Evaluation on the interaction between Chinese traditional philosophical culture and higher education ideas¹

Avaliação da interação entre a cultura filosófica tradicional chinesa e as ideias de ensino superior

Abstract:

The concept of higher education is the accumulation and philosophical implication of China’s excellent traditional culture, as well as the humanistic spirit and philosophical thought with Chinese characteristics. However, the current concept of higher education has problems, such as inaccurate target positioning, emphasizing theoretical teaching, neglecting practice and being difficult to adapt to market and social needs. How to solve these problems and promote the concept of higher education to glow with new vitality in the new era is currently an urgent issue to be solved. Therefore, this article focused on traditional Chinese philosophical culture and explored the interactive relationship between traditional Chinese philosophical culture and higher education concepts. This article attempted to analyze the relationship between traditional Chinese philosophical culture and higher education concepts from the perspective of their interaction, significance and ways to achieve interaction. The study found that the interaction between traditional Chinese philosophical culture and higher education concepts is of great significance, and it was an important starting point for educational reform to demonstrate new achievements in the new era. This article hoped that the study of the interactive relationship between the two can help people better understand the concept of higher education, better grasp the significance of higher education concepts in the new era from both knowledge and behavior, and provide more theoretical basis for higher education reform.

Keywords:
Interactive Relationship; Higher Education Concept; Traditional Chinese Philosophical Culture; Philosophy and Education

Resumo:

O conceito de ensino superior é o acúmulo e a implicação filosófica da excelente cultura tradicional da China, bem como o espírito humanístico e o pensamento filosófico com características chinesas. No entanto, o conceito atual de ensino superior tem problemas, como o posicionamento de metas imprecisas, a ênfase no ensino teórico, a negligência da prática e a dificuldade de adaptação às necessidades sociais e do mercado. Como resolver esses problemas e promover o conceito de ensino superior, para que brilhe com nova vitalidade, na nova era, é uma questão urgente a ser resolvida neste momento. Portanto, este artigo se concentrou na cultura filosófica tradicional chinesa e explorou a relação interativa entre a cultura filosófica tradicional chinesa e os conceitos de ensino superior. O texto procurou analisar a relação entre a cultura filosófica tradicional chinesa e os conceitos de ensino superior, a partir da perspectiva de sua interação, importância e formas de alcançar a interação. O estudo constatou que a interação entre a cultura filosófica tradicional chinesa e os conceitos de ensino superior é de grande importância, e foi um importante ponto de partida para a reforma educacional demonstrar novas conquistas, na nova era. Com este artigo, espera-se que o estudo da relação interativa entre ambos possa ajudar as pessoas a entenderem melhor o conceito de ensino superior, compreender melhor a importância dos conceitos de ensino superior, na nova era, tanto do ponto de vista do conhecimento quanto do comportamento, e fornecer mais base teórica para a reforma do ensino superior.

Palavras-chave:
Relação interativa; Conceito de ensino superior; Cultura filosófica tradicional chinesa; Filosofia e educação

Introduction

Higher education can stimulate abilities and ideas beyond one’s previous cognitive range, driving society forward continuously. The development of education and the development of society are proceeding simultaneously. Some of the problems or challenges that arise in the development of higher education, under the influence of social factors, are as follows: Firstly, the overall development level is still relatively low. Although higher education in China has developed rapidly in recent years, it is still at a relatively low level overall. Secondly, the contradiction between supply and demand is prominent, and the expansion capacity is limited. The development of general higher education in China has reached its largest scale in history, with a net increase of nearly 8.6 million students in 2021 compared to before the expansion in 1999. Such a large-scale expansion of enrollment has led to the emergence of universities with a population of 10000 across the country. However, from the perspective of the ordinary people’s demand for their children to receive high-level and high-quality education and the current level of higher education development in China, it is evident that the supply of undergraduate higher education is insufficient. In the current complex period of social transformation, how should higher education be reformed to adapt to today’s social development and enable it to meet the actual needs of the country for higher education is an important issue that needs to be urgently explored. The concept of higher education can provide people with a new reference perspective. The concept of education determines the starting point and end point of education, enabling people to understand the current development trend of higher education more comprehensively and deeply, from multiple dimensions and perspectives, improve the theoretical system of higher education based on the actual situation, proposing practical implementation plans, and thereby promote higher education reform.

