The Study Of Core Terms Of Chinese Modern Ethics

Focusing on the core terms of modern Chinese ethics, this paper attempts to investigate into the formation and evolution of them in the cultural interaction among China, the West and Japan. Through the exploration of the origins of these core terms, the author tries to trace the historical trajectory of these terms in foreign docking, ancient and modern interpretation as well as the historical and cultural connotations in semantic changes, highlighting the complexities and intricacies in the evolution of modern ethical transformation and in the hybridized landscape of the mixed old and new ideas.This paper is divided into five chapters, respectively elaborating upon five dimensions:the first chapter deals with the Sino-Japan cultural background of the formation of these core terms and the interaction in the Sino-Japan ethics; the second chapter expounds the representative and the books in the formation of these core terms of modern Chinese ethics; the third chapter is concerned with the specific formation and evolution of the core terms of modern Chinese ethics; the fourth chapter expatiates on the general rules of the core terms of modern Chinese ethics and the fifth one is about the influence of the core terms of modern Chinese ethics upon the modern and contemporary Chinese ethics.Major conclusions of the dissertation are as follows:First, the core terms of modern Chinese ethics are products of the invasion of the Mainstream from West to China as well as the clashing and melting of the Sino-Japan cultures, which, as a call of the time, is the logical result of the transformation of the Chinese ethics from traditional to modern.Second, there are two points worth noting in the formation of these core terms of modern Chinese ethics:people who disseminated those new ethical terms; and the books, newspapers and journals. As pioneers and founders of modern Chinese ethics, scholars like Liang Qichao, Wang Guowei, Liu Shipei, Cai Yuanpei made a significant contribution to the generation of the core terms of modern Chinese ethics."Third, since many of the core terms of modem Chinese ethics were transplanted from the western ethical terms and reborn in China, they were bestowed with some new meanings; therefore it is understandable that only very few of these terms are direct equivalents between western and Chinese ethics, hence the third way of the formation of modern Chinese ethics:recreation by virtue of literal translation or returned words i.e. the so called "returned overseas words." Fourth, joint efforts were made by missionaries in China, modern Japanese and Chinese scholars in promoting the generation of core terms in modern Chinese ethics; however, because of the varied levels of their educational background, social status and values, the contribution made by them were different.Fifth, the generating process of these core terms is rather complex in that it is a semantic evolution of the subjectivity centering on "Ⅰ." The formation of these core terms was conditioned and determined by many a factor such as Japanese culture, the official academic attitude, horizon of those creators, their experience and other personal qualities as well as the unique characteristics of Chinese characters.Sixth, the formation of the core terms of China’s modern ethics helped construct modern Chinese ethics as a discipline; these terms were inherited and developed in the Chinese modern and contemporary ethics but in practice in a divided state.