Page 163 - 2022(1) International Confusion Studies

156 M. Li

a factor in this development. The deeper problem, however, is the academic reality
that “learning” and “moral cultivation” are separated.

3 The Collision between the Integrity of
Confucianism and Modern Academic Specialties

In ancient China, all strata of society, family, ideas and concepts were enveloped
by Confucianism, and Confucians were a key part of the intellectual community.
Inside the box of “Confucianism,” different forms of Confucianism were
allowed to develop, but “Confucian studies” outside the “box” could rarely
survive. “Confucianism research” can befound outsidethe box. Theconcept of
“Confucianism research” (with “Confucianism” as the object of study) only
becomes possible in a modern society where the imperial system is no more, and
the majority of the intellectual community is no longer Confucian but made up of
scholars who remain outside the “box” of Confucianism.
However, although classical and modern are conceptually opposite, they both
fall into historical reality, like ripples that have kept flowing down the same long
river of time. The hundred-year history of modern scholarship is the history of the
transformation of the classical academic paradigm into the modern academic
paradigm. The coexistence of classical and modern academic paradigms and ways
of thinking, and the combining of national sentiments, practical concerns, and
academic research have resulted in the mixing up of “Confucianism” and
“Confucianism research.” When Confucianism was still mainly used as an object of
criticism or was even regarded as an intellectual resource requiring modernization,
the impact of this confusion on academic research was not obvious. But when
Confucianism becomes the source of values in researches, it became imperative
to distinguish between “Confucianism” and “Confucianism research.” The afore-
mentioned split within Confucianism is also partly due to the fact that there is no
differentiation between the idea of Confucian revival— which takes Confucianism
as an intellectual resource and a set of values, and Confucianism research, that
regards Confucianism as an object of investigation or as an intellectual resource to
be transformed.
In parallel with the Confucian revival, some scholars have identified them-
selves with Confucianism. Unlike other humanities-related research into modern
society, a striking phenomenon in Confucianism research today is that as an object
of study, it has largely influenced the self-identity of many researchers. If we
attend an academic seminar on Daoism, it is rare to find an institute or college
where a researcher claims to have been converted to Daoism; or who has become a