New Confucian Liang Shuming's Transformation of John Dewey's Philosophy in Chinese Rural Education

• In Event: Crown Plaza Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: Alternative Approaches to Teaching-Learning: Conversations Among Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism

Abstract

This paper illuminates the cross-cultural philosophical dynamics that took place during the Republican era (in particular the 1930s) by investigating the ways in which Neo Confucian Liang Shuming’s cultural conservatism fused Confucian’s idea with Dewey’s educational thought. In other words, this paper’s purpose is to uncover how Liang Shuming synthesized his New Confucian thought and Dewey’s pragmatism in his rural educational reformation. Jane Roland Martin’s theory of “double-entry cultural bookkeeping” serves as a valuable framework for delineating the development of Liang’s intellectual course. This theoretical framework enables me to display that Liang Shuming’s vision retains the “cultural assets” of both his Confucian and Deweyan learning while eliminating the “cultural liabilities” from each.

Author

• James Z. Yang, Independent scholar