Ren (benevolence), panoramic painting and sensus communis: cosmomedia and political philosophy in late 19th century China

Abstract

There existed a worldview of cosmomedia in late 19th century China that integrated classical Confucian and Daoist ideas with western media like aether and panoramic painting. Cosmomedia is a kind of organic media thinking based on sensus communis (common sense) among people and induction between heaven and mankind, thereby generating moral obligations, and becoming the foundation for the political philosophy of Kang Youwei, Tan Sitong and other reformist intellectuals. It constitutes a kind of medial power to unify things, people, and the world and supports the political imagination of great harmony (Da tong). The loss of distance brought about by the virtual image media-like panorama or aether, echoes the traditional belief of the unbearable heart, confirms the existence of sensus communis and, thus, makes the world of great harmony possible.