Dialogue among Civilizations and the Contemporary Relevance of Confucian Philosophy:An Interview with Professor Tian Chenshan

The 11th Nishan Forum on World Civilizations will be held in Qufu, China, in July 2025 under the theme “Beauty in Diversity: Nurturing Understanding Among Civilizations for Global Modernization.” This year’s discussions will focus on fostering cultural exchange and addressing critical challenges where tradition meets innovation—particularly at the crossroads of culture, modernization, and the development of artificial intelligence. Participants will explore how world civilizations can achieve an optimal symbiosis and collaborate effectively to solve pressing global issues. How can Confucianism gain global relevance today? What unique role does the Nishan Forum play in bridging cultures? How can Confucian ethics guide the development of artificial intelligence (AI)? We will look into these questions with Professor Tian Chenshan, and find out how ancient wisdom can meet modern challenges.

Professor Tian Chenshan

Kong Chaofan: Professor Tian, it’s a pleasure to speak with you. Confucius lived over two millennia ago, yet his wisdom continues to influence China and the world. The Analects of Confucius remains relevant today and is widely quoted as guiding principles for personal conduct. As a scholar of East-West philosophy, what is one passage you find particularly meaningful? We would love to hear your thoughts on why it stands out.

Tian Chenshan: When asked to share my favorite saying from the Analects, I would say “吾道一以贯之,忠恕而已矣,” or “My dao is bound together with a single, continuous thread, nothing more than simply zhong and shu.” (Analects 4.15) Such a statement reveals how Confucius understands yuzhou 宇宙, a kind of “acosmology” as compared to Western cosmology, tiandi 天地, the sky and earth as contrastive to heaven and earth, rensheng 人生, a person’s life, shifei 是非, this or that, etc., all of which are derived from his “indivisible one and many” symbiotic zoetology. This saying also conveys that as the world moves vigorously and forcefully, the junzi 君子, or exemplary persons, improve themselves in an endless succession. As within a symbiotic system, exemplary persons simply put themselves in the others’ place, shu 恕, and then do their utmost, zhong 忠. For those elements that are pernicious to the persistence of the living process of the symbiotic system, exemplary persons would remove and/or transform them.

Hundreds joined in Analects chanting at the Confucius Research Institute for World Book Day 2024

Kong Chaofan: In today’s interconnected world, how does globalization help Confucianism find new resonance worldwide?

Tian Chenshan: The nature of globalization clearly shows that Western capitalism, as a global economic and political phenomenon at a particular time in human history, seeks global hegemony and overwhelms local governments in order to establish a world government of globalism dominated by Western powers. On the one hand, it brings about world turmoil and the crisis of global challenges to human existence; on the other hand, it increases the unprecedented clashes and conflicts of human cultures and civilizations in the world. As a result of the increase in the frequency of mutual contact opportunities and the severe reflection on the consequences of collision and conflict, all mankind is thinking about how mankind can survive and which human thought and culture is more compatible with the continuation and healthy development of the human symbiosis system.

In this case, the Chinese philosophical culture with Confucianism as its main body is bound to be increasingly recognized and favored by the world, because its entire philosophical thought is a “philosophy and culture system in terms of the inseparable one and many of vital relationality” proposed by Roger T. Ames, a distinguished philosopher in comparative Chinese and Western philosophic hermeneutics.

Kong Chaofan: As AI develops at lightning speed, we’re confronted with profound ethical questions. Given the central role of Confucianism in Chinese philosophy, how might it provide philosophical guidance for the development of AI?

Tian Chenshan: In fact, this is a plain, concise, but comprehensive question of “this,” “shi 是,” or “that,” “fei 非,” which could obviously be determined by ordinary people with a little thinking, while it is not a question of whether we can or not, but whether we want to do it, which is related to the future of the symbiotic system of mankind.

First of all, no matter how advanced AI technology is, it is nothing but a product of the wisdom of mankind, and would never exceed the wisdom of mankind; this is a question of philosophy rather than technology. Second, no matter how far the advance of AI may go, it would still not be wisdom in itself, nothing but a tool, a means, or a technique.

In addition, there is always the question of for what purpose and how AI technology can necessarily be used, or rather, its only possible future lies in serving the significance of the “inseparable one and many” symbiotic system of mankind. If it is driven by the motive to extract profits for private capital, then the future of AI technology will only go down the path of human self-destruction.

This is not sensational. Here is a simple philosophical logical problem that human beings cannot avoid, that is, AI technology, as a means and a tool, must be placed under the general direction of the significance of the “inseparable one and many” of vital relationality in the symbiotic system of mankind.

Everyone in China knows the idiom “nanyuanbeizhe 南辕北辙,” “the artifact against its aim,” which vividly describes the blind eye of the folly of human behavior, having one’s attention to the important issue overshadowed by the trivial, leading to irrational swelling focusing only on less dominant purposes, and mere concern about the use of means until the entire situation comes to a loss of general direction. This can be likened to Machiavelli’s “new politics” of the Renaissance, which takes politics only as a means to achieve personal ambition and seize political power, and completely negates Aristotle’s politics as a continuation for the purpose of ethics and morality.

