儒家為什麼反對超人類主義？

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English. The concept of human enhancement is a key to understanding transhumanism. According to Confucian ethics, the supervision of human enhancement technology is vital because we are facing the reasonable expectation of achieving “the unity of heaven and man.” (The idea of harmony between man and nature is not exclusive to Confucianism; it can be found in other schools of thought in the pre-Qin dynasty period, especially the philosophy of Taoism. However, the idea is uniquely expressed and developed in Confucianism.) Furthermore, human enhancement makes people unable to “settle in their place.” Therefore, Confucianism cannot accept it.

儒家視角下的超人類主義反思——如何監管我們的後人類未來？

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English. 隨著高科技操縱人類生命的潛力日益明顯，超人類主義運動也愈加受到學界重視，相關研究飛速增長，但尚缺乏一種基於儒家視角的系統研究。本文試圖表明儒家視角對反思超人類主義具有不可替代的重要性，不僅因為它可以幫助我們更清晰、更深刻地把握超人類主義的影響和風險，而且因為它可以在超人類主義的技術主義圖景之外，提供想像和監管我們後人類未來的另一種可能性。具體而言，本研究致力於在一種隱含比較視域下展開儒家的批判性視角，從儒家“天人合一”觀念出發，闡釋儒家為什麼不能接受超人類主義，並嘗試探索儒家反對超人類主義的倫理理由與西方生物保守主義的同異之處。由此，本文嘗試將不同文化來源的思想帶入對話中，既是通過它們分歧之處，更是要通過它們共同關懷的議題，來更好地思考，超人類主義計劃對人類社會、對人類未來意味著什麼，並回答“如何監管我們的後人類未來”這一至關重要的問題。 As the potential of high technology to manipulate human life becomes increasingly evident, the transhumanist movement is receiving greater scholarly attention, and the number of related research projects is growing exponentially. However, systematic research from a Confucian perspective is still lacking. This paper attempts to demonstrate the unique value of a Confucian perspective in reflecting on transhumanism. Confucian thought can not only help us grasp the implications and risks of transhumanism with clarity and depth but also offer alternative possibilities for imagining as well as regulating our posthuman future beyond the technocratic picture of transhumanism. Specifically, this paper develops a critical Confucian perspective in an implicitly comparative context to explain why Confucianism cannot accept transhumanism （due to the Confucian notion of “the unity of heaven and man”（天人合一）and to explore the similarities and differences between Confucian and bio-conservative perspectives on transhumanism. I thereby bring ideas from different cultural sources into dialogue to form a better understanding of what transhumanism means for human society and its future, and to answer the crucial question of how to regulate our posthuman future.

“超人類主義”是主體形而上學的新形式

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English. Transhumanism is a contemporary form of Western “subject metaphysics” that combines the dual elements of Cartesianism and Nietzsche's “metaphysics of will.” The essence of Eros is the human desire for totality, which is interlinked with the secret desire for today's “human enhancement” technology. The Confucian idea of “the unity of heaven and man”（天人合一）can solve many problems in the debate between biological conservatism and bioprogressivism. The ideological foundation of this idea in Laozi's and Zhuangzi's thought should be taken seriously. Recognition of human limitations is an important aspect of traditional Confucian—Taoist wisdom, but human enhancement technology is in essence a tool for “excessive reduction”.

Vietnamese and Chinese Movies about Royalty

Since 2002, with the enormously successful release of the movie Hero by Zhang Yimou, we have been witnessing the resurrection of the royal theme in contemporary East Asian cinema, and the return of Confucian cosmology as its philosophical foundation. In this paper, I focus on Vietnamese films which represent royal subjects and court life, like Heroes of the Tay Son Dynasty (Tây Sơn hào kiệt; Lý Hùng, Lý Huỳnh, and Phượng Hoàng; 2010), Blood Letter (Thiên mệnh anh hùng, Victor Vũ, 2012), and Tam Cam The Untold Story (Tấm Cám chuyện chưa kể, Ngô Thanh Vân, 2016); and Chinese films, like Hero (英雄, Zhang Yimou, 2002), The Banquet (夜宴, Feng Xiaogang, 2006), and Red Cliff (赤壁, John Woo, 2008). Firstly and most importantly, my essay examines how the cosmic and environmental elements in such movies are manipulated to advocate some particular political discourse as a kind of ecological politics. From this analysis, I analyse and explain the similarities in how the filmmakers in Vietnam and China establish the stereotypes of power and legitimacy of authority utilizing and transforming the Confucian spiritual cosmology. I also try to clarify the difference between the two cinemas in how they express the concepts “the Unity of Heaven and Man” (tianren heyi), “Rectification of Names” (zhengming), and “Virtue of Loving Life” (haosheng) in their political implications. Finally, I will discuss the layers of meaning and visual narratives by analysing the characters and social contexts of the films to reaffirm the varying degrees of influence of Confucian tradition on contemporary forms of cultural and political practices.