ISBN : 9781032149769
Author : Ayantunji Gbadamosi
Publisher : Routledge
Year : 2024
Language : English
Type : Book
Description : Drawing on a rich array of primary and secondary sources, this title traces the development of the Confucian conception of conscience, from Confucius and Mencius to Xiong Shili and Mou Zongsan, two representatives of Neo-Confucianism. This primacy of a moral sense is compared and contrasted with the tension within the Western culture between strains that place a premium on understanding and a deep commitment to the search for meaning in such philosophers as Habermas and Heidegger. The author explicates why such a commitment is essential to social research and how the focus on instrumental rationality that has defined modernity may be corrected by recentering the role of conscience on intellectual inquiry in general. To that end, both Chinese and Western cultures have plenty to offer both in terms of substantive insights and research methodologies.