This article examines the traditional Chinese philosophical culture, elucidates the driving function of traditional Chinese philosophical ideas on higher education and explores the interactive relationship of contemporary higher education concepts under the guidance of traditional Chinese philosophical culture, as well as the role and significance of traditional Chinese philosophical culture on higher education concepts. Through the study of the two, it can be seen that in the field of higher education, science and philosophy, as well as empirical and speculative approaches, as a whole, share the same goals. It not only demonstrates the new concepts of higher education, but also reflects the true connotation of higher education. The two are closely related and have important guiding significance for China’s educational reform. Due to the problems of inaccurate target positioning, emphasis on theoretical teaching, neglect of practice and difficulty in adapting to market and social needs in current higher education concepts, this article explores the interactive relationship between traditional Chinese philosophy and higher education concepts from the perspective of traditional Chinese philosophical culture. This article aims to help people better understand the concept of higher education, grasp the significance of higher education concepts in the new era from the perspectives of knowledge and behavior, and to provide more theoretical basis for higher education reform.

With the deepening of current educational reform, research on educational concepts is also increasing. Nature and time have always been key concepts in educational concepts. Educational thinkers from both the East and the West have tried to imitate and follow nature, and have tried to connect these two key educational concepts through seasonal media (Kato, 2022, p. 1345). The educational concept, after the Enlightenment, has become the main educational concept in most countries in the world today, based on the humanitarian values of peace. However, most of the time, the educational structure is violent, and education concepts are viewed with self-doubt and criticism to reach the core of educational issues (Hughes, 2020, p. 23). The concept of higher education requires college students to cultivate critical thinking and problem-solving ability and be able to understand the concept deeply. Our understanding of Laozi and Zhuangzi’s philosophical ideas is more inclined towards the understanding of “Dao follows nature” and “governing without action”. It vigorously advocates for a natural management approach, allowing nature to flow without action, which is slightly simple and refined. In “the movement of the anti Tao” and so on, we see the simple Dialectic meaning, which has a profound impact on the contemporary college students’ cognitive view and understands the way of everything. The concept map is an educational tool that promotes meaningful learning and an important component of higher education concepts, which plays a potential role in the learning process (Machado; Ana, 2020, p. 38). International education, to a large extent, is the product of the free global order based on the liberal internationalism ideology that emerged after World War II. However, because the idea of internationalization of higher education is undergoing tremendous changes, the era of internationalization of higher education may be coming to an end. To realize the true name of international education, it requires a coherent philosophy and a re-examination of its main ideas (Peters, 2020, p. 1233). These scholars’ research on educational concepts can enrich their theoretical content, but their research is mostly in different directions of educational concepts, which makes the research inadequate.

Some scholars have explored it through traditional Chinese philosophy and proposed different viewpoints. Before interpreting any ancient Chinese philosophical text, each answer involves, to a large extent, difficult and unresolved philosophical questions, especially the question of what it means to “have a concept” and how to understand truth itself. This requires multiple interpretations under contemporary conceptual and truth theories (Saunders Jr., 2022, p. 1). Confucianism and Taoism in ancient Chinese philosophical schools believe that the solution to the fate issue in ancient Chinese philosophy would be achieved through individuals, and indicate that this analysis is necessary for subsequent understanding of human behavior strategies in the world, while providing an opportunity for historical and cultural comparisons between Western European and Chinese civilizations (Muhametzyanov; Ilina, 2018, p. 617). These scholars can provide a certain theoretical basis for the study of traditional Chinese philosophy, but due to their lack of integration with higher education concepts and lack of clear research on the interaction between the two, the research has little reference value.

This article studied the interactive relationship between traditional Chinese philosophical culture and higher education concepts, and provided a theoretical overview from two aspects: the new concept of higher education and the innovation of traditional Chinese philosophical culture. In addition, this article also expounded the interactive relationship between Chinese traditional philosophical culture and higher education concepts from three aspects, and found that Chinese traditional philosophical culture helped promote the innovative development of higher education concepts, ultimately promoting higher education reform.

1 Overview of traditional Chinese philosophical culture and higher education concepts and theories

1.1 Higher education philosophy

1.1.1 Meaning

Higher education is an important component of the education system. After adolescents complete secondary education, they enter the stage of receiving higher education. It is an education based on secondary education and trains various high-level professional talents (Bedenlier; Yasar; Olaf, 2018, p. 108; Hodgson, 2015, p. 81). The university system is a system formed jointly by many universities. The university system is a major carrier of higher education, which undertakes the task of cultivating specialized talents. Correctly understanding the meaning and objectives of higher education and connecting them with the new requirements of higher education in the new era are conducive to the further development of higher education work and to better improving the concept of higher education.

