Table of Content

20 November 2018, Volume 38 Issue 6

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Simmel's Theory on Individuality

WANG Liping, CHAN Kato

2018, 38(6):  91-124. 

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This paper aims to unpack Simmel's theory of individuality that is central to his notable vitalist philosophy. Simmel's discussion on the development of individuality in German intellectual history can serve as a lead-in to trace the crucial intellectual changes from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment Period in the 18^th century, and the rise of Romanticism in the 19^th century and afterwards. The first intellectual change was signified by the transition from an emphasis on the uniqueness of individuals in relation to society to the dedication to individual freedom as a mission to the freedom of the entire human species. The 19^th century witnessed a drastic change when capitalism had matured into a complex and impersonal mode of production where individuals became isolated from the world. The unprecedented personal freedom led to atomic individualism, essential to the understanding of Nietzsche's philosophy that once separated from an organic whole, individuals no longer had a sense of belonging to human as a species. This paper discusses extensively Nietzsche's influence on Simmel. Facing a reality where individuals are no longer part of a larger whole, Simmel was particularly interested in the source of energy that moved individuals forward. Simmel looked into various characteristics of modernity such as division of labour in capitalism, transition of artistic forms and extended sensibility of time (especially the meaning of death), and concluded with his conceptualization of individual will as a fundamental for synthesizing modern individuals. The paper concludes with a response to Max Weber and Georg Lukacs's critiques of Simmel's works. Weber shares the individualist stance with Simmel even though he critiqued Simmel's vitalist philosophy from a rationalist standpoint. Lukacs maintained a critical view of the German Idealist Tradition of Simmel's philosophy.

Self-Preservation and Sociology's Modern Moral-Personality: The Duel Structure in Suicide

SUN Feiyu

2018, 38(6):  125-154. 

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According to Durkheim's definition,suicide definitively means a conscious choice of death. The opposite of death is being and there is no middle ground in between. Therefore, when Durkheim discusses suicide,he indirectly touches the issue of living,or a choice of self-preservation,as well. This veiled discussion was unacknowledged by the Chinese mainland sociology because the widely adopted Chinese version of Durkheim's Suicide missed out most of the textual evidence of these clues in the book. This paper offers a textual analysis of Durkheim's Suicide to identify such clues. Durkheim treats different types of suicide as the extreme form of expression of different types of morals,and,in many places, his discussion touches the question of under what kind of moral condition that one could preserve oneself. The paper argues that there is an inner connection between Durkheim's definition on three types of suicide and his definition of sociology. As a social scientist on morality, he sees sociology as an expression of certain modern morality,the same kind of moral condition he calls for in his book. This moral entity signifies self-preservation for both modern individual and sociology.

Understanding and Practice of Value Ideals: Max Weber's Ethical Education

WANG Nan

2018, 38(6):  155-179. 

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This paper attempts to reveal the ethical education orientation in Weber's thoughts, focusing on his discussion about ethical significance of science and politics. The historical and social background of Weber's time, including his personal letters and biographies, was explored. This paper argues that in the face of the spiritual crisis of the Wilhelm Ⅱ era, Weber believed that although social science was conceptually abstract in nature, it still could reveal the transcendental value of civilizations and history, and through the description of its objective practice, people could see how value ideals were implemented in reality to produce complex changes and consequences. In his view, social science was not about building a closed abstract worldview, or trying to monopolize the life world. On the contrary, the real social science gave room for diverse beliefs and ethical practices, and offered the possibility of reviving the traditions of many civilizations. The author believes that Weber's ethical education suggests that science can clarify value positions and their practical consequences, and thus helps people cultivate their self-awareness and truth-seeking and matter-of-fact qualities, and practice their ideals in daily work and life. Weber at the same time also warned us of the violent nature of subjective ideals and the complexity and ambiguity of practice. Thus, for modern people, the desirable ethical quality is to combine convictions with a clear sense of reality and responsibility.

The Formation of “Gong-yi” in Modern China: A Philological Perspective

WU Huanyu

2018, 38(6):  180-215. 

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The Chinese term "gong-yi"(公益), which usually translated as "philanthropy" or "public interest" in English, has long been regarded as a new modern concept originated from Japan in the early 20^th century. This study, however, finds the term "gong-yi" had appeared in China at least no later than the middle of Qing Dynasty. Its usage stood for three major meanings:economic benefit, national interest and local public affair. With high probability, the meaning of "national interest" of the term was introduced into Japan through the Japanese translation of a Chinese version of Henry Wheaton's Elements of International Law in the first place. The Japanese usage of "gong-yi" was thus transformed accordingly ever since. Consequently, at the late 19^th century this usage was brought back into China along with the new thinking of the Meiji Restoration, becoming a tool for reform discourse in Chinese language. "Gong-yi", with its newly coined meaning, was used as an ideological term to express ideas about reformation in the early 20^th century China. It was in this capacity that the Chinese "gong-yi" was swiftly popularized and often referred to the reformation as national interest. At the same time, the denotation of "gong-yi" was sometimes inevitably ambiguous wavering between "the nation" and "the local". It reflected the volatile conflict between the state and the local over legitimate control of "public" resources in a transitional period. Therefore, while "gong-yi" was used as an ideological concept to construct a political movement at the time, its discourse between the state and the society seemed unsettled and intermingled. In author's view, the question of to what extent this interlock between the emergency of modern "gong-yi" and the nation's modern transition might have shaped the historical formation of Chinese citizenship yields insights to the investigation of the nature of Chinese philanthropy and its essence in public spirit.

Parenting Styles and the Development of Non-Cognitive Skills among Chinese Adolescents

HUANG Chao

2018, 38(6):  216-240. 

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The mainstream research on social stratification and educational sociology largely focuses on the effects of economic and culture capital on adolescent performance such as test scores or educational attainment,while little attention has been paid to the parent-child relationship and its influences on children. James Coleman pointed out that norms,social networks,and relationships between adults and children had an imperative importance over children's development. In the line with his theory,this study examines the SES-related differences in parenting and the influence of parenting upon junior students' non-cognitive skills using the data from the "China Education Panel Survey" in 2014-2015. Baumrind's four parenting styles of authoritative,authoritarian,indulgent and neglectful are applied as an analytic framework. The author finds that:(1) Both authoritarian and neglectful parenting styles dominate among the Chinese;(2)Families with higher SES score higher in authoritative and indulgent parenting and lower authoritarian and neglectful parenting than families with lower SES;(3)Authoritative parenting is positively associated with non-cognitive skills whereas neglectful parenting has adverse effects. Furthermore,authoritative and indulgent parenting may lead to better development in sociability. This study offers insights into the role of parent-child relations in the inter-generational transmission of inequality. It appears that parenting styles such as authoritative or indulgent parenting style can help narrow the gap between high-and low-SES Chinese adolescents.