ABSTRACT
Much has been written about students’ different conceptions of learning. Here we turn to a parallel enquiry as to the underlying ideas and conceptions of research in Western and Confucian-tradition contexts. In 2004, we contacted an active research scholar in the Peoples’ Republic of China (PRC) and requested a companion statement to the one below we saw as outlining the essence of Western research philosophy:
The spirit of western civilisation is the spirit of enquiry. Its dominant element is the logos. Nothing is to remain undiscussed. Everybody is to speak their mind. No proposition is to be left unexamined. The exchange of ideas is held to be the path to the realisation of the potentialities of the race.
