Revisiting classics a reminder of dialogue of civilizations

In both the Greek and Chinese traditions, the classics don't preserve abstract theories that are detached from reality, but accumulated wisdom about how human beings should govern states, cultivate character, maintain social order, confront suffering and lead meaningful lives.

Classic works have often emerged in moments of social transformation and civilizational uncertainty. Plato wrote The Republic in the aftermath of political upheaval and the execution of his mentor Socrates, asking how justice and civic order might still be possible. Likewise, The Analects of Confucius emerged in an age of political fragmentation and moral disorder; Confucius' journeys were themselves attempts to seek workable forms of ethical and political life.

It is perhaps for this reason that civilizations often return to their classical traditions during periods of historic transition and renewed cultural confidence. According to the Chinese philosopher and classicist Liu Xiaofeng, the rise of successive generations of scholars dedicated to the study of the ancient classics has often accompanied periods of heightened reflection on a civilization's cultural inheritance and historical identity.