Enlightenment in the Name of Rejection?: Chinese Straussians’ self-image within the intellectual debate in post-1989 China

Existing literature on the intellectual field in the post-1989 China has focused predominantly on the intellectuals of the mainstream trends of thoughts and “-isms”, including for example, the neo-conservativism and the Liberals. While scholarships contribute to the discussion from a variety of perspectives, one genre has probed into the divergent self-images of the mainstream intellectuals in the post-1989 era. Despite the mainstream trends of thoughts and “-isms”, however, the intellectual field of the post-1989 China had also comprised marginal trends of thoughts and inconspicuous intellectuals respectively, for example, Chinese Straussians. Current studies revolving the rise of Chinese Straussians have so far concentrated mainly on its critiques on the mainstream trends but have not yet discussed whether Chinese Straussians’ self-image is divergent from the mainstream. In this regard, this thesis is proposed to study the self-image of Chinese Straussians and to compare it with...Show moreExisting literature on the intellectual field in the post-1989 China has focused predominantly on the intellectuals of the mainstream trends of thoughts and “-isms”, including for example, the neo-conservativism and the Liberals. While scholarships contribute to the discussion from a variety of perspectives, one genre has probed into the divergent self-images of the mainstream intellectuals in the post-1989 era. Despite the mainstream trends of thoughts and “-isms”, however, the intellectual field of the post-1989 China had also comprised marginal trends of thoughts and inconspicuous intellectuals respectively, for example, Chinese Straussians. Current studies revolving the rise of Chinese Straussians have so far concentrated mainly on its critiques on the mainstream trends but have not yet discussed whether Chinese Straussians’ self-image is divergent from the mainstream. In this regard, this thesis is proposed to study the self-image of Chinese Straussians and to compare it with the self-images of the mainstream intellectuals. This thesis will thus contribute to the existing academic debate by providing a more sophisticated understanding of Chinese Straussians, one of the marginal threads of the post-1989 intellectual field, that is considered to have fundamentally challenged the mainstream intellectuals.Show less

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Enlightenment in the Name of Rejection? Chinese Straussians’ self-image within the intellectual debate in post-1989 China