept of "white horse"is more capacious in content than the concept of "horse". The contradiction in language arises from the fact that language is a closed system, in the sense that it is possible to describe language only by means of the language itself. To get out of this situation, we have to introduce the concepts of the object language and the metalanguage used to describe the object language. As the author of the report notes, in the chapter " Bai ma "of the treatise" Gongsun Long-tzu", these levels can be clearly distinguished and correlated with the participants in the dialogue.

The most important elements of traditional Chinese culture formed the basis of two presentations. V. S. Kuznetsov (IDV) in the report "The Chinese view of the fatal significance of numbers" on the basis of numerous ethnographic data showed the important role that numbers play in the life of Chinese people up to the present time. He noted that many ideas about the meaning of certain numbers go back to ancient views reflected in classical literature, and directly correlate with the numerological constructions of traditional philosophy. The speaker also stressed that in everyday life, the figure for the Chinese is not just a means of counting, measuring, but a kind of guide to behavior in a particular case. V. B. Kurnosova (ISAA at Moscow State University) spoke about the history of tea culture in China in the context of its interaction with Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism and the positive perception of tea drinking by the "three teachings" (Chinese: Hsien tsao). Some texts on tea culture related to different periods of Chinese history were also described.

Two reports touched upon the problems of methodology of Chinese philosophy. In his speech "Typological matrices of thought processes of ancient Chinese and the problem of universals" A. N. Vorobyov (IDV) proved the primacy of the five elements (wu xing) in relation to Wu cai (five materials) and Liu Fu (six warehouses). The problem of universals of Western philosophy, he noted, was solved by the Chinese as early as the sixth century BC. The topic of P. M. Kozhin's report (IDV) is "Norms and exceptions in ancient Chinese philosophical texts".

page 131

E. G. Kalkaev (IDV) considered the problem of text incorporation into the canonical space on the example of the treatise "Tai Xuan" ("Treatise on the Great Hidden") by the famous writer and philosopher of the Han era (206 BC - 220 AD) - Yang Xiong (53 BC - 18 AD).A characteristic feature of the mentioned treatise, according to the speaker, was that, on the one hand, in its form and content, the text significantly differed from other works of the Han period, and on the other - following the tradition of the "I Ching" ("Book of Changes") it received its purpose-it contained a description of the structure of the universe and its ordering. In the course of the presentation, it was shown how the specific functions of the treatise contributed to its adaptation to the traditional textual space, with its already rather strict and regulated connections.

A. B. Kalkaeva (IDV) considered the evolution of the basic concept of " life "(Chinese: shengming, shenkho) in the cultural concept of Liang Shumin (1893-1988). Having shown the development of this category in various works of the philosopher, the speaker demonstrated how from the dualism of the concept of "life", the lifeless basis of the world, he gradually came to its interpretation as the only higher reality. Distinguishing between the two essences of life: changing and calm, the thinker built a model of the anthropocentric cosmos based on the dichotomy" peace - movement", thus continuing the tradition of Sung and Ming Confucianism. Liang Shuming's philosophy is also characterized by the desire to reconcile Confucianism and Buddhism in one worldview: the teachings of Confucius cover one aspect of the great life, and the teachings of the Buddha cover another.

N. E. Borevskaya (IDV) traced the general line of the history of Chinese pedagogical thought, starting with Confucius (552-479 BC) and Mencius (IV-III centuries BC) and up to Ming Confucianism (XIII-VI centuries). She noted the close connection of learning concepts with different views on human nature. Speaking about the pedagogical views of the neo-Confucian philosopher Wang Yangming (1472-1529), N. E. Borevskaya pointed out the fundamental role of his theory of "innate knowledge" for the development of later pedagogical thought.

A number of presentations were devoted to the topic of continuity of cultural tradition in China, which is not interrupted even in times of global change.

K. A. Bogatyrev (RUDN University), highlighting the role of Confucianism in ancient and medieval China, noted the enormous influence of the Confucian philosophical tradition on the development of Chinese society in modern and modern times, with all the accompanying negative and positive factors.

