Recivilisation: Hegel, Marx and the Mandate of Heaven | Danube Knowledge

China and the West have known each other for longer than we commonly admit. And for most of that time, a small cognoscenti has expressed mutual admiration. From Confucians interested in Hegel, to Marxists interested in Laozi.

Danube Fellows Philip Pilkington and David Lloyd Dusenbury discuss their recent lectures, seminars, and a second essay they have recently co-authored, entitled: “Hegel, Marx and the Mandate of Heaven”.

They trace Chinese Marxism to Li Dazhao, influenced first by Bergson and then Marx, and argue China imported a Western linear view of history while producing a distinctly Chinese Marxism that shaped Mao.

They discuss Hegels critique of Confucian governance as overly rule-bound and authoritarian, contrasting it with Leibniz’s admiration for Confucian “li” - akin to natural law.

From early Jesuit reports like Matteo Ricci to the Chinese Rites Controversy, they trace a journey longer and stranger than most have ever realised.

Pilkington and Dusenbury are founders of the Danube Institute’s Recivilisation Project, which responds to a fraying post–Cold War order by seeking deeper civilisational dialogue, especially with China.