Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present key elements of the philosophies of culture developed in China in the early 1920s. Focusing on major neoconservative authors such as Liang Qichao, Liang Shuming and Zhang Junmai, I shall try to highlight the most original and innovative aspects of these intellectuals’ philosophy of culture. While stressing on the continuity between the European, and more specifically the German debates, over the concept of Culture, one will insist on the specificity of the ideas elaborated by Chinese scholars really versed into traditional teachings. Ranging from the articles and books published during the debate on Western and Chinese cultures to the controversy over Science and Metaphysics, I shall present the philosophical conceptual framework in which the question of Culture was raised. One will for instance stress on the use of Buddhist conception of “Will” or on the Confucian background of “the Unity of Man and Heaven”. Thought these intellectual productions have often been understood as materials dealing with political issues, I shall try to underline their real philosophical content. The way they address many conceptions of western philosophies of culture should be taken into consideration.