CHAPTER X

COLLECTIVE IDENTITY AND CIVIL SOCIETY

HE XIRONG

            The term "civil society" has become of increasing interest in many parts of the world, not least in Western societies. It is a kind of association and organization in between the individual and the state, a free realm which is protected but not interfered with by the state. The public sphere of Habermas points to the meaning of civil society. He sees this public sphere as firstly a sphere of our life world in which public opinion can be formed. In principle, the gate to the public sphere is open to all citizens who then act jointly; they are not limited, but protected by political power. In civil society citizens may meet to-gether, associate and express their opinion freely. Here they deal with social concerns through critical dialogue as the instrument of public rationality. Hence, civil society can be described as the arena of po-pular organizations, social movements, voluntary organizations and citizen associations, as well as the forum of public communication. Civil society then is distinct from the economy and from the state or political society.

            According to the above point of view, Chinese society seems to lack elements of a civil society. In Western society, the existence of a public sphere reflects the double polarization of the individual with state in the public and with society in the private sphere. This concep-tion of society embodies an opposition between the free individual and associations which does not exist in traditional Chinese thought. Chinese thought pays far more attention to the organic connection of the individual with associations, society or state, and places greater emphasis on the obligation of the individual to society and the state. It takes self, family, state and world as a unitary whole, of which the in-dividual is only a part.

            The notion of civil society places emphasis upon a collective identity. In terms of the tradition of the person, at a high-level of tech-nological development the Western world is beginning to abandon its individualistic tradition. People are being advised to unite their col-lective strengths against such pressures as state control, economic monopolies, damage to the environment, and so on.

            Chinese culture has a long tradition of collective identity, which comes from the peculiar pattern of Chinese thought and under-standing. To a certain extent this promotes the development of the Chinese nation and the progress of human beings. It is similar to the elements which form civil society, but is not identical with them. This traditional Chinese collective identity should be renewed and ascribed new significance in the modern world. China can relate with word trends so that the goal of civil society--that every citizen participate jointly in the work of society, and live in the kind of society to which they are committed--can be attained in China.

            This paper will point out the character of Chinese collective identity and compare this with the sense of personal identity in Western society. It will investigate the philosophical background which produces the Chinese collective identity as well as its advantages and disadvantages in history. On this basis it will attempt to suggest how a new collective identity might be constructed. This joins the project of civil society as described by Jean L. Cohen and Andrew Arato: "What is needed is a conception of civil society that can reflect on the core of new collective identities and articulate the terms within which projects based on such identities can contribute to the emergence of freer, more democratic societies."1

THE NATURE OF CHINESE COLLECTIVE IDENTITY

            We must treat collective identity as well as personal identity as very important moments of social philosophy, that is, we must discover the new sense of collective identity not as a pre-cultural primitive mentality but as a post-technological philosophical mode. In order to think in this line, we may consider the principal senses of identity as expressed in the different forms of each culture, for each has its tra-ditional and customary mode of self-expression. Thus the way in which one introduces oneself which is necessary in one’s every day social activity can suggest a culture’s philosophical sense of self-identity and provide some access to the way of thinking about personal identity.

            In Chinese society, when a brief self-introduction is required in a certain committee, firstly, one introduces the name of one’s city or country, then the name of the society to which one belongs, thirdly one’s profession, and at the end one’s family name and own name. For instance, in introducing myself, I would say that I am from China, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, a scholar of philosophy, He Xi-rong. However, in the West, the word order of one’s self-introduction is just the opposite. Another example is the order in the Chinese cha-racter for one’s personal name. The first character states the family name of the Chinese, the second is his or her position in the family hie-rarchy, the last is the personal position in the family hierarchy, and "Rong" is my given name. Here, what is emphasized is the family. On the contrary, in Western names what is emphasized is the individual: first is one’s own name, and second is that of one’s father and hence of one’s family.

            Another example is the order in expressing time and address. When time is expressed what is expressed is in turn year, month, day, hour, moment, and second. When an address is stated, what is expressed is in turn country, province, county, road, and house num-ber. In such an order of expression, what is emphasized is the syn-thetic relation beginning from the whole and proceeding to the in-dividual. Contrary to this, the Westerner begins with the analytic reality of the individual and proceeds to the whole. So we may conclude that in Western society the personal identity is the most important, hence the personal name is the first thing one wants to introduce to which others and others wish to know. On the contrary, in China and many other Eastern countries, the collective identity of the society to which belongs is the most important; hence the first thing one wishes to let others know is not one’s own name, but the name of the society to which one belongs.