Higher education is dominated by universities, which include not only formal full-time education, but also various types of part-time education (McKinley, 2021, p. 1023). Higher education is the practice of carrying out various types and levels of higher education based on the division of labor in society and referring to the requirements of society for various professions. Currently, higher education is showing a trend of internationalization and globalization. Junior college, undergraduate, graduate and various adult educations are all within the scope of higher education, with the main goal of cultivating talents for society and meeting the actual development needs of different industries in society (De; Philip, 2021, p. 28). In the process of deepening reform today, both economic and technological development cannot be separated from the support of higher education. Higher education cannot be separated from higher education concepts. Therefore, how to improve higher education concepts is of great significance to promoting social and cultural development.

Talent cultivation is not only an important goal of higher education philosophy, but also its ultimate value pursuit. How to ensure and lead talent cultivation is an important goal of higher education philosophy (Zhao; Duan, 2019, p. 213; Knoppers, 2001, p. 178). It can be seen that there are still several urgent issues to be addressed, namely, what is talent, who is trained in higher education and how to cultivate them. The answers to these questions have important implications and guiding significance for the innovation of higher education concepts and their new vitality in the new era.

In the concept of higher education, if people want to reconstruct and implement the higher education under the neoliberalism, people should realize that the concept of higher education contains a kind of emancipatory thought that can ensure people’s freedom of thought, but this kind of thought has been weakened on the basis of epistemology and sociology (Dai, 2019, p. 45). Therefore, in order to reconstruct the concept of freedom in higher education, it is necessary to introduce students’ critical reflection, open learning, interdisciplinary, and philosophical and sociological perspectives into the curriculum field. The philosophy of sociology is still only in its embryonic form and is mostly speculative. Especially, people have little understanding of the social roots of various epistemologies in sociology. Firstly, they are not driven by class interests. Not all idealists are reactionary, nor are all Materialism progressive.

1.1.2 New concepts of higher education in the new era

One of the new concepts of higher education is to emphasize the human subconscious and explore the source of human wisdom. Knowledge is the sum total of knowledge and experience gained by humans in the process of transforming the world (Sticker; Bakhurst, 2021, p. 909; Moody-Turner, 2022, p. 332). Some people compare it to a continuously growing tree of knowledge, whose life comes from its roots, while intelligence nourishes the tree, keeps it growing, and blooms and bears fruit in it. A tree without roots is a dead tree; knowledge without intelligence is a pedantic learning; education without intelligence is a meaningless education. The life of higher education is given by teachers with intelligence.

In modern brain science, the process of learning is to use external stimuli to build the nervous system of the brain, and the essence of education is to regulate and optimize external stimuli to achieve the creation and understanding of meaning, so that the potential of the human brain can be continuously exploited, thereby forming an intelligent brain. If there is no understanding of the thinking mechanism of the human brain, then higher education can only be a matter of looking at flowers in the mist and feeling for the elephant for the blind. With the rapid development of Western natural sciences, especially brain science, fundamental changes are taking place in human understanding of the brain, resulting in fundamental changes in the concept of brain based higher education.

The second new concept of higher education is to respect individuality and prioritize the brain (Gojmerac, 2022, p, 22). Research in brain science has shown that humans are not born with a fully functioning and efficient functioning brain. The gradual maturation of the brain is actually the result of the interaction between a person’s genetic characteristics and external experience, that is, the interaction between genes and the environment. The plasticity of the brain indicates that the human brain does not have unchanging laws, and its structure and working methods constantly change with various factors, such as environment, learning, education and behavior. In other words, its structure and function have a strong adaptability and ability to reorganize. The plasticity and critical period theory of the human brain is an important foundation for the development of higher education, and it is also a basic law that must be followed in the development of education. If people want to have unlimited intelligence in the human brain, people cannot act arbitrarily, let alone ignore the important stages of intellectual cognition. Instead, people must plan and target to accelerate the transmission of neuronal information, promote axonal myelination and build neural network channels, namely, the path of heaven, man and sage.

