%A Weiming Tu %T Confucian Humanism in Perspective %0 Journal Article %D 2013 %J Front. Lit. Stud. China %J Frontiers of Literary Studies in China %@ 1673-7318 %R 10.3868/s010-002-013-0019-1 %P 333-338 %V 7 %N 3 %U {https://journal.hep.com.cn/flsc/EN/10.3868/s010-002-013-0019-1 %8 2013-09-05 %X

This paper is a synthetic piece based on my attempts to address the significance and importance of Confucian humanism as a spiritual resource for human self-understanding in the 21st century. The relevance of Confucian spirituality to ecological civilization is self-evident, but the Confucian revival in Cultural China is predicated on its ability to transcend instrumental rationality, the Faustian drive to dominate, anthropocentrism, and China-centered mentality. The enabling power that helps an open, pluralistic and self-reflexive cultural identity to emerge will be greatly enhanced if China takes India as an essential reference society.