Modern Chinese Philosophy – serie

Until 1898, Chinese and foreign scholars agreed that China had never known, needed, or desired a field of study similar in scope and purpose to European logic. Less than a decade later, Chinese literati claimed that the discipline had been part of the empire’s learned heritage for more than two millennia. This book analyzes the conceptual, ideological, and institutional transformations that made this drastic change of opinion possible and acceptable. Reconstructing the discovery of Chinese logic as a paradigmatic case of the epistemic shifts that continue to shape interpretations of China’s intellectual history, it offers a fresh view of the formation of modern academic discourses in East Asia and adds a neglected chapter to the global histories of science and philosophy.

Jin Yuelin (1895-1984) was a leading philosopher in Republican-era China, yet he remains virtually unknown in the West. His major publications include a textbook on logic (Luoji), an epistemology (Zhishilun) and an ontology (Lun dao). Like many other Chinese intellectuals of his time, he was greatly influenced by Western ideas and terms. Most importantly, he considered the problem of induction, which was central to his thought, from the perspectives of epistemology and ontology. In his response to this problem, Jin employed terms drawn from Chinese tradition, as well as neologisms, thus creating a unique philosophy of process. This work focuses on Jin’s ontological response to the problem of induction, and also provides a summary of his epistemological response.

Mou Zongsan (1909-1995) was such a seminal, polymathic figure that scholars of Asian philosophy and religion will be absorbing his influence for at least a generation. Drawing on expertise in Confucian, Buddhist, Daoist, and modern Western thought, Mou built a system of “New Confucian” philosophy aimed at answering one of the great questions: “What is the relationship between value and being?” However, though Mou acknowledged that he derived his key concepts from Tiantai Buddhist philosophy, it remains unclear exactly how and why he did so. In response, this book investigates Mou’s buddhological writings in the context of his larger corpus and explains how and why he incorporated Buddhist ideas selectively into his system. Written extremely accessible, it provides a comprehensive unpacking of Mou’s ideas about Buddhism, Confucianism, and metaphysics with the precision needed to make them available for critical appraisal.

Mou Zongsan 牟宗三 (1909-1995) was the theoretical genius behind New Confucianism, a philosophical and cultural movement marking the revival of Ruxue in Asia and Northern America since the late 1970s. This book is the first thorough study in English of Mou’s multi-faceted and complex system. It examines the key influences of Xiong Shili 熊十力 (1885-1968), G. W. F. Hegel (1770-1831), and Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) on the Chinese thinker and presents his thought as a contemporary moral metaphysical recasting of the Lu-Wang Learning of the Mind using Mahāyāna Fo paradigms and Kantian terminology. The study also reveals the strong Han cultural nationalism entwined with Mou’s philosophical system and looks at how his thought has been received.

Mou Zongsan (1909-1995) was one of the major Chinese philosophers of the twentieth century, whose entire intellectual enterprise consisted of rethinking the relevance in the modern age of Chinese thought in general and Confucianism in particular. Although his seminal work is now a reference point everywhere in the Chinese world, research on the topic in English remains scarce. This book explores a pivotal dimension of Mou’s philosophy—that is, his project of reconstructing a moral metaphysics based largely on a dialogue between reinterpreted Chinese thought and Kantism. It provides the reader with direct access to Mou Zongsan’s thought by introducing translated excerpts of his work and thoroughly explores a number of his most paradigmatic concepts.

In Late Works of Mou Zongsan, Jason Clower publishes English translations of this most famous and influential of modern Chinese philosophers for the first time. In essays chosen for their clarity and approachability, this leading contemporary Confucian speaks on the topics that best define his career: the future of Chinese culture and philosophy, the unique achievements of Confucianism, the place of Buddhism and Daoism in Chinese culture, and the possibility of a new partnership between Chinese and Western thought.

In Thomé H. Fang, Tang Junyi and Huayan Thought, King Pong Chiu discusses Thomé H. Fang and Tang Junyi, two of the most important Confucian thinkers in twentieth-century China, who appropriated aspects of the medieval Chinese Buddhist school of Huayan to develop a response to the challenges of ‘scientism’, the belief that quantitative natural science is the only valuable part of human learning and the only source of truth.As Chiu argues, Fang’s and Tang’s selective appropriations of Huayan thought paid heed to the hermeneutical importance of studying ancient texts in order to be more responsive to modern issues, and helped confirm the values of Confucianism under the challenge of ‘scientism’, a topic widely ignored in academia.

