History Of Chinese Philosophy Research Articles

The Discovery of the Center through the Periphery: A Preliminary Study of Feng Youlan's "History of Chinese Philosophy" (New Version)

The Discovery of the Center through the Periphery: A Preliminary Study of Feng Youlan's "History of Chinese Philosophy" (New Version)

The Canon of Supreme Mystery by Yang Hsiung: A Translation with Commentary of the T'ai Hsüan Ching (review)

188 China Review International: Vol ?, No. ? Spring 1994 Michael Nylan, translator and commentator. The Canon of Supreme Mystery by YangHsiung: A Translation with Commentary oftheTai Hsiian Ching Albany: State University ofNew York Press, 1993. xiv, 680 pp. copyright 1994 by University of Hawai'i Press With the publication ofMichael Nylan's formidable translation ofYang Xiong's Taixuanjing, the study of Chinese thought during the Han dynasty has taken a major step on the road to respectability. Some might contend that being respectable is not something that researchers in a field should worry about—after all, some rather important fields were marginal or nonexistant as recently as the 1940s. Yet in disciplines as centered on memory as intellectual history (as opposed to ones where researchers can go out and gather data at any time), neglect carries with it the very real threat offorgetting or losing the ability to interpret the words and ideas ofthe past. Historically, the syncretic nature ofHan thought has probably been the major cause ofthe neglect ofHan intellectual history. Post-Song Confucians saw little in Han Confucianism to recommend it as a subject ofstudy. In the current century, this anti-Han perspective was continued by the great scholar Hu Shi fiS M, who concluded his influential Zhongguo zhexueshi dagang FS^^Si^Il (A general outline ofthe history ofChinese philosophy) by attributing the death ofancient Chinese philosophy to the rejection ofConfucianism and the adoption ofthe superstitions ofthefangshi^i.1 This interpretation ofHan thought as essentially "superstitious" and derivative has prevailed in both China and the United States during most ofthis century.2 Most scholars have preferred to focus their attention on the "Golden Age" ofChinese thought and have eschewed the following period, the Han. As Leng Dexi )t??!?8 commented earlier this year in his discussion ofthe neglect ofthe Han dynasty weishu %$-Wt'Until now, both in China and abroad (including both Japanese and Western Sinology ), Han dynasty thought and scholarship was seen to be a corruption ofthe thought ofthe pre-Qin Masters.' As the normative judgments inherent in the definitions of terms such as magic, science, and religion have come under increasing scrutiny, a consequent reexamination ofassumptions about the Han is beginning to take place. Coincidentally , this is happening just at the time when a tremendous number of cultural Reviews 189 artifacts and well-preserved texts from the Han are being unearthed. The archaeological discoveries duringthe 1970s at Mawangdui USE, near Changsha in Hunan Province, atYinqueshan ftiÊlll near Linyi in southeastern Shandong Province, at Shuihudi BÉffêitil near Yunmeng in Hubei Province, at Hantanpo ?$?1& near Wuwei in Gansu Province, and in 1986 at Fangmatan K-HIi near Tianshui in Gansu Province have enriched the quantity ofHan materials in a way scarcely conceivable twenty years ago. The combination ofan unprecedented increase in the number ofprimary sources and a change in attitudes regarding the value ofstudying the period has paved the way for a revival ofHan studies. Michael Nylan righdy portrays Yang Xiong ^W- as one ofthe central figures ofboth Chinese thought and literature during die period. Yang's Taixuanpng^^M., while certainly not "one ofthe world's great philosophic poems" (as the notes on the back cover trumpet), is significant for two main reasons. First, it is quite simply one ofthe few coherent and attributable works that have been transmitted from the Han. Second, it occupies an important place in the genre ofwriting which grew out ofthe study ofthe Yijing^M. (Book of changes). As such, not only does it provide a window now onto the lively world ofHan and pre-Han religious traditions and divination practices, but also it exerted a great deal ofinfluence then on Han and Wei-Jin thought ofall types. For example, only recendy has the central position ofthe Yijingand the Tamuanjingin the Wei-Jin xuanxue jSCiP movement become recognized. Nylan's treatment ofthe Taixuanjing, the first major work on the subject in English, may be divided into three parts. The introductory materials occupy the first eighty pages. This is followed by the translation ofthe main text, divided into its eighty-one sections (each representing four and a halfdays ofthe annual cycle) and followed by a set ofYang's own commentaries. The third part...

