In Zhongyong 中庸 (The Doctrine of the Mean), cheng 诚 (sincerity) is the “Dao of all Daos”, the “virtue of all virtues”, and thus connects the Dao of humans and that of Heaven. The Dao of humans can reveal the sincerity in the Dao of Heaven in two approaches: to contemplate on sincerity and to conduct in sincerity. Meanwhile, sincerity in the Dao of Heaven is unfolded in everything’s seeking for its own nature and destiny, thus the most fundamental approach (...) for the Dao of humans to reveal the sincerity in the Dao of Heaven is for humans to seek for everything’s own nature and destiny. (shrink)

Editor’s AbstractAccording to philosopher Chen Yun in this essay, only by reorienting Confucianism around the idea of (Chinese) civilization will it be able to critique modernity, instead of passively accommodating itself to modernity. Like many other MNCs, Chen views all of the contemporary narratives of world history as fundamentally Eurocentric, based on presuppositions that emerged in Western modernity but without acknowledging their reliance on what is really only one among several other civilizational options.