中国的宗教：儒教与道教 (1915)

《中国的宗教：儒教与道教》（德语：Konfuzianismus und Taoismus），是德国经济学家和社会学家马克思·韦伯1915年在德国出版的著作。改编版本出现在1920年。英译本在1951年出版。

背景

这是他的第二本的主要著作，在《新教伦理与资本主义精神》之后。韦伯专注于中国社会与西方社会和清教不同的那些方面，并且引出了一个问题，为什么资本主义并没有在中国发展。

从时间顺序来看，他专注于中国历史的早期阶段（百家争鸣，战国时期），在中国主要的思想流派（儒家，道家）发明的期间。

在此期间，他专注于中国城市的发展，中国的世袭制和官场，与中国宗教的问题，因为这些是中国的发展与欧洲的路线差异最鲜明的方面。

The Religion of China: Confucianism and Taoism is a book written by Max Weber, a German economist and sociologist. It was first published in German under the title Konfuzianismus und Taoismus in 1915 and an adapted version appeared in 1920. An English translation was published in 1951 and several editions have been released since.

It was his second major work on the sociology of religion, after The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Weber focused on those aspects of Chinese society that were different from those of Europe and Puritanism, and posed a question why capitalism did not develop in China. From the chronological perspective, he concentrated on early period of Chinese history (Hundred Schools of Thought, Warring States period), during which major Chinese schools of thoughts (Confucianism, Taoism) were invented. In that period, he focused on the issues of Chinese urban development, Chinese patrimonialism and officialdom, and Chinese religion, as the areas in which Chinese development differed most distinctively from the European route.

Weber's choice of topics and analysis inspired further attention and critique. His work has been praised for its ambitious scope and theoretical rigor, but it has also faced criticism for its reliance on Western frameworks to interpret non-Western societies. The sociologist of Chinese religion C.K. Yang, for instance, wrote that Weber's interpretation is "largely the result of viewing the religious situation in Chinese culture from the view of the Christian world, where religion has a formal organizational system and has occupied a prominent structural position in the organizational scheme of Western society."

Historical background

Weber based much of his analysis on the early period of Chinese history. By 200 B.C., the Chinese state had emerged from a loose federation of feudal states of the Warring States period to the unified empire with patrimonal rule. Confucianism emerged to dominate the other schools that had developed in the fertile social upheavals of pre-imperial China such as Daoism (Taoism), Mohism, and Legalism, all of which had criticised Confucianism (c. 400 – c. 200 B.C.). One of Confucius's disciples, Mencius, (c. 372 – c. 289 B.C.) developed a more idealistic version of Confucianism, while Xunzi (Hsün Tzu, c. 313 – c. 238 B.C.) argued that all inclinations are shaped by acquired language and other social forms.

Confucianism rose to the position of an official orthodoxy during the Han dynasty (206 B.C. – A.D. 220).

When the Han disintegrated, Confucianism fell with it and lay dormant for almost 400 years (A.D. 220–618) as Chinese Buddhism and Taoism offered new visions. During this period, Buddhism, which had entered China from India, gained widespread popularity, offering spiritual solace and a new worldview that complemented traditional Chinese thought. China was again unified, by the Sui dynasty (581-618) and by the Tang dynasty (618–906). During the Song (Sung) dynasty (960–1279), Neo-Confucianism emerged interpreting classical Confucian doctrine in a way that addressed Buddhist and Daoist issues. Thinkers like Zhu Xi (1130–1200) played a role in this transformation, emphasizing the importance of moral self-cultivation and the investigation of things (gewu). In the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), Wang Yangming claimed that the mind projects li (principle) onto things rather than just noticing external li. Wang's philosophy, known as the 'School of Mind,' challenged traditional Neo-Confucian thought by asserting that knowledge and morality are rooted in the innate faculties of the mind. In the early 20th-century Chinese intellectuals blamed Confucianism for the scientific and political backwardness of China, after the disastrous conflicts with Western military technology at the dawn of the modern era.