The History of Chinese Philosophy—Object and Method of Study

The history of philosophy is the history of cognition in its entirety; this was Lenin's definition.1 At the same time, Lenin also pointed out that, throughout 2,000 years of philosophical development, the struggle between idealism and materialism, between the trends or lines of Plato and Democritus, has never become outdated.2

Subject and Method of the History of Chinese Philosophy

The history of philosophy is the history of entire knowledge, a definition made by Lenin.1 At the same time Lenin also pointed out that throughout the two thousand years of development of philosophy the struggle between idealism and materialism, between the lines or tendencies, has never come to a stalemate.2 Based on what Lenin had pointed out, Redanov [translation of the name in Chinese—Tr.] of the Soviet Union repudiated Alexandrov's definition of the history of philosophy. As a matter of fact, in defining it as the history of knowledge, Alexandrov also drew his idea from Lenin's definition. The history of philosophy is the history of knowledge and also the history of the struggle between materialism and idealism. The two definitions should complement rather than exclude each other. However, in applying them a deviation will emerge as if the use of the one would invariably violate the other. In writing The History of Philosophy of West Europe, Alexandrov applied the idea that the history of philosophy ...

Natural knowledge in a traditional culture: problems in the study of the history of Chinese science.

Natural knowledge in a traditional culture: problems in the study of the history of Chinese science.

Some Opinions on the Task of Studying the History of Chinese Philosophy

Upon delving into Chinese philosophy I have come to realize that Chinese philosophy is indeed rich and comprehensive, even though Chinese philosophy and the history of Chinese philosophy are different from the history of Western philosophy. Although Western society and Chinese society follow common laws, each has its own distinctive characteristics. Similarly, while Western philosophy and Chinese philosophy likewise follow common laws, each has its own distinctive characteristics. The scope of the history of Chinese philosophy cannot be determined by that of Western philosophy, nor can the scope of Western philosophy be determined by that of Chinese philosophy. The most outstanding periods of Western philosophy have been the ancient and modern periods. The most outstanding period of Chinese philosophy was that of the Spring and Autumn era through the early Qing period. This was due to the differences between the two societies. In the West, both the slave system and the bourgeois revolution were much more ...

The Historical Role of Confucian Thought in the Formation of the Chinese Nation

The history of Chinese philosophy concerns the history of "China's" or "Chinese" philosophy, not the history of "philosophy in China." If we were to write a book on "The History of Chinese Mathematics," such a work would really be a history of "mathematics in China," or of "the development of mathematics in China" because "mathematics is mathematics" and there is no such thing as "Chinese" mathematics. But philosophy, like literature, is different. There really is a "Chinese" philosophy and a "Chinese" literature, or in general a "Chinese" culture.

"A History of Chinese Philosophy" and its Subsequent Researches, Particularly on Ch'An Buddhism

Well, that's the view of Communist China. As I now look back, I can say that my effort has not been very successful in all these aspects. But I have done some things in a few fields. Since this is a sort of autobiographical sketch, I may take advantage of this occasion to tell of a few projects which I consider today as fairly successful, at least in opening up a new point of view, a new outlook, or a new approach for future workers.

The Fourth Period

After my History of Chinese Philosophy was published, the worldwide struggle between Marxism and fascism became more and more sharp and intense. In China, the anticolonialist struggle against Japanese imperialist aggression and the struggle for the liberation of the nation, under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, had already turned from political struggle to armed struggle. In these struggles, the thought struggle occupied an important position.

Preface

Though best known in the West for his studies in the history of Chinese philosophy, (1) Professor Feng Youlan's pre-1950 system, entitled "Neo-Rationalism," (2) generated both acclaim and controversy among Chinese intellectuals.

The History of Chinese Philosophy - Thirty Years of Study

I have been engaged in teaching and research on the history of Chinese philosophy for a total of not less than thirty years. During the War of Resistance against Japan, it was at the Southwest Associated University in Kunming that I first began lecturing and became engaged in specialized studies on the history of Chinese philosophy. However, I should note that I only began using the truly scientific method to study the history of Chinese philosophy in 1949. Actually, the history of Chinese philosophy as a scientific discipline was only established gradually under the care and concern of the Communist Party after Liberation. During its development, this scientific discipline, while achieving important successes, also traveled a winding circuitous path. How to correctly evaluate the history and present condition of this scientific discipline, and how to promote its further development, is a problem that deeply concerns every comrade engaged in this field of scientific study. This article proposes to discuss...

