Tong Kong 031 Liang’s Philosophical Calendar

According to our class called 'Modern and Contemporary Chinese Philosophy', originally we were teachers speaking separately. I should have taught the first lecture because discussing Liang Shuming should have been the beginning of what we now call modern Neo Confucianism. Although Mr. Xiong Shili is older than Mr. Liang, the construction of his ideological system is behind Mr. Liang.

Because Mr. Liang's first step marked his identity as the founder of Neo Confucianism, his first book was called "East West Culture and Philosophy", which was completed and published in 1921 and 1922. And Mr. Xiong Shili's classical Chinese text of "New Consciousness Theory" was published in 1932, which means there is a gap of ten years between them. Therefore, it should be said that contemporary Chinese philosophy should start with Liang Shuming.  

Before discussing Mr. Liang's thoughts again, I would like to explain the connotation of modern and contemporary Chinese philosophy. Chinese philosophy, as a discipline, only emerged at the beginning of the last century. Traditionally, China has relied on traditional ideological scholarship. Although there is philosophical content being discussed today, the form of Western philosophy in modern times does not correspond exactly to each other. Therefore, in our past Chinese traditional scholarship, in the pre Qin period, we talked about the Six Classics and various schools of thought. In the early Han Dynasty, there were six families mentioned in the Records of the Grand Historian, and Liu Xin was called Qi Lue.

Because the "Han Shu Yi Wen Zhi" basically uses Liu Xin's seven point classification of academia, which actually divides Chinese academia into six parts. It talks about the six arts. Poetry, prose, military writing, numerology, and other techniques of various scholars. Later on, the division of the Confucian classics into four parts was restored, as it was more suitable for the intellectual and academic situation in China, so it was adopted. These four collections of classics and history, as well as a set of so-called three parts taught by people in the Qing Dynasty, are the study of Yi Li, the study of the four chapters, and the study of textual research.

So since the beginning of the last century, there has been a modern transformation process in the academic thinking of traditional Chinese studies. Since modern times, Western academia has basically held a mainstream position, known as discourse hegemony. Therefore, we are basically in the process of transforming traditional Chinese academia and thought into modern ones. In fact, we are redefining traditional Chinese thought and theory according to this Western academic classification. Therefore, this framework is basically based on the Western framework.  

In this process, a discipline called "Chinese philosophy" emerged. So in the process of transformation of Chinese philosophy, we used to call it the history of Chinese philosophy, and now it is called Chinese philosophy. So, in fact, Chinese philosophy should include two aspects: one is its theoretical part, which is called modern Chinese philosophy; There is also a part of history, which is called the history of Chinese philosophy.

We are now discussing Chinese modern and contemporary philosophy as a form of history, which is an unavoidable approach. This part of the content is actually different from the history of ancient Chinese philosophy. On one hand, it is a new idea that has emerged from the collision and intersection of Chinese and Western ideas. At the same time, this part of the content faces the same or similar problems as us, so it has direct theoretical significance for us to think about contemporary issues, including various aspects of ideological and cultural issues.

From this point of view, it is different from the traditional concept of the history of Chinese philosophy that we are talking about, so the concept or discipline of Chinese philosophy itself is a modern product. Philosophy is a historical discipline, and no other discipline is so closely integrated with its own development history. Philosophy must be linked to history, so the concept of Chinese philosophy can also be divided into two parts: philosophy and the history of philosophy.  

Hegel proposed a proposition in his "Lectures on the History of Philosophy" that the history of philosophy is philosophical.

Of course, many of us also say that philosophy is the history of philosophy, which is a counterproposition. The history of philosophy is the first counterproposition of philosophy, called philosophy is the history of philosophy. Hegel did not say this, but according to my understanding, there are some people who oppose this theory and oppose the idea that philosophy is the history of philosophy.

Because Hegel once said that the history of philosophy is philosophical. In my understanding, such a proposition is a proposition of the history of philosophy, and also contains its opposite proposition, which is the history of philosophy. So in its original sense, philosophy and the history of philosophy cannot be separated, because the history of philosophy is the history of thought, which is different from the social history and institutional history we usually talk about. It is itself a process of thought generation, a history.

So, I have a saying in the history of philosophy that he only opens himself up to people with ideas. If you don't have thoughts, you can't see the way out of the world when reading the history of philosophy. It is the same historical material and the same person's thoughts. Those who do not understand thoughts will have all the thoughts in it when they speak.