Portrait of Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527)

Historical experience has proved conclusively that this kind of politics, which excludes ethics and morals, is a “dictatorship of the individual, that is, of private capital and power,” which is bound to bring the greatest disaster to mankind. Therefore, if the technology of AI does not serve the significance of the “inseparable one and many” relationality of the symbiosis system of mankind, it must go down the path of destroying it and serve only as a means to achieve the purpose of the non-vital rationality of transcendentalism and dualism.

It is precisely at this time when mankind is facing a serious survival crisis, that Confucian philosophy and culture provide philosophical wisdom and practical solutions for the moral development and application of AI technology, which, as an alternative to the duality of one and many in non-vital theory, can protect the continued survival and healthy persistence of the symbiotic system of mankind. Only in this way, will the development of AI not be “nanyuanbeizhe,” “going in the opposite direction,” but rather “thriving.”

This system of philosophical wisdom and practical solutions would replace the mechanism of unhealthy and negative activity that is destroying the symbiotic system by promoting “competition,” “values of egoism,” conflict, hegemony, aggression, and massacre, while making an uproar and causing fragmentation within the symbiotic system of mankind. This system of philosophical wisdom and practical solutions, namely Confucian philosophy, which emphasizes the significance of the “inseparable one and many” vital relationality of the symbiosis of mankind, has been reflected in the consistent Chinese policy and behavior in international relations and diplomatic thought from ancient to modern China. The issue of the ethical development and application of AI technology is all centered on placing it in a general direction and under an overall purpose that is conducive to the biological significance of the symbiotic system of mankind.

Kong Chaofan: In an earlier interview, you described the Nishan Forum on World Civilizations as playing a “timely, precise, and deeply influential role” in our rapidly changing, diverse world. Beyond that, what do you see as the greater significance of the Forum—its essential mission of bringing together the world’s cultural and intellectual traditions?

Tian Chenshan: There has been a saying which has become a well-known consensus of many people in China, that is, “In the South, there is the Bo’ao Forum on World Economy, while in the North, there is the Nishan Forum on World Civilizations.” The former is about international politics and economics, and the latter is about human civilizations and cultures. This statement plainly and directly demonstrates the significance of a forum on world civilizations. This remark was first made by Mr. Xu Jialu, then Vice President of the National People’s Congress of China. General Secretary Xi Jinping expressed his enthusiastic support in a phone call. A forum on world civilizations fully demonstrates the great and far-reaching significance of the theme of the survival and development of a symbiotic system of the world and mankind.

The Nishan Lecture Hall, located in Nishan Sacred Land in Qufu, Shandong Province,

serves as the permanent venue for the Nishan Forum on World Civilizations

Kong Chaofan: As we look ahead to the 11th Nishan Forum, Professor Tian, what are your expectations for what this year’s dialogue might achieve? And how might this gathering help write a new chapter in the way the world’s civilizations understand and engage with each other?

Tian Chenshan: The forum on world civilizations is a platform for exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations in response to the United Nations initiative for dialogue among world civilizations, and is committed to carrying forward the fine traditional Chinese culture, safeguarding the diversity of world civilizations, and building a community with a shared future for mankind. Since the beginning of the first session at the Nishan Birthplace of the Sage Academy, this great event has held 10 sessions and has more and more fully demonstrated that this major initiative is forward-looking, with the significance of the general direction and the far-reaching historical significance of the new era.

The great historical opportunity that will determine the future of the symbiotic system of mankind depends on whether the civilizations of different regions and cultures with their own characteristics can engage in effective dialogue in an early and timely manner, carry out exchanges and mutual learning, seek common ground while shelving differences, and work together to enhance the awareness of the symbiotic system of mankind.

From the point of view of the significance of the “inseparable one and many” vital relationality of the symbiotic system of mankind, we should more deeply achieve mutual understanding and compatibility and actively join hands to build a harmonious community and symbiotic system of mankind, avoid violence and militarism, and create an overall atmosphere of peace and friendship, mutual understanding and mutual accommodation and common healthy development of all mankind at an early date.

The Nishan Birthplace of the Sage Academy in Sishui, Shandong Province

I look forward to seeing more clearly a brand new overall atmosphere of willingness for mutual promotion and common development of world civilizations and cultures, a worldwide vision of the significance of the “inseparable one and many” vital relationality of the symbiotic system of mankind. To carry forward the fine traditional Confucian philosophy and culture, it is expected to reflect the consciousness of the “inseparable one and many” vital relationality of the symbiotic system of mankind, which is conveyed in my favorite saying in the Analects, “My dao is bound together with a single, continuous thread, nothing more than simply zhong and shu, nothing more.” Or in Chinese, “吾道一以贯之,忠恕而已矣.” The Confucian principle, “Do not impose on others that which you yourself do not want,” thus reaches an intercommunication with the global “Golden Rule”: “In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you,” and gradually rises to the mainstream consensus of all mankind. From this point of view, we think about the new era and the new civilization of the Chinese nation.

(Tian Chenshan: Director of the Center for East-West Relations, School of International Relations and Diplomacy, Beijing Foreign Studies University; Kong Chaofan: Translator at the Confucius Research Institute, English Editor of Thinking Through Confucius)