A Few Words on the Problem of Methodology in the History of Chinese Philosophy

During the thirty years of Construction, studies in the history of Chinese philosophy have achieved great results, but not a few problems still remain. Those problems such as the problem of the subject matter, characteristics, and scope of the history of Chinese philosophy, the problem of the relationship between the study of the history of philosophy and real politics, the problem of evaluating the history of the ancient philosophers and their thought systems, the problem of critically inheriting the philosophical legacy, etc. may be subsumed under the general heading of the problem of the methodology of the history of philosophy, which in more concrete terms involves the question of how to use dialectical materialism and historical materialism in the study and synthesis of the history of the development of Chinese philosophical thought, revealing its objective laws. These problems have not been just discovered today. They have been discussed and debated now for a long time, but they have not yet been re...

Two Roots or One?

I stand before you as your president with a good deal of diffidence and humility. Professor Kaplan has just kindly explained who I am to the many of you who may never have heard of me. And while he has had very generous things to say, it is evident to you that I am not a main line philosopher. This being so, I am the more deeply honored that you should have chosen to put me in this position, this year and this evening. A large part of my time is taken in teaching and analyzing the classical Chinese language, and (in recent years) deciphering ancient inscriptions on bronze ritual vessels and on pieces of bone and turtle shell that were used by court diviners. The methodology of working on this material has a real philosophical interest. But for a yet longer time I have been occupied with the history of Chinese philosophy over its whole range, and in particular Confucian moral philosophy. And it is questions that have engaged me in this area that have gotten me part way into what I would like to think is real philosophy. But of this you must be the judges. My title has the grammatical form of a question. But I will make a promise at the outset. I am not going to try to answer the question. Instead, I shall use it as a stalking horse for taking some shots at problems that interest me. In any case, rumors in the halls to the contrary, my title 'Two Roots or One? is, you can see, not likely to materialize in an address on some problem in the philosophy of mathematics.

On Appraisal of the Kung-Sun Lung Tzu

The academic confusion caused by the "gang of four" was prominently manifested in the history of Chinese philosophy. The history of Chinese logic was also affected by the confusion. Now the "gang of four" has been smashed after a merciless trial by history. Under the leadership of Chairman Hua and the Party Central Committee, scientific research has begun to make a long stride ahead. Therefore, it is possible to conduct scientific investigations and thorough discussions on a series of issues in the history of Chinese philosophy and logic. Appraisal of the book entitled the Kung-sun Lung Tzu [The Works of Kung-sun Lung] is one of the issues.

Confucius' Doctrine of the Mean is a Philosophy Opposed to Social Change

The doctrine of mean was an important part of thought of Confucius and Confucian school. The bourgeois careerist, conspirator, counterrevolutionary double-dealer, renegade and traitor Lin Piao and his sworn follower Ch'en Po-ta, like those of reactionary exploiting classes in history, wildly preached doctrine of mean. They said: The doctrine of mean was rational, thinking and one of our nation's great virtues. They also said: Confucius' doctrine of mean exercised a great influence on the later development of dialectical philosophy in our country and this was a very big merit for Confucius in history of Chinese philosophy, and so forth.

A Critique of Leftist Chang Tai-Nien's So-Called "Some Characteristics of Classical Chinese Philosophy"

As early as January of 1957, at the Peking University Symposium on the Problems of the History of Chinese Philosophy, Chang Tai-nien was already attacking with his glittering words.

The Struggle Between Materialism and Idealism in the History of Chinese Philosophy in Terms Of Several Major Problems in Chinese Philosophy

The history of philosophy is a history of the struggle between materialism and idealism, which form two opposites of the unity that is philosophy. There is struggle in the relationship between them; there is also unity; there can also be mutual transformation. Naturally, like the opposites of any other unity, the struggle between them is absolute, while the unity is relative.

Criticism and Self-Criticism on Discussions about Confucius

At about this time last year, the Historical Association and the Historical Institute of Shantung held a convention in Tsinan to commemorate Confucius and discuss his philosophical ideas. Thereafter, a convention was also held by the Hunan Social Sciences Institute to commemorate Wang Ch'uan-shan and discuss his philosophical ideas. Many problems were raised at the meetings, and many exposed. Among these, some were related to materials; others were of a theoretical nature. The theoretical problems were also those of methodology in the study of the history of Chinese philosophy. Following these two conventions, discussions centered on philosophical research [che-hsueh yen-chiu] have been conducted concerning the method of studying the history of Chinese philosophy. This is an auspicious phenomenon; it is a manifestation of further intense study of the history of Chinese philosophy.

Discussions Concerning the Object and Scope of the "History of Chinese Philosophy" and Some Present Problems

Discussions Concerning the Object and Scope of the "History of Chinese Philosophy" and Some Present Problems

Symposium on Several Problems Concerning the History of Chinese Philosophy

Symposium on Several Problems Concerning the History of Chinese Philosophy