So, I say that philosophy is the history of thought, it only opens itself up to thought with thought. At the same time, philosophy is inevitably a continuation of the history of philosophy in the past. Only philosophy, as a special tradition of academic thought, can have true ideological and cultural connotations.

So, when we talk about philosophy now, we separate it from the history of philosophy. All the history of philosophy and philosophy must be connected and cannot be separated. From a historical perspective, Chinese philosophy places special emphasis on the continuity of history, which is different from Western philosophy. Overall, Western philosophy is also a process of historical continuity. But he always uses one system to overthrow another, adopting such a way to continue communication.

On the other hand, Chinese thinkers throughout history did not view traditional ideas and classics as mere historical knowledge. The Neo Confucian scholars of the Song and Ming dynasties, known as Neo Confucian psychologists, discussed problems together. They also discussed classics, the issues in the Four Books, and the issues in the Six Classics. However, when they discussed problems, they did not view them as historical knowledge, unlike the way we study philosophical history now. We are now reading books, framing them, taking them down, and creating knowledge. We will listen to lectures, take notes, then memorize them, and take exams. It is a form of knowledge.

But at that time, people like Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming, such as Wang Yangming, were still discussing issues such as universities during his military campaigns, which were closely related to his current reality. So, in the process of discussing these histories, it has already generated an idea that is suitable for the current reality.

So, he always faces classics to solve current problems, thus forming a thinking system with contemporary significance in itself. The history of Chinese thought and academia is manifested as a continuous process of life creation. In such a process, every era and historical period has its contemporary form.

So, the ideas of every era are a unity of modernity and historicity. The focus of academic research in an era lies in the creation of ideas that face classics, inherit tradition, and introduce reality. Thought and history, or philosophy and philosophical history, are two sides of the same coin, inseparable. Only in this way can philosophy observe reality. There is an ideological perspective closely related to social life, and it also has a pedagogical significance.

So, since the emergence of the concept of "Chinese philosophy", there have been some problems with it. Since the concept of Chinese philosophy originates from Western philosophy, Western thought, and academia, when using it to study Chinese thought and academia, its differentiation will inevitably lead to differentiation. I think there are two aspects to this differentiation. One is the differentiation between philosophy and the history of philosophy. These two aspects have been closely related in every era in the past.

In the development process of contemporary Chinese thought, it has undergone differentiation. On the other hand, philosophy, as a separation between academic thought and social life, particularly emphasizes the concept of education in Chinese philosophy, especially Confucianism, which is closely related to social life. Western philosophy, as a theoretical form of philosophy, also has educational significance, but its educational significance is not direct. It needs to radiate to various sectors of culture, such as influencing art and literature, because art and literature directly evoke emotional life. Through this indirect way, it has an impact on society through its radiating effect on other cultural sectors, and it also has an educational function. However, the educational function is different from Chinese philosophy in that its form is distinct.

So the development and evolution of Chinese philosophy in contemporary times can be divided into two stages. The first stage was before 1949, from the beginning of the last century to before 1949. During this period, the disciplinary transformation of Chinese philosophy was first manifested as its institutionalization, which became the business of some scholars in universities and academic departments.

In this way, it creates isolation from social life and becomes an academic and theoretical activity for professionals within the college. Of course, there are exceptions because this tradition is a continuation. For example, Mr. Liang Shuming, as we just mentioned, was the founder of Neo Confucianism. However, there are also scholars, such as the American scholar named Ai Kai, who wrote a biography of Mr. Liang, which I have taken.

When I read this book called 'The Last Confucian', I referred to Mr. Liang as the last Confucian. Why is it called the last Confucian?

In the sense of the unity of learning and action, Mr. Liang was also the last Confucian. We are now studying Confucianism and still believe in him in our hearts, but we have not achieved this unity of knowledge and action. Mr. Liang, he said that the characteristics of his life, his own characteristics, are that he is not a scholar. He has a lot of knowledge and ideas, and also has a lot of thinking about reality. He has a lot of understanding of both Chinese and Western thought. However, he said that my thoughts and understanding did not start from specializing in learning, so he strongly opposes others calling him a scholar and philosopher. He said that I have thoughts, and these thoughts come from my real problems. When I think about real problems, I have corresponding thoughts.