In her presentation "The Confucian concept of' Unity without Unification '(He er bu tong) and its modern interpretation", A.V. Allabert (St. Petersburg State University) focused on the tradition of reinterpretation of certain provisions of classical Confucianism in the political culture of China. It was noted that in different epochs, preference was given to precisely those provisions of Confucianism that corresponded to the idea of strengthening the state, preventing acute conflict situations and centrifugal tendencies in the state. At the same time, the original meaning of the principles borrowed from ancient Confucianism was often corrected, supplemented, or even completely contradicted the original meaning. Many Confucian principles have acquired a new relevant meaning that is in tune with the current situation of society and the state. In this context, the speaker considered the concept of "unity without unification". In conclusion, the speaker stressed that in an effort to preserve the rich spiritual heritage of Chinese civilization, modern researchers fill old concepts with a new interpretation, place them in the context of modern social phenomena, the international situation, in order to solve the global contradictions of today's world with their help.

Bao Ou (IIET RAS) in her report "Scientific and technological innovation and the Chinese tradition" spoke about various forms and interpretations of innovation (chuangxin) in different historical periods and its significance for modern China. An adequate understanding of Chinese culture is possible only in the context of its interaction with the culture of Western civilization. The East-West problem is now taking on new dimensions. It is directly related to the problem of self - understanding of culture and cultural and ideological self-identification, which is becoming particularly acute in the modern era of erasing cultural boundaries and losing traditional spiritual landmarks. The speaker also analyzed the features of traditional Chinese culture (suppression of the individual and glorification of the collective-

page 132

go, insufficient development of formal logic, conservatism) and paid special attention to the need for mutual contact between the cultures of China and the West in our days. Such interaction and mutual influence, according to Bao Ou, would allow the Chinese to better understand their own culture, as well as the pragmatic nature of Western culture in the technical field.

The problem of dialogue between China and the West, the creation of a global ethics of humanity was in the center of attention of the conference participants. During the presentations and discussions, it was noted that the synthesis of Western culture and Chinese spiritual values largely determined the essence of a new stage in the development of Chinese civilization, becoming a strong incentive for active growth.

In this context, the conference also considered the problem of combining the teachings of Christianity with the traditional culture of the East. A. V. Lomanov (IDV) spoke about the scientific and missionary work of James Legg, a famous translator and interpreter of Chinese classics. The speaker elaborated on the participation of J. R. R. Tolkien in the conference. Legge has been involved in disputes over the translation of major theological terms into Chinese, his focus on traditional culture, and his belief that Confucianism contains a number of elements that anticipate Christianity.

The report of S. A. Gorbunova (IDV) was dedicated to the famous Buddhist reformer-monk Taixu, who had a great influence on the development of Chinese Buddhism in the XX century. Taixu's theory of "Buddhism in Human Life", which aims to create a new model of Buddhism, was intended to promote the dissemination and popularization of this teaching - its turn to society. An important factor in the spread of Taixu's religious reform ideas was the financial support of representatives of the national bourgeoisie, who, in turn, became adherents of Buddhist teachings. In an effort to reform Buddhist teaching, calling for a change in the religious structure, advocating a synthesis of Mahayana and science, Taixu tried to give Buddhism a look that corresponded to modern social life. Summing up her speech, S. A. Gorbunova noted that the Taixu theory "Buddhism in human life" was a synthesis of traditional Buddhism and European humanism, a synthesis of Eastern and Western thought.

K. M. Shilin (ISAA) suggested that the audience rethink the legacy of Karl Marx and pay attention to the "ecosophical level" of his ideas. Based on his research, the speaker concluded that the positive development of the world is possible with the synthesis of Eurasian, Chinese and Western cultures and the reorientation of the economic and cultural management system as a whole to the harmonious development of human-nature relations.

The problems of modernization and interpenetration of elements of cultures, traditions, and value orientations of the East and West were also considered in the context of the development of modern Japanese philosophy.

A. A. Selin (IDV) noted that modern Japanese philosophical thought develops within the framework of the West - East dialogue. In the second half of the 19th century, the Japanese intelligentsia began to rapidly become familiar with Western philosophy. But this acquaintance did not imply an unconditional adherence to European thought, but a search by Japanese philosophers for new principles and methods of philosophical reflection of their own. A special role in this process was played by Nishido Kitaro (1870-1945), the founder of the Kyoto School of Philosophy. It was Nishida's "philosophy of non-existence" that was the first sign of the maturity of modern Japanese thought.

