"Other-centered"-about Liang Shuming’s Theory On Relationship Between Individual And Collective

There had been a tendency to value individuals on discussing relationship between individual and collective among intellectuals of modern China. Liang Shuming believed that to value individuals was one of the most important reasons why the west society was developed and what Chinese traditional society neglected. Therefore, he proposed to construct a new "Group" for the new society, in which individuals and group would be "other-centered". The theory of individuals and collective of Liang Shuming was based on the changes of China society’s structure, and to rebuild its relationship was an important aspect to construct a new value system."Group" would be a new pattern of society’s structure, which was rooted in traditional concept of "collective" and granted new meanings in modernity context. Country was the best place to preserve Chinese traditional culture, where Liang Shuming fulfilled his theory on relationship between individual and collective. The new group would base on Chinese traditional culture, adding in western advanced political system, where individual and collective performed the obligation of "other-centeredness". Individual was the element of group. Individual in group was different to that in traditional five-human-relationship. The later cared more about performing his obligations and the former acted morally by considering others, during which individual’s subjectivity achieved. Liang Shuming introduced the concepts of "right" and "obligation" into group. What’s different from the west was that he refused to resort to rights but to perform obligations. Individuals were "other-centered", and rights had already existed on performing obligations. It showed that Liang Shuming’s thought changed from elite culture to peasant culture by his attention to group. He advocated combining the elite politics and the majority politics together. Liang Shuming’s "group" was a community of value, where individuals had common identities. Compared with the right-centered community, it would be more stable.