Tang Junyi’s modern Confucianism ranks among the most ambitious philosophical projects in 20th century China. In Tang Junyi: Confucian Philosophy and the Challenge of Modernity, Thomas Fröhlich examines Tang Junyi's intellectual reaction to a time of cataclysmic change marked by two Chinese revolutions (1911 and 1949), two world wars, the Cold War period, rapid modernization in East Asia, and the experience of exile.The present study fundamentally questions widespread interpretations that depict modern Confucianism as essentially traditionalist and nationalistic. Thomas Fröhlich shows that Tang Junyi actually challenges such interpretations with an insightful understanding of the modern individual’s vulnerability, as well as a groundbreaking reinterpretation of Confucianism as the civil-theological foundation for liberal democracy in China.

Guo Qiyong’s edited volume on contemporary Chinese philosophy offers a detailed look at research on Chinese philosophy published from 1949-2009 in Mainland China and Taiwan. The chapters in this volume are broken down into either major themes or time periods in the history of Chinese philosophy. In each chapter after summarizing significant aspects of a particular theme or time period, lists are drawn up of the most important works, along with comments on their individual contributions. This volume allows readers to both familiarize themselves with specific texts and become immersed in the more general philosophical discourse surrounding the history of Chinese philosophy. It provides an in-depth look into serious debates and major discoveries in Chinese language philosophical scholarship from 1949-2009.

Wei Shi’s well-crafted study weaves together historical context, ideological complexities, and insightful case studies on Confucian metaphysics, ethics, and politics. Engagingly written, it seamlessly bridges the gap between universal and nationalist (particular) perspectives, offering a rich tapestry of ideas and satisfying unity.Shi describes the profound impact of Confucian revival on China's cultural identity. She argues that Confucian ideas continue to shape China's trajectory in an ever-changing world. Specialists, graduate students, and enthusiasts will find this work an invaluable resource in understanding the multifaceted landscape of China’s Confucian revival in the twenty-first century.

This book is the first and only English language translation of Sun Zhongyuan’s research on Mohist logic. Sun investigates the historical contributions made to the research of logic in China, its modern value, its significance to the world, and how the form of logic developed in China is united with those from the rest of the world, focusing on Mohist (mojia 墨家) logic in particular as its core concern. Sun’s work represents a high level of academic merit in the field of logic in China, embodying traditional Chinese culture, reflecting the frontiers of Chinese academia, effectively advocating for Chinese academia to engage with the rest of the world, deepening the academic conversation between China and the rest of the world, furthering the world’s understanding of Chinese thought, and strengthening its influence and discursive power.

In Philosophical Approaches to Politics and Ethics, Yang Guorong investigates influential political and ethical topics in Chinese and Western philosophies. This is the first and only English-language translation of the text, originally authored by one of the most influential living philosophers in China.Yang looks general issues such as moral behaviour, humanism, wisdom, or “how to do philosophy,” as well as at broad topics from various discourses, such as the relationship between rights and duties, or humaneness and propriety, and more concentrated discussions, such as the Gettier Problem or Zhang Zai’s thought. Throughout, Yang draws on resources from Chinese and Western traditions to develop post-comparative philosophical reflections on these issues—in this way Yang engages in what he calls “world philosophy.”

Explaining Mind is a representative text of Xiong Shili’s mature onto-cosmology, moral psychology, and epistemology, in which he develops an extended account of mind, as both a moral concept and a metaphysical concept, while critically engaging key aspects of Buddhist, Daoist and Confucian thought. The book covers a diverse range of topics and themes, including the non-duality of Reality and function, philosophical psychology, the inherent mind and the habituated mind, the mind of humaneness, the inseparability of mind and matter, learning concerned with increasing knowledge daily (modern science) and learning concerned with removing ignorance daily (ancient philosophy), cultivation practices of Confucians and Buddhists, wisdom and knowledge, and the origin of badness and wrongdoing.