Different approaches to Chinese aesthetics : Fang Dongmei and Xu Fuguan

Sernelj, Tea (author)

The article introduces Fang Dongmei’s and Xu Fuguan’s ideas about aesthetics and exam-ines their different methodological approaches. Fang Dongmei and Xu Fuguan are both representatives of the second generation of Modern Taiwanese Confucianism. The fun-damental goal of this significant movement is to re-evaluate and re-examine the profound contents of Chinese thought in contemporary socio-political conditions through a dia-logue with Western philosophy. The representatives of Modern Confucianism of the 20thcentury hoped that the encounter with the Western intellectual tradition would serve as a platform for modernization of Chinese culture on the one hand, and as a way to achieve the recognition of the West for the profound value of the Chinese intellectual tradition on the other. Fang Dongmei was one of the first representatives of this movement who was trained in Western and Chinese philosophy, and hence built his own philosophical theory on the encounter of both, while Xu Fuguan was one of the first who engaged in a dialogue with the West in the field of Chinese aesthetics. The present article illuminates the profound differences in their basic methods: while Fang Dongmei’s elaboration upon Chinese art and aesthetics is based on philosophical and poetic approaches, Xu Fuguan’s comprehension is grounded on philological, historical and cultural analyses. The author argues that such mutual differences between their ideas show their reciprocal comple-mentarity, which in turn provides a more profound and clear understanding of the specific spirit of Chinese art.

• Language: English
• Keywords: Fang Dongmei, Xu Fuguan, Chinese aesthetic, the spirit of Chinese art, Taiwanese philosophy, Modern Confucianism
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 01.09.2020
• Year: 2020
• Number of pages: Str. 161-182
• Numbering: Vol. 8 (24), issue 3
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-142885
• UDC: 1:221.7
• ISSN on article: 2232-5131
• COBISS.SI-ID: 28498691
• Publication date in RUL: 30.11.2022

Record is a part of a proceedings

• Title: Taiwanese philosophy and the preservation of Chinese philosophical traditions
• COBISS.SI-ID: 25324035

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Asian studies
• Publisher: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
• ISSN: 2232-5131
• COBISS.SI-ID: 265206272

Licences

• License: CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
• Description: This Creative Commons license is very similar to the regular Attribution license, but requires the release of all derivative works under this same license.
• Licensing start date: 22.09.2020

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Drugačni pristopi v obravnavi kitajske estetike
• Keywords: Fang Dongmei, Xu Fuguan, kitajska estetika, duh kitajske umetnosti, tajvanska filozofija, moderno konfucijanstvo

Projects

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: P6-0243
• Name: Azijski jeziki in kulture