Cultural Reflections on the Great and Originating Period

Since the 1980s, Chen Lai has been attempting to resolve the binary opposition between tradition and modernity. He has contemplated the position of tradition in modern society from the perspective of “multicultural structures”, emphasizing the continuity of traditions of value rationality. In an exceptional move, he has departed from monistic universality and established “poly-universalism” to rethink the mode of existence of universality. He argues that universality is not an exclusive mode in which one must select one universalism or another, but rather that each civilization contains inherent universality. While certain conditions are required to realize universality, one cannot comprehensively replace the universal values of one civilization with those of another. Based on this cultural view, and considering the relationship between the basic principles of Marxism and traditional Chinese culture, Chen upholds the essence of benevolence, promotes the new four virtues, and reflects on the value of traditional Confucian virtues in contemporary China.