THE PHILOSOPHICAL ROOT OF

            CHINESE COLLECTIVE IDENTITY

            In early times in ancient China many philosophers such as Confucius, Laotse and Tschuang Tschou used words like "the same", "sameness", "the one", "the one and same", "the oneness", etc. We also find philosophers using such terms as "Heaven and man are one", "knowledge and action are one", and "The other and I are one". There-fore, we can say there was a clear consciousness of identity in ancient China and that this indicates the character of its consciousness of collective identity.

The Ideal of "Heaven and Man Are One"

            This was treated as the framework of all thought. Traditional Chinese philosophy is constituted mainly by Confucian thought, sup-plemented by Taoism and Buddhism. Its main character is that if the whole; it is a monism with two levels. On one level, it takes the universe and human society as an organic whole of a certain structure. On another, it holds that such a whole takes ultimately the morally perfect human being as the subject. The typical category of this monism is the idea of the whole as stated in "heaven and man are one". The way to understand the Tao is by practice, first as examining one’s mind and knowing one’s own character and then as under-standing heaven. According to such a monism, the life in which heaven and man are one is the supreme ideal of social development. Only through continuous practice at participating in social life can the human being make one-self morally perfect and merge with heaven.

            What is meant in the Confucian school by "heaven" or "the hea-ven principle" is neither a personal god nor God, but the infinite universe which lives forever and brings about everything. The thought that "heaven and man are one" originates from the idea of "the morality corresponding to heaven" of the people in the Zhou Dynasty 2500 years ago which ascribes the moral significance of the heavenly prin-ciple. Confucius considered heaven and man to be one mainly from the point of view of natural law. He said: "Does heaven speak? The four seasons pursue their course, and all things are continually being produced, but does heaven say anything?"2 He also claimed that man needs to know the ordinances of heaven and stands in awe of them. Confucius thought, "The heaven-determined order of succession now rests on your person; hold fast sincerely to the Due Mean."3 In the Zhou Dynasty, Confucian thought further develops the idea of the morality of the people as corresponding to heaven; it emphasizes that the human being who lives between heaven and the earth should grasp fully and self-consciously the internal law, understand the hea-venly principle of living life in such a way as to realize the value of "cultivating oneself and of pacifying others." Mencius claimed further that humans can communicate with heaven through education in vir-tue: "One who delves exhaustively into one’s mind knows his or her character; one who knows his or her character knows heaven; and one who knows his or her character and educates his or her mind can serve heaven."

            Confucius and Mencius provided the basis of the theory of the Chinese Confucian school which completes the meaning of "heaven and man are one". In ancient Chinese philosophy this was a process of applying the objective heavenly principle and will to human beings. It also gave full play to the subjective human activity of actively grasp-ing the "heavenly will" or "heaven principle" by clarifying one’s moral knowledge so as to reach the point of merging one’s human life with heaven. This becomes the supreme goal in Chinese culture.

            Feng Youlan, a key contemporary Chinese philosopher, divided human life into four stages or states, which are respectively the na-tural, the utilitarian, the moral and that of heaven and earth. The first two stages or states are for the well-being of the self. Only in the last two stages is the well-being of the self linked to that of society. And only in the last does the individual know that the self is a part of the universe, and that what he or she does must be for the good of the whole universe. In other words, one knows not only the human, but also heaven; one becomes one with heaven. Feng sees this last stage as the ideal life which the individual should seek to achieve. The thought of heaven and human being being one in Chinese philosophy compels one to realize that he or she is not small in comparison to heaven or the universe, and that heaven does not overwhelm the hu-man; hence people are willing to reach heaven and belong to it.

The Social Collective Consciousness

            The spirit of Chinese philosophy seeks self-realization. The goal of life is to be a sage in one’s inner life and a monarch in one’s outer life.How can life be significant, how can the value of self be realized? Chinese philosophy answers the questions at two levels. On one level, the answer is internally oriented: it requires the development of per-sonal morality to self-perfection and a merger with nature. This is the way of the sage in inner life. On another level, the answer is externally oriented and requires the extension of self in society. The goal of this extension is to make harmonious the relation between oneself and another and between the individual and society. This is the way to be a monarch in outer life.