1.2 Traditional Chinese philosophical culture

1.2.1 Overview

The introverted tendency of traditional Chinese philosophy has led Chinese philosophers to consistently adhere to internal transcendence in academia, combining the ideal of life with social ethics and practical application, and unifying values with the concept of life. Some universities will carry out critical thinking education as an important measure for various “pilot classes” and “pilot colleges” to take the lead in deepening teaching reform, and integrate critical thinking education with discipline and professional education (Roetz, 2010, p, 477). More schools include critical thinking courses in liberal education for students to choose from. Many schools have set up critical thinking research institutions, held and participated in international and domestic academic conferences, published a number of monographs and textbooks on critical thinking, and founded academic journals with critical thinking research as the theme. These works have played a very good role in promoting the quality of talent training in universities, and also made useful exploration for promoting the better development of critical thinking education. The research perspective of ontology and epistemology in traditional Chinese philosophy has always focused on the category of human studies, exploring the value of human beings, the home country isomorphism, the unity of heaven and man, the all-round development and free liberation of human beings, and seeking self-realization on the level of truth and good. The organic integration of individual values and social ideals presents ethical, aesthetic and human characteristics (Jiang; Zhou, 2019, p. 342; Holderness, 2021, p. 28). From the traditional Chinese philosophies of putting people first, becoming adults, constantly striving for self-improvement, and worrying about the country and the people, people can see the strong subjectivity and the Chinese people’s ownership spirit. Traditional Chinese philosophy unifies the outlook on life and values, unifies the family and the country, integrates ideals and reality, and links individual self-realization with the country and the nation’s destiny. While realizing the internal transcendence, it also helps the world, which can not only realize the perfect personality of oneself, but also make the value care of the ultimate ideal benefit the world, so as to achieve a win-win situation of life ideal and social ideal.

1.2.2 Connotation

The traditional Chinese philosophical culture takes the human beings’ self-awakening and self-realization as the starting point, and the intrinsic value as the goal, and advocates the improvement of human values and realm. It is a human science of discovering, cultivating and achieving human beings. In the current research background of fusion of horizons, it is necessary to firmly adhere to the dominance of Marxist philosophy, strengthen their cultural self-confidence and actively absorb the essence of traditional Chinese philosophical culture, so as to achieve the innovative development of the philosophy of mind and nature. This is also a major issue in the sinicization of Marxist philosophy (Hu; Lin, 2020, p. 5). At present, in order to achieve the innovative development of traditional Chinese philosophical culture, it is necessary to start from two aspects, namely, the humanistic turn of philosophy and its transformation path. From the perspective of multicultural integration and life restoration, people deeply understand the characteristics, roots and essence of traditional Chinese philosophical culture, and organically integrate science and technology with the humanities in a cultural inclusive attitude. They seek theoretical support and outlet for the possibility of philosophy becoming human science, reshape the philosophers’ responsibilities and of philosophy, and reverse the blank state of thinking caused by the expansion of material desires (Wentao, 2019, p. 110; Premasiri, 2018, p. 111).

2.2.3 Innovation in traditional Chinese philosophical culture

Under the impact of modern Western culture, the status of traditional Chinese philosophy and culture has plummeted, and its existing space has been constantly compressed, resulting in a quite embarrassing situation. In today’s era, due to the diverse development of human civilization, there are more and more exchanges and dialogues between different cultures. Therefore, it is necessary to have a new understanding of traditional culture in order to maintain their cultural independence in the diverse cultural structure of the world. In dealing with traditional philosophical issues, it is necessary to maintain cultural self-confidence, treat traditional Chinese philosophical culture with a dialectical attitude, combine the nationality and modernity of philosophy, and explore the creative transformation paths and mechanisms of traditional Chinese philosophical culture in modern times in the process of promoting the sinicization, modernization and popularization of Marxist philosophy (Ping, 2022, p. 459).

Chinese traditional human science is a subject of great contemporary value. It can be combined with the sinicization of Marxism and practical human science by excavating the elements of modernity therein, thereby constructing a sinicized Marxist human science, and ultimately realizing the organic combination of the creative transformation of Chinese traditional human theory and the sinicization of Marxist practical human science. To achieve creative transformation of this theory, it is necessary to use the scientific practice view of Marxist philosophy as its theoretical basis.

To creatively transform the traditional theory of human nature, it is necessary to focus on the scientific practice of humanism in Marxism, and extract and stimulate the subjective spirit of being alive and healthy. It is also necessary to focus on the justice outweighing benefit, the excellent character of constantly striving for self-improvement, and the transcendent pursuit of inner sageliness while outer kingliness in the traditional theory of human nature, relying on the scientific practice concept of Marxist philosophy for isomorphism. On this basis, it is necessary to absorb the rational elements in Western anthropology, so as to make it possess lofty value rationality in the new historical period, and ultimately form a practical existentialism with Chinese characteristics that integrates Chinese and Western cultures. In the process of cultural construction, the power of excellent traditional Chinese culture cannot be ignored, and it is necessary to fully integrate it with university education. It is necessary to innovate ideological and political education methods in universities, create a good campus cultural atmosphere, build a strong teaching team and promote the integration of excellent traditional Chinese culture into university education. Various activities can be carried out to enhance students’ understanding and cognition of excellent traditional Chinese culture in a subtle way. This cultivates more comprehensive talents with high political literacy, excellent ideological and moral character, and strong technical abilities for the country and the nation’s prosperity and rejuvenation .

