Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
10-2011
Abstract
This response to Zongjie Wu's "Interpretation, autonomy, and interpretation" focuses on the "battle between East and West" which contextualizes Wu's proposal to counter the current Western domination of Chinese pedagogic discourse with an "authentic language" recovered from the Chinese classics. It points out that it is impossible and undesirable to reject all Western influences. The dualistic opposition between East and West over-simplifies and blinds one to the complexity of China's history and culture, and unnecessarily limits future possibilities. It challenges Wu's conflation of Confucianism and Daoism and his claim that the authentic "language of Tao" recovered from the "Analects" is a language "pointing to the nameless". The response concludes with an alternative Deweyan account of how to make Chinese education authentic.
Discipline
Chinese Studies | Classics | Philosophy
Research Areas
Humanities
Publication
Journal of Curriculum Studies
Volume
43
Issue
5
First Page
623
Last Page
630
ISSN
0022-0272
Identifier
10.1080/00220272.2011.577813
Publisher
Taylor & Francis (Routledge): SSH Titles
Citation
TAN, Sor-hoon.(2011). Why study the Chinese classics and how to go about it?. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 43(5), 623-630.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2610
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2011.577813