O. A. Romanov (St. Petersburg State University) tried to determine the place of the philosophy of existentialism in the information society of modern Japan. Considering the mentioned phenomenon on the Japanese example, in his opinion, makes it possible to study in detail the issues of contact between the very ideological foundations of Japanese and Western culture; to conduct a new "reassessment of values" in relation to a person. The question raised was considered in the context of a more global problem - the need to rebuild the traditional lifestyle in accordance with the trends and changes of the new information society.

The conference also focused on the peculiarities of traditional Japanese culture. D. G. Glaveva's report was devoted to the analysis of one of the main religious and philosophical aspects of medieval Japan, namely, the correct understanding of the hongaku principle , or "initial enlightenment" - the presence of an "enlightened nature" in externally unenlightened living beings.

page 133

ku in the tradition of Japanese Buddhism and showed that, despite the difference in the wording of hongaku, representatives of different schools believed that the" nature of kaku "("enlightenment"," comprehension") belongs to something already existing, and not imaginary, or possible in the future.

D. G. Glaveva tried to trace how the hongaku principle influenced the formation of intellectual and aesthetic moods of medieval Japanese society, as well as to identify the exclusive role of this principle in "removing" the main opposite of the Buddhist worldview: the enlightened state of consciousness and the way to achieve it (practice) on the basis of awareness of the essential unity of the world. According to the speaker, the concept of hongaku, which formed the basis of the Buddhist culture of Japan, determined the practical orientation of its main schools and the absolute equality of phenomena and values in their constructions.

O. N. Borokh addressed the topic of scientific corruption (Chinese: xueshu fubai) in China - a problem that has been actively discussed recently in the Chinese media. T. V. Shaikova introduced the audience to the article by the Rector of Heilongjiang University I. Junqing "Practical philosophy: transcendence and sublimation", dedicated to discussions about practical philosophy. T. V. Shaikova noted that in the period of transformation of modern Chinese society, practical philosophy should be embodied in the educational function of culture. In the era of information and globalization, the study of practical philosophy should go in parallel with the study of cultural philosophy, i.e. move from the level of theoretical rationality to the level of practical rationality.

L. I. Kondrashova, having highlighted the development of private and public property in the medieval and modern economic life of China, came to the conclusion that it is necessary to abandon the idea of the mutually exclusive nature of the relationship between such concepts as "private" and "public", "personal" and "collective", and consider them primarily as complementary categories. V. N. Usov, based on the analysis of Chinese periodicals published in 1978, considered the ideological situation in the country after the death of Mao Zedong, and traced the process of its change in the light of the discussion "on practice as the only criterion of truth".

Two reports were devoted to the problem of translation. S. I. Korolev (Moscow Institute of Historical Anthropology) emphasized the expediency of interpretive translations in order to adequately understand texts belonging to different cultures. The presentation of L. I. Golovacheva (Sevastopol) "Intra-text relations, acrostics and mesostitches in Lun yu" continued a series of her research in the field of textual analysis of this treatise. In an effort to achieve an adequate interpretation, the speaker attempted to treat "Lun Yu" as a mesatext, combining fragments using a number of technical methods.

Several interesting presentations on literary studies were presented at the conference. V. F. Sorokin (IDV) spoke about the life and work of the writer and critic Zhou Zuren, whose literary works were undeservedly forgotten, and whose creative pursuits were not developed in Chinese literature in subsequent years. Zhou Zuoren believed that a writer should not expound any teaching in his works, but should give up the desire to bring benefits. In a polemic with Marxists, he wrote that literature cannot have a decisive influence on the masses, and if a book reflects a class position, it does so regardless of the author's intentions.

A. N. Zhelokhovtsev (IDV) reported on the new "Training Course on the History of Modern Chinese Literature" by Chen Sihe, published in 1999 by Fudan University. Thanks to the new methodological guidelines, this course was able to present modern Chinese literature much more fully than other works of Chinese specialists. At the same time, it solves the problem successfully set by the author - to interest the younger generation in modern Russian literature.

The topic of Zhao Chunmei's speech (Nanking University, China) is "Leo Tolstoy and Chinese Classical Philosophy".

During the conference, special attention was paid to the search for analogues of the spiritual and ideological foundations of Eastern and Western cultures. New ways of complex historical-cultural, historical - philosophical textual research of the specifics of the value systems of the East and West were outlined.

Permanent link to this publication: