Ritualized world relations: a Confucian critique of Rosa's limitations on resonance

Area of Science:

• Social Sciences
• Sociology
• Philosophy

Background:

• Modern and post-modern societies are characterized by dynamic stabilization, requiring constant growth for institutional maintenance.
• Societal acceleration is driven by the pursuit of making the world more accessible, engineerable, predictable, and controllable.
• This pursuit paradoxically leads to a sense of alienation and a failed world-relation, as the world becomes unresponsive.

Purpose of the Study:

• To critically examine Hartmut Rosa's concept of resonance as a solution to modern alienation.
• To propose the Confucian notion of ritual as an alternative framework for reestablishing world-relations.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual analysis of Hartmut Rosa's theory of dynamic stabilization and resonance.
• Comparative analysis of Rosa's notion of agency with the Confucian concept of ritual.
• Philosophical argumentation on the nature of agency and its impact on world-relations.

Main Results:

• Hartmut Rosa's concept of resonance relies on a form of 'atomic agency' that may limit its effectiveness.
• The Confucian notion of ritual offers a more dispersed and mutually constitutive understanding of agency.
• A ritualized approach reconfigures the relationship between the self, others, and the world.

Conclusions:

• The efficacy of resonance as proposed by Rosa is potentially undermined by its reliance on individualistic agency.
• Confucian ritual provides a more integrated model of agency, fostering a less alienated and more connected relationship with the world.
• Shifting from atomic agency to a mutually constitutive understanding of agency through ritual can transform our world-relations.