2 Interactive relationship between traditional Chinese philosophical culture and higher education concepts

From another perspective, Chinese traditional philosophical culture and higher education concepts can also be some philosophical ideas related to higher education, or they can be a discipline with its own unique and complete system, namely, higher education philosophy (Salles, 2001, p, 1; Waldrop, 1977, p. 467). Therefore, the interaction between the two can be started from two aspects. The first is to start from the two themselves. The second is to start with the connection between philosophy and other disciplines. From the perspective of both, the concept of higher education is a philosophy, which is applied to the discipline of higher education to ponder or judge the root of a problem or its related basic theories from a philosophical perspective, thereby improving the academic level of higher education and promoting the development and transformation of higher education in a better direction. Secondly, in terms of the relationship between higher education concepts and other disciplines, philosophy has a close relationship with higher education concepts, covering all aspects of the development of higher education.

Modern society is constantly changing, and the speed, scope and degree of sports development exceed those of the past. Only by adhering to a systematic perspective and consciously analyzing and grasping things with a dynamic and changing mindset, we can keep up with the pulse of the times, the pace of development, strive to keep up with the times and innovate. Many of the insights gained from traditional Chinese philosophical thinking, in examining the development of nature and human society, are interconnected and compatible.

2.1 Interaction between traditional Chinese philosophical culture and higher education concepts

2.1.1 Promotion of Chinese traditional philosophical culture in higher education reform

When carrying out higher education reform, there are many kinds of driving forces, and the most important driving force must be the reform of the political system and economic development. However, in the transformation of higher education, in addition to political and economic factors, the influence of philosophy has also played a significant role. The Enlightenment education in France, during the Enlightenment period, and the higher education reform in 1968 were both focused on philosophy and had typical significance. In the reform of the Enlightenment, it can be clearly seen that the science and universal skepticism, advocated by the Enlightenment thinkers, are reflected in the reconstruction process of higher education. The reason why the Enlightenment Movement was able to break the control of the Church in the Middle Ages was largely because the Enlightenment thinkers held new philosophical weapons in their hands. It can be seen from the subsequent higher education reform documents that philosophical ideas have a positive role in promoting higher education reform. In countries, such as France, which has a long tradition of philosophical culture, when reforming higher education, it is not only in accordance with the development of political economy, but also in accordance with the people’s wishes. And the people’s wishes come from the outstanding philosophers of France. Of course, this kind of transformation is also worth learning and has shortcomings. However, regardless of whether it is successful or not, people can find some main lines of thought from these transformations, which are the main development direction of French philosophical thought. Therefore, this transformation, consistent with philosophical thinking, would ultimately not deviate too much from its people. Similarly, as a country with a rich traditional philosophical culture, China’s higher education reform cannot be separated from the promotion of traditional philosophical culture. Western traditional thinking emphasizes overcoming and overcoming nature. Natural science is a tool for humans to overcome nature. Until the 19th and 20th centuries, the West achieved great success in defeating nature with science and technology, but at the same time, it also destroyed nature and was punished by it. The West is punished by nature on many issues, so it places special emphasis on the unity of spirit and nature.

Currently, China’s higher education reform is facing many problems, which do not come from the material aspect, but from the spiritual aspect, such as the loss of subjective consciousness among teachers and students in universities, the lack of scientific and humanistic spirit, and so on. The main reason for the above problems is that the government places too much emphasis on the promoting role of economic development in higher education in the reform of the education system, while neglecting the promoting role of traditional Chinese philosophical culture in higher education. This phenomenon is also due to the rapid development of social material civilization and the slow development of spiritual civilization. China has thousands of years of traditional philosophical culture, and the theories of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism have a long history, although in some aspects they are somewhat outdated or do not conform to the laws of social development today. However, this does not mean that it is possible to completely cut off the inheritance of traditional Chinese philosophy and culture, thereby copying the entire Western teaching philosophy as a whole. More often, people need to conduct in-depth research on their ideas, refining the ideological essence with Chinese characteristics, to provide reference for higher education reform and many fields.