            It may be said that to be a sage in one’s inner life is a matter of self-cultivation. This emphasizes the development of personal mora-lity to the point of reaching the realm of merging with nature: it is a pro-cess of identifying oneself with the universe. To be a monarch in outer life is a morally praiseworthy achievement. It emphasizes that the in-dividual can realize his or her own value only in society in the process of identifying oneself with the collectivity or society. Confucius said: "It is impossible to associate with birds and beast, as if they were the same with us. If I associate not with these people--with mankind--with whom shall I associate?"4

            Confucius pointed out this social character of human beings. Human beings live in social relations with other human beings; they seek their own development in society in intercourse with others. Hence, Confucius paid special attention to the relation between hu-mans. "One must cultivate himself in reverential carefulness", "cul-tivate himself so as to pacify others", and "cultivate himself so as to pacify all the people", "wishing to be himself established, he must also seek to establish others", and "wishing to be enlarged himself, he must also seek to enlarge others." On the other hand, "What he does not want to be done to himself, he should not do to others."

            In Confucian thought, the individual is closely linked to the community. Everyone should treat others with love, righteousness, ri-tual, wisdom and confidence. If all behave in this way, a society with Great Harmony will be established. This is described by Confucius in the following terms: "With regard to the aged, give them rest; with regard to friends, show them sincerity; with regard to the young, treat them tenderly." In a word, the Great Harmonious Society is a society of ritual in which people are peaceful, friendly, wealthy and equal one to another. The traditional Chinese ideal of life is to realize the great harmonious society. Everyone should find one’s position in con-forming to the great harmony.

            Beginning from Confucius, most Chinese philosophers would emphasize the obligation of individuals to others, to society, and to the state. The will of being a sage in one’s inner life and a monarch in one’s outer life indicates that one’s attitude in life is that of a spontaneously active spirit. Confucius said repeatedly in the Analects that the cul-tivated person dislikes the thought of his or her name not being mentioned after the death.5 When one of disciples asked what was shameful, Confucius replied: "When good government prevails in a state, to be thinking only of one’s salary, and when bad government prevails, to be thinking, in the same way, only of one’s salary--this is shameful."6 This shows a spirit of active participation in social life which trains a useful person for society. That Confucius required that one pursue achievements so as to be known by others shows that the character of Confucian thought emphasizes the social character and collective identity of human beings and places in an important position the social value of the human being: the goal of being a sage in one’s inner life and a monarch in one’s outer life, along with the social con-sciousness that "oneself and the other are one." This is highly beneficial in elevating moral attainments of a human being and main-taining the stability of society.

The Values of Collective Identity

            Placing "the public prior to the private" and "selflessness for the public".

            According to the values of traditional Chinese philosophy, the value of the community is superior to that of an individual, which can be realized only in community. However, Chinese philosophy does not deny the value of the individual, but emphasizes that this must be merged with that of the community. So far as the value of the individual is concerned, that of the community is extrinsic and is expressed in ethical principles and moral norms. But according to traditional Chinese philosophy what the ethical principle and moral norm express is not simply extraneous, but also what "heaven gives to myself"; it is in this that the nature or essence of the human being consists. The intrinsic and the extrinsic are connected organically. As Confucius said regarding "ritual", this is not simply an extrinsic norm, but something essential, constituting the human being as human: ritual distinguishes the human from a beast.

            From the point of view of value, the externalization of the value of the individual is the value of the community; conversely, the intern-alization of the value of the community is the value of the individual. In such an internalization, extrinsic social obligation is transformed into internal obligation. Chinese philosophy, especially early Confucian thought understands the relation between the value of the individual and that of the community in this way. With regard to the extension of personal emotion in social life, Confucius promoted "the way of truthfulness and consideration" and "subduing one’s self and returning to propriety". This emphasized the realization of rationality and the value of the collectivity. The way of truthfulness and consideration re-flects the application of personal goodwill in society. This process of generalization is one of eventual identification of the individual with the collectivity. The truth for Confucius is that "wishing to be established oneself, one must also seek to establish others." "Consideration" or "reciprocity" is reflected in his saying: "What one does not want to be done to oneself, one should not do to others." His advice "to subdue one’s self and return to propriety" reflects what he considered to be the main choice and adjustment. He emphasized the domination of ra-tionality over sensitivity, of the community over the individual. Because Confucius emphasized that the value of the individual must be in harmony with that of the community, when the interest of the individual conflicts with that of the collectivity Confucius emphasized the super-iority of the latter to the former. This orientation toward treating the value of community as superior helps to induce people to act together for the establishment of a desirable society. But excessive emphasis upon the value of the community could lead to the obliteration of the value of the individual.

