Schwartz's Study On The Analects

Benjamin Schwartz is an outstanding scholar who not only studied contemporary China but also studied ancient China. His masterpiece The World of Thought in Ancient China had gained great popularity in the field of sinology since its publication. And the third chapter of this book, The Vision of the Analects, which is on Confucius'thoughts, takes an important role because of its length and depth. In the beginning of this dissertation, the author analyzes the characteristics of Schwartz's study. Then the author probes into Schwartz's creative ideas,and unavoidable errors in his interpretation of texts of Confucius'Analects.What caused his errors in this book lied in his over-confidence in his language level and limited references (only one English version of Confucius'Analects).Schwartz also showed great concern to the development of traditional Chinese culture in contemporary China not only in The World of Thought in Ancient China but in other papers and books. The author contrasts Schwartz's view with the view of another American sinolgist Joseph R. Levenson and depicts the real condition of confucianiam in contemporary China by analyzing recent cultural phenomenons related to confucianism.The author concludes that the future of confucianism lies in its practice among the people and the direction of Chinese culture is to thoroughly understand and selectively learn from western culture, but the precondition is cultural consciousness.