Just as the recent upsurge in traditional Chinese culture (Chinese philosophy should also belong to the national culture fever), there are both responsive and critical. In fact, the Chinese traditional philosophy and culture and the concept of higher education should be viewed from a rational and dialectical perspective. Everything has two sides, and people should not only care about its good or bad, but also explore how to take the essence of Chinese traditional philosophy and culture to remove its dross, identify it and sublate it. This is the best attitude to traditional culture. This article argues that China’s higher education reform is actually in the hands of its own culture, but people have not yet realized the role of traditional Chinese philosophy and culture in promoting higher education reform. Combining traditional philosophical culture with higher education concepts can truly reflect the greatest value of higher education reform, and also point out the correct path for China’s higher education reform in the future.

2.1.2 Chinese traditional philosophical culture is a future-oriented philosophy of adaptation to higher education concepts

Today, with the rapid development of science and technology, whether traditional higher education concepts can meet the current needs of higher education development and how to respond to the requirements of the future economy and society for talent development under chaotic conditions, so as to cultivate the talents needed by the industry for the future socio-economic development, are urgent issues to be solved in the field of education in the world today. The philosophical thinking of simplicity and utensil in traditional Chinese philosophical culture provides a new thinking path for higher education when facing these challenges. If the concept of future higher education is likened to a tool, then at the education stage, simplicity should be even more fundamental. The project design of quantum information new engineering construction basically gives the answer to what kind of form it is in practice. Through this design, it can be seen that the philosophical thinking of simplicity and utensil in traditional Chinese philosophical culture can be applied to higher education concepts, which can meet the development needs of future higher education. The project design also basically conforms to its concept. The “New Project” and “Quantum Information Engineering” plans of the University of Science and Technology of China are largely carried out in accordance with this idea.

2.1.3 Concept of higher education is the philosophical consideration of the unity of heaven and man, and the law of Tao and nature

Analytic philosophy believes that the meaning of any concept is related to the daily language used by people. Although philosophy cannot create its own special language, it can clarify its meaning according to the background of various words so that people can reach a consistent understanding. They advocate explaining the meaning of all the concepts or thought systems that we use to understand ourselves and the world, reducing or decomposing them into more basic concepts. Then they reveal the relationships between these concepts, or explain what these basic concepts refer to. Therefore, educational analysis philosophers have done a lot of work in this area, starting from the analysis of the use of the concept of “education” in daily life, to clarify the daily use and standardized use of “education”, for example, to directly investigate the use and meaning of “education” in the context. By comparing the usage and meaning of “teaching”, “abetting”, “training”, “brainwashing” and “indoctrination”, the customary usage and meaning of “education” can be revealed. By examining the educated individuals’ characteristics or those who have received education, we can examine ‘education’ by examining ‘educational objectives’.

The current concept of higher education is a realm of wisdom, emphasizing ecological awareness and engineering ethics, abiding by rules and respecting nature. This also means that the concept of higher education pays more attention to the dialectical unity of truth and value. According to relevant scholars, the realm of intelligence is a unity of purpose and regularity. The connotation of purposiveness refers to the transformation of the thing in itself into one own, while the connotation of regularity refers to the inability of the humanization of nature to isolate the naturalization of humans. The intellectual realm in the concept of higher education is not only a philosophical metaphysics, but also a very valuable practice. Human beings and nature are one and two sides, and respecting, conforming to and protecting nature mean protecting oneself. The harmonious coexistence between man and nature is not only an inherent requirement of modernization, but also a desire for a better life. China would continue to play the role of a responsible major country internationally, contributing its wisdom and strength to maintaining world ecological security and promoting the establishment of a community with a shared future for mankind. In this context, examining the ethical consciousness of ecology and engineering in the current concept of higher education has important practical significance for people to understand the development of higher education in the new era.

2.1.4 Philosophical understanding of cross-border integration of higher education concepts

The traditional Chinese theory of cosmology and biochemistry provides a localized philosophical explanation for the cross-border integration advocated by higher education concepts and the construction of an open and integrated new education ecology. For a long time, from the division of liberal arts and sciences in high schools to the setting of majors in universities, there have been problems such as the division of science and engineering, the fragmentation of disciplines, and the excessively narrow and meticulous division of labor among majors, which have seriously restricted the quality of talent cultivation and the level of scientific research innovation in higher education. From the perspective of traditional Chinese philosophy and culture, phenomena, such as the separation of science and engineering, the fragmentation of disciplines, and the disjunction of production and learning are like the separation of yin and yang. There is a lack of interaction between disciplines, namely, the mutual coordination of one yin and one yang. Therefore, it is difficult to break the limitations and achieve independent innovation of higher education concepts. In particular, the internal innovation of the education system has encountered bottlenecks, making it difficult to generate subversive innovative ideas. This means that in China, the phenomenon of separation of science and engineering, as well as the separation of humanities and science, engineering and agriculture, has seriously affected the cultivation of talents in the four modernizations. Therefore, it is imperative to reform the educational philosophy and system. Compared to traditional ideas, the current new concept of higher education emphasizes source innovation at the scientific level and advocates the intersection of multiple disciplines. In summary, the current new concept of higher education pays more attention to the integration and interaction between disciplines and different cultures in terms of methodology, which has its urgent practical needs and profound philosophical principles.