THE RECONSTRUCTION OF A NEW PATTERN OF

            COLLECTIVE IDENTITY

            Traditional Chinese philosophy emphasizes the unity of heaven and man, of knowledge and practice, of myself and others; it attends closely to the development and quality of society; and it induces one to establish a healthy view of life enabling one to develop one’s person-ality in adapting the developments of modern society. What disting-uishes Confucian from Western thought is that the latter pays more attention to the study of ontology and epistemology, whereas Confu-cius paid much more attention to the norms of social life. Confucian thought emphasized personal moral cultivation, on the one hand, and the norm of personal behaviour in society, on the other. These are ex-pressed succinctly in the dictum, "to be a sage in one’s inner life and a monarch in one’s outer life." Because of the close connection of Con-fucian thought with ordinary life, it is accepted by people of various social strata and is the core of traditional Chinese philosophy. Under the influence of such helpful thought, many Chinese take an active part in social life and realize their ideals through their contribution to society.

            However, there is something in such a pattern of collective East-ern identity which does not suit modern society, so that its recon-struction is necessary.

            The German scholar, Ernst Cassirer, in his book An Essay on Man wrote: "It is partial for Aristotle to define man as social animal; the definition gives us a concept of class, but not the differential specifics. The social character as such is not the only character of man, it is even not the character peculiar to man. Among man, what we can see is not only a society of action like animals, but one of thought and emotion." The social consciousness of man depends upon the activities of assimilation and differentiation. One can realize one’s individuality only through the mediation of social life. However, such mediation for humans is not simply a power of external determination when, like an animal, one conforms to various social norms. Beyond this, one can participate actively in creating or changing the form of social life.

            Cassirer’s criticism of Aristotle may be applied to Chinese philosophy which emphasizes assimilation but ignores differentiation, which emphasizes the influence of society upon the individual but ignores the creativity of the individual in society. Hence, the resulting identity probably would be effected by power which would inhibit people’s thought; such a superficial identity is called a functional identity. This is not a primitive collectivism under which individuality is dominated, but a functional collectivism. That is to say, it is free from any ideology or religion, provided the member can contribute to the function of the group. Hence, there is no spiritual identity, but there is an effective functional identity.

            Therefore each member is in effect two individual subjects: one is a functional subject as a unit of collective identity in public life; the other is a personal subject as an individual identity in private. The Con-fucian view of life, to be sage in one’s inner life and a monarch in one’s outer life, is often separated. One’s ambition might be fulfilled in so-ciety, but if one’s desire or thought does not suit society one could turn one’s mind toward being a sage in one’s inner life. Confucius said: "My doctrine makes no way, I will get upon a raft and float on the sea."7 Mencius said that honest people behave in such a way that when they realize their ambition they should benefit; otherwise they abandon their ideal. Confucius and Mencius expressed the idea of two subjects, and most people who failed in public life used to choose the private aesthetic perspective such as poetry, painting and calligraphy, escap-ing from the public with its difficulty. This is to be half resigned to the life of a hermit. In such a way one finds personal fulfillment, but it does not help to improve society. On the contrary, some people do not cultivate themselves morally when they earn a high position or social privilege, but seek benefit for themselves without considering others and society.

            In addition, paying attention only to the realization of a functional collective identity could cause one to abandon individual morality. For the Chinese the harm from egoism is substituted by the harm of no-sism, namely looking for the welfare of the group. This is very efficient for teamwork, but presupposes the defeat of another team. Moreover the principle of Chinese collective identity, domesticism, carries the danger of inclinations to nationalism. Historically, Eastern states such as Japan and China in which the collective identity strongly dominates emphasize the Great Unity and become national states: they tend to establish a unitary nation and all matters are determined by a state plan. The state inhibits any differences or multiplicity that is not state approved.

            Because of the technologization of the society, even in the Western world there arises the need for collective decisions by a committee and for teamwork in domains where in the past individual decisions were final. Thus, collective identity is needed in the contem-porary world. Hence, the Chinese collective identity, but perhaps with some modifications. First, difference should not be neglected when similarity is emphasized: similarity should be formed in difference. Second, the creativity of individual persons should be respected when conformity of the individual person to social norms is required: the collective identity of society should be based on personal identity. Third, in maintaining a harmony between the individual and the col-lective, a necessary tension between the individual person and society should be tolerated, that is, a mechanism for criticism should be allowed. Civil society is just such a mechanism; it mediates by adjust-ing the relation between the individual person and society. If all this be realized then, on the one hand, the individual person can develop one-self fully in society and, on the other hand, the power and creativity of individual persons can be interrelated enabling society to be more stable.

Institute of Philosophy

Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences

Shanghai, PRC

NOTES

            1. Civil Society and Political Theory (Cambridge, MA.: MIT Press, 1992), p. 421.

            2. Yang Huo, The Confucian Analects.

            3. Yao Yue, ibid.

            4. Wei Zi, ibid.

            5. Wei Xian, ibid.

            6. Yuan Xian, ibid.