Hello. Welcome back to the course and to sunny, tropical Singapore. Now, from our interviews, I think it is quite clear that there are many, many different views on the role of Confucianism in contemporary society. Whereas, Professor Roger Ames, for example, emphasises the continuity and transmission of Chinese tradition through the Chinese language. The others remind us that Confucianism is diversely understood. Professor Luo An Xian , you remember, pointed out that other elements including Marxism also have a role to play in shaping the Chinese imagination today. Nevertheless, there is some agreement among our guests that Confucianism plays a positive role in contemporary society, for example, in promoting social harmony, as our alumnus, Mr. Shan Lan Yong suggests. This is a view shared by, Ms. Chen Jinrong, another very successful member of our alumni family. And she also stresses that, harmony is ever more important today, as the world seems to be engulfed by endless conflicts. And according to Mr. Wang Feng Chang who is in the culture industry, Confucian philosophy can provide a valuable remedy against the kind of profit driven culture that is sweeping across China today. It is interesting to note that there is some effort on the part of the Chinese government to promote traditional values in schools such as filial care and respect for the elderly as Ms Chen Jinrong also pointed out. Now, on the question of whether any one single concept stands out as being the most important or essential to Confucian philosophy, the diversity of views is equally fascinating. Dr. Li Jifen, you also remember, singles out the concept of Li proper conduct as being the most important; whereas Professor Luo points to the concept of Ren Humaneness. Professor Shirley Chan and Professor Dennis Schilling privilege the concept of Xiao, Filial Piety whereas Professor Ames focuses our attention on the ideal of harmony. We have discussed all of these concepts previously. Now what do you think? Dr. Kong Li, one of the descendants of the clan of Confucius sees Ren Humaneness as essential, because it is Ren that transforms Li-ritual action, habituated action into Li that is ethically significant proper conduct. Now she also emphasises the central role of filial care and concern, Xiao, and this seems to resonate with the comments made by several others we have spoken with. Especially, as parents, they all feel that Xiao is basic to cultivating moral responsibility in children. Ms Chen Jinrong, who is a school principal explains further that, Xiao is important because this is how children learn to become compassionate and caring towards others, starting from home, yes, but extending, ever extending the loving care between parent and child towards others. Now our approach has been to emphasise the inter-relatedness; how they are informed by each other, how they complement one another and how they form an integral whole. Roger Ames seems to me is actually very perceptive. He said it was a trick question whether there is a single concept that stands out as being the most important in Confucianism and in a sense, it was. When you drink say ginseng chicken soup, you don't taste just the ginseng or the chicken but how the various ingredients blend together to form a distinct flavour. Value. The word "value" is sometimes used as a count noun and you can conceptually distinguish different values and count them. But "value" is also used as a mass noun, as an integral whole which does not admit of parts. Combining these two senses, we can say that Confucian values are embedded in a network and they are integrally related to one another. This kind of embeddedness, makes a certain cultural value distinctive. Take filial piety for example; whereas arguably filial care and concern is a universal cultural value found in all traditions. It does not follow, however, that filial piety is the same in all cultures. Chicken soup is also found in many cultures but it does not follow that all chicken soups are the same. In the Confucian case, how Xiao is informed by Ren and Li makes it distinctive just like chicken soup infused with red dates, ginger or ginseng. On the question whether there is a religious dimension to Confucianism, the verdict seems quite divided. A number of our studio guests didn't think there is a religious dimension to Confucianism and this includes Mr. Kong Yi Zhong, another descendant of the clan of Confucius. Ms. Mary Ma our alumna, also commented that Confucianism, to her at least, seems more like a way of life than a religion because it lacks the typical features of what one expects to find in a religious tradition. Confucius, for example, is not worshiped as a deity but revered as a model teacher and sage. However, all our learned professors seem to think that, yes, there is a religious dimension to Confucianism, although it is not as an institutionalized religion and it may be better understood in the sense of a deep religiousness or spirituality endowing even everyday action however small or minute such as relating to one's family with spiritual significance. Certainly, Confucianism does not carry any religious membership or identity, but religion is not an easy word to define and in a broad sense, I would like to argue that Confucian philosophy is underpinned by a strong sense of spirituality. At the very least, there is an inherent faith in the ability of human beings to achieve sincerity and righteousness in becoming fully, fully human in an ethical and not just biological sense and in realising the ideal society marked by harmony. So, what is the direction of development of Confucian philosophy in the future? Shirley Chan emphasises the humanistic DNA of Confucianism, and how that will continue to shape its future development. We are still facing the same problems as Confucius did 2500 years ago she said. And that's because the problems we face today are still due to rampant desire and an equal distribution of limited resources. Some have brought up the need for Confucianism to come to terms with modernity embracing gender equality for example. Here it's interesting that Dr. Kong Li specifically mentioned that women are now formally included in the genealogical register or record of the Kong clan, whereas formerly women were excluded and she now actively participates in the birth anniversary celebrations of Confucius. In any case the general consensus seems to be that if Confucianism can confront its own internal challenges such as ensuring that family interests do not degenerate into nepotism and corruption. Confucian philosophy can contribute significantly in fact to a rapidly changing social and cultural world order. Professor Schilling pointed to the importance of science in global development. Even though Confucianism of course still has much to offer in terms of enhancing social relations. Now that's an important point. The problems the world faces today require global cooperation and the collaboration of the different fields of intellectual and social endeavors. Professor Roger Ames argues that, there is a sense in which Confucianism seeks to provide as he puts it a win-win model. And this brings us back to the ideal of harmony and I think there is some agreement among all our guests that harmony remains crucial to Confucian philosophy today. But let's remind ourselves that Confucian harmony is an ideal, an ethical and spiritual ideal. It provides hope and inspiration and spurs human action in a certain direction. But what we actually actually see in society, is never never the ideal itself rather at best an approximation and more often than not a deformed representation of it. In general terms, when we compare different traditions we should always always compare ideals with ideals and never never compare and contrast the ideas of one tradition with the failings or abuses of another tradition in social practice. Next. I want to bring these questions to a group of students and NTU and see how they understand Confucian philosophy. Now, shall we?