2.1.5 Philosophy of higher education emphasizes practice and the philosophical tradition of “unity of knowledge and action” in China

In the history of traditional Chinese philosophy, the unity of knowledge and practice constitutes a unique concept of “knowing” and “doing”. The concept of knowledge and action is a dialectical relationship between knowledge and practice, and it is a fundamental issue in philosophy. Some scholars have organically integrated the concepts of knowledge and action in traditional Chinese philosophy with Marxist philosophy, taking knowledge and action as the center of relations, and emphasizing the specific historical links between subjectivity and objectivity, theory and practice, and knowledge and action. The concept of higher education emphasizes the synchronization of science and practice, which is consistent with the dialectical unity of knowledge and action. Knowing without practice is not true knowledge, as the philosophy of higher education is. If people only focus on practical cultivation and neglect the cultivation of ethics, family and country’s feelings and qualities, such as helping the world, it would be difficult to cultivate talents who serve the society, and even bring disasters to society.

In the critical period of China’s overall construction of a moderately prosperous society, the concept of higher education based on the integration of knowledge and practice has profound historical origins and practical significance. For a long period after the founding of New China, higher education was aimed at improving productivity and meeting the people’s constantly increasing material needs. Now, the country has entered a new era of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and the main contradiction in society has transformed into the contradiction between the people’s growing demand for a better life and the imbalanced and insufficient development. This is a historic change related to the overall situation and directly related to the future positioning of the current national higher education concept. Various aspects and other issues related to a better life are closely related to higher education. The concept of higher education in the new era, if it neglects the correct guidance on ethical and moral levels and does not know, would inevitably lag behind the times. Looking at the current concept of higher education, from the perspective of unity of knowledge and action, can make people more deeply aware of the original intention of a series of innovative ideas it advocates, thereby forming a broader consensus and jointly promoting the development of higher education.

2.2 Practical significance of the interaction between traditional Chinese philosophical culture and higher education concepts

While promoting the development of Chinese art, Chinese traditional philosophy and culture also provide important guidance for the renewal and improvement of Chinese higher education concepts. It essentially reveals the basic methods and principles of higher education, and integrates the epistemology and methodology of higher education. For example, the traditional Chinese ideology of education without discrimination and gradual progress can be used to guide higher education teaching. The cultivation of students’ creative thinking and aesthetic ability, advocated in contemporary aesthetic education concepts, mainly comes from the idea of harmony without difference and pragmatism in traditional Chinese philosophical culture. Chinese traditional philosophical culture has also greatly influenced the higher education concepts of various schools of thought, profoundly revealing the connotation of higher education and playing a positive role in the methods, systems and strategies of higher education. In higher education, the effective infiltration of traditional Chinese philosophical ideas into teaching would play a significant role in higher education, which is also a necessary condition for the good development of contemporary higher education.

2.3 Ways to achieve the interaction between traditional Chinese philosophical culture and higher education concepts

2.3.1 Harmony but Difference

In higher education, creating an open teaching atmosphere, emphasizing solid teaching concepts and expanding higher teaching methods are the main concept of current higher education, and they are also the main impact of traditional Chinese philosophical culture on contemporary higher teaching concepts. Chinese traditional culture has an air of embracing all rivers, embracing all new concepts and things, and emphasizing the continuous expansion of methods and theories. Confucianism values the interaction and exchange between different ideas, and emphasizes the absorption and analysis of them. Its absorption and sublation are not only an important principle in Chinese education theory, but also have practical guidance for contemporary higher education concepts. The development of modern higher education theory in China requires learning and innovation. It requires learning and applying multiple educational concepts based on existing educational theories. In the process of learning, it is not necessary to simply stack them, but to draw inferences from one example and draw inferences by analogy. It is not possible to make arbitrary conclusions based on subjective assumptions. While maintaining the uniqueness of higher education concepts, it is also possible to achieve complementarity among various education concepts, thereby achieving diverse educational objectives. Traditional Chinese philosophy should be a fusion and collision of cultures, and people should be able to uphold the ancient ways and resist the present.

