Rui Yang

Although the term ‘intellectual tradition’ is frequently used, it is rarely clearly defined, leaving a vast and largely unknown space for multidimensional inquiry. This article explores how to find tacit intellectual traditions by drawing upon cross-cultural philosophical resources and proposing possible methodological directions for educational research. The main argument is that intellectual traditions can be tacit at both epistemological and ontological levels. Three Western theorists—Edward Shils, Michael Polanyi, and Michael Oakeshott—critically reflect on anti-traditionalism and objectivism since the Enlightenment. They contend that intellectual traditions, including the tradition of science, as tacit knowledge, play an important role in human knowing and action. Chinese philosophy also attaches great importance to the tacit dimensions of intellectual tradition particularly at the ontological level, as exemplified by the core concept of ‘Dao’. As a foundational assumption underlying the worldview in ancient China, Dao generated different ways of knowing in Confucianism, Daoism, and Zen Buddhism. Even today, it continues to shape how Chinese people interpret and transmit traditions. The philosophical comparison between East and West reveals the complexities inherent in intellectual traditions, which bring new opportunities for educational research. Incorporating diverse tacit intellectual traditions can help researchers better understand cross-cultural educational issues in teaching, learning, and research. For this purpose, we propose ethnoepistemology, ontography, and hermeneutics as potential methodological tools.

China’s educational heritage is rich. Yet, scholarly attention on Chinese educational traditions has mostly clustered around Confucian legacy. Few can articulate the relevance of coexisted Daoism and Buddhism to China’s classical educational values, let alone the syncretic impacts of the three philosophical teachings. This article seeks to explore the converged influences of the three teachings on Chinese educational traditions with evidence from Zhu Xi. Textual analysis has been employed to capture how he epitomized thoughts and practices from the three teachings to develop his educational philosophy and pedagogy. The findings are two-fold: the systematic cosmological-moral ontology with Buddhist and Daoist metaphysical roots redefines his educational epistemology with universal principle (li), material force (qi), human nature (xing), and heart-mind (xin) as the nucleus, reinterpreting the learning process and theories; Correspondingly, the ontological view shapes his pedagogy, namely quiet sitting (jingzuo) and mindfulness (jing). Although being a Confucian intrinsically, Zhu Xi has been profoundly influenced by the interactions of three teachings in the sphere of education. The syncretic lens further reevaluates the fundamental features of traditional Chinese educational traditions. China’s experience of synthesizing three teachings, particularly indigenizing a foreign one, could potentially contribute to hybridization of Chinese and Western intellectual traditions.