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The Synthetic Mode

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Harmonism as an Alternative

Part of the book series: Key Concepts in Chinese Thought and Culture ((KCCTC))

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Abstract

The synthetic mode of harmony connotes a dynamic process of creative transformation. During the process, all the elements involved undergo a transformational synthesis, thus changing and collaborating with one another while maintaining their individual identity. The process as such is creative in the true sense of this term. It draws upon diversity in a harmonized form rather than uniformity in a unilateral manner. It is therefore able to constitute an organic whole in which different elements are being transformed and interacting with new vitality, thus conducing to newborn things in a reconstructive and recurring system. This pertains to chain reaction and sustainable development as well. Quite reversely, uniformity in a patternized mode rejects different elements but accepts what is alike only.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Zuo Qiuming, Zuozhuan [Zuo’s Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals] Wang Shouqian et al. (ed.) (Guizhou: Guizhou Renmin Press, 1992), p. 1303. Cf. Zhang Dainian, Key Concepts in Chinese Philosophy, pp. 271–272.

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Correspondence to Keping Wang .

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Wang, K. (2019). The Synthetic Mode. In: Harmonism as an Alternative. Key Concepts in Chinese Thought and Culture. Palgrave Pivot, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3564-8_4

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