2.3.2 Consistent

The concept of higher education in China should attach importance to the in-depth study of the internal laws and external phenomena of educational development, the effective grasp and application of educational methods and the comprehensive application of various educational methods based on the students’ actual learning needs . This is the educational concept in traditional Chinese philosophy, which advocates that academic research and teaching should not remain superficial, but should be obtained through the pursuit of truth and the learning of one’s own knowledge, in order to achieve a profound understanding of the laws and essence of things. Nowadays, many countries are adjusting their education concepts, which has also caused a great impact on China’s higher education concepts. To promote the development of higher education concepts, it is necessary to seek one from many and explore it with a consistent approach. In higher education, it is not only necessary to absorb the higher education concepts from other countries, but also to conduct a deeper discussion of the different countries’ higher education concepts . Through continuous accumulation, it is necessary to find the basic laws of higher education, and fully reveal them. On the premise of achieving in-depth exploration of educational resources, it is better to effectively summarize the laws and essential characteristics of education.

2.2.3 Holding the two and using the middle

Modern higher education is an empirical education. Therefore, in higher education, attention should be paid to combining practice with theory, emphasizing the need to use highly dialectical thinking to promote students’ in-depth understanding of educational concepts and practice. The traditional Chinese philosophical culture is based on persistence and application, and it advocates that education should grasp both ends of the matter and coordinate the two in order to achieve balance and nature. The theory of “holding the two and using the middle” has great reference value for modern Chinese higher education concepts and teaching methods. It points out that different educational concepts cannot be completely denied or copied, but should be considered dialectically from the standpoint of discipline construction. It is necessary to explore and summarize higher education theories with a proactive and exemplary attitude, pay attention to students’ learning needs, rely on sufficient teaching resources, establish correct educational concepts, guide students to experience a rich and colorful learning life, and improve their overall quality.

The transformation of values usually results in the disorder and diversification of social values, leading to the gradual loss of the original dominant social values, leaving many people at a loss and feeling various difficulties. Subsequently, there was a fierce conflict between the values of maintaining the old order and the values representing the requirements of historical progress, exposing serious flaws and profound crises in the old values. New values demonstrate strong vitality. Finally, through practical testing and rational reasoning, people choose and accept new values. But this new value concept is formed by inheriting the excellent tradition of the old value concept, through “sublating” and reasonably absorbing contemporary positive values, thus completing the replacement of the old and new values.

Conclusions

By taking traditional Chinese philosophical culture as the starting point, this article explores the interactive relationship between traditional Chinese philosophy and higher education concepts. It analyzes the relationship between traditional Chinese philosophical culture and higher education concepts from the perspectives of interaction, significance and ways to achieve interaction. To uphold and develop higher education with Chinese characteristics, it is necessary to give full play to the explanatory power of traditional Chinese philosophical culture and its guiding role in reality. The purpose of philosophy is to understand and interpret the world, and to guide human activities on this basis. Traditional Chinese philosophy needs to focus on the work people do. It is necessary to explore new materials, discover new issues, propose new viewpoints, and establish new theories from the reform and development to achieve the inheritance and development of traditional philosophical culture. In the face of some world-wide educational philosophy issues, traditional Chinese philosophy can show its unique charm and provide a unique solution. It can be seen from this that a new understanding of traditional Chinese philosophical culture and higher education concepts, through their interaction, not only helps people have a deeper sense of identity with traditional Chinese philosophical culture, but also helps people better understand higher education concepts in the process of dialectical integration of knowledge and practice. In addition, the interactive study of traditional Chinese philosophical culture and higher education concepts not only provides Chinese wisdom and Chinese solutions for global higher education, but also represents an important symbol of the recovery and development of traditional Chinese philosophical culture. After discussing the concepts of higher education and traditional Chinese philosophical culture, this article believes that today’s higher education concepts should emphasize the unity of knowledge and action, which is an idea that conforms to the development laws of today’s higher education, adapts to the development needs of higher education and can make new achievements in higher education in the new era. In the West, the intellectual community is not only independent, but often allied with business. Unlike politics that pursue order, what business pursues is endless change, even revolutionary change. In this sense, some people define capitalism as the process of “creative destruction”. Innovation and progress are the characteristics of business, just as order and stability are the characteristics of politics. And knowledge is the key, as it can become both a part of order and a part of change. So far, the education and intellectual circles in China and the West still maintain this pattern of differences, and this is also the future research direction and focus of this article.

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  This work was sponsored in part by National Social Science Fund (2021FZWB015) and Educational Science Planning Fund of Henan Province (2021YB0195).

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  05 Feb 2024
• Date of issue
  2024

History

• Received
  20 May 2023
• Accepted
  12 July 2023
• Published
  10 Jan 2024