World, culture, Chinese, understanding: a fragmentary epistemological conceptualization

This essay, derived from the corresponding conference presentation, uses the English title of the Young Experts Symposium 2022, “Understanding Chinese Culture in the World,” as a starting point for a fragmentary conceptualization of its four key terms, albeit in reverse order for dramatic effect: world, culture, Chinese, understanding. Employing the technique of form determination, which regards a concept as the unity of a binary opposition and thus necessitates naming the counterpart of each positively defined phenomenon, the introduction initially delves into the necessity of consistent terminology in theory-building. The second section addresses the issue of conceptualizing the all-encompassing concept of the world, which does not exclude anything. The third section explores the possibility of “formalizing” the equally vague—due to its comprehensive nature—term of culture. The fourth section delves into the implications and determinants of “Chinese.” Finally, the fifth section offers an interpretation of “understanding” that identifies it with connecting to a communication, ensuring that society (communication) continues.