A Concise History of Chinese Philosophy

Preface
Contents
1 Introduction
	1.1 The Methodology for the Study of the History of Philosophy
	1.2 Characteristics of Traditional Chinese Philosophy
	1.3 The Struggles Between “Past and Present” and Between “China and the West” and the Revolution in Modern Chinese Philosophy
	References
Part I The Pre-Qin Period (CA. 1046–256 BCE)
2 The Rise of Confucianism, Mohism, Daoism, and Legalism
	2.1 Confucius’ Doctrine of the Unity of Humanity and Knowledge
	2.2 Mozi and the Conflict Between Confucianism and Mohism—The Antagonism Between Empiricism and Apriorism
	2.3 The Laozi: “The Movement of DaoConsists in Reversion”—The Presentation of the Dialectical Principle of Negation
	2.4 Sunzi Bingfa (Sunzi’s Art of War) and the Rise of the Legalists
	References
3 The High Tide of Contention Among the “Hundred Schools of Thought”
	3.1 The Guanzi: The Confluence of Legalism and Doctrines of the Huang–Lao School
	3.2 The Conflict Between Confucian and Legalist Schools and Mencius’ Doctrine of the Goodness of Human Nature
	3.3 Zhuangzi: “Where All Things Are Equal, How Can One Be Long and Another Short?”—Relativism Against Dogmatism
	3.4 The Logicians’ Debates on “Hardness and Whiteness,” and on “Similarity and Difference”—A Conflict Between Relativism and Absolutism
	3.5 Later Mohist Views on the Relationship Between Names and Actualities and on Nature
	References
4 The Summing-Up Stage of Pre-Qin Philosophy
	4.1 Xunzi’s Summation of the Debates Over “Heaven and Humankind”, and Over “Names and Actualities”—The Union of Naïve Materialism and Naïve Dialectics
	4.2 Han Fei: “Incompatible Things Cannot Coexist”
	4.3 The Yi Zhuan: “The Interaction of Yin and Yang Constitutes the Dao”—The Establishment of the Naïve Principle of the Unity of Opposites
	4.4 The Development of the Doctrine of the Yin-Yang and Five Agents—The Application of the Comparative Method of Dialectical Logic to the Sciences
	References
Part I A Brief Summary
	I
	II
	III
Part II From the Qin-Han to the Qing Dynasty
5 The Supremacy of Confucianism and Criticisms of Confucian Theology
	5.1 Dong Zhongshu and the Huainanzi—The Antagonism Between the Teleological and Mechanistic Doctrines of Huoshi
	5.2 Wang Chong’s Materialistic Doctrine of Mowei in Opposition to the Doctrine of Huoshi
	References
6 Mysterious Learning and the Coexistence of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism
	6.1 Wang Bi’s Doctrine of “Valuing Non-being” and Pei Wei’s “On the Importance of Being”
	6.2 Ji Kang’s Challenge to Fatalism
	6.3 The Commentary on the Zhuangzi: “When There is Being, There is Non-being”—The Doctrine of “Self-transformation” Against Metaphysical Ontology
	6.4 Ge Hong’s Daoist Philosophy and Seng Zhao’s Buddhism Expounded in Terms of Mysterious Learning
	6.5 Fan Zhen’s Summing-Up of the Debate Over Body and Soul—The Application of the Materialist Principle of the Unity of Substance and Function
	References
7 A Tendency Towards the Confluence of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism
	7.1 The Buddhist Tiantai School’s Doctrines: “The Three Levels of Truth Are in Perfect Harmony with One Another” and “Even Inanimate Things Possess the Buddha-Nature”
	7.2 The Buddhist Dharma-Character School’s Doctrine: “Everything Is Consciousness Only” and the Buddhist Huayan School’s Doctrine: The Universal Causation of the Realm of Dharmas—The Antithesis between Idealistic Empiricism and Rationalism
	7.3 The Buddhist Zen (Chan) School—The Completion of Confucianized Buddhism
	7.4 Li Quan’s Religious Daoism with a Voluntarist Orientation
	7.5 Liu Zongyuan and Liu Yuxi: “Heaven and Human Beings Do Not Interfere with Each Other” and “Heaven and Human Beings Are Evenly Matched”: A Materialist Summary of the Debate Concerning “Effort and Fate”
	References
8 The Prevalence of Neo-Confucianism and the Criticisms of Neo-Confucianism
	8.1 Zhou Dunyi, Shao Yong, and the Cheng Brothers: Founders of Orthodox Neo-Confucianism
	8.2 Zhang Zai’s Summing-Up of the Debate Over “Being and Non-being (Movement and Tranquility)”—An Exposition of the Principle of the Unity of Opposites In Terms of Qi Monism
	8.3 Zhu Xi’s System of Principle Monism
	8.4 The “Jing Gong New Learning” and the “Utilitarian Learning” as Opposed to the Chengs and Zhu Xi’s Doctrine of Principle
	8.5 Wang Shouren’s System of Mind Monism
	8.6 Li Zhi’s “Heretical” Thoughts
	References
9 The Summing-Up Stage of Ancient Chinese Philosophy
	9.1 Wang Fuzhi’s Summary of the Debate over “Principle and Vital Force (The Dao and Concrete Things)” and “Mind and Matter/Things (Knowledge and Action)”—A System of Qi Monism Unifying Naïve Materialism and Naïve Dialectics
	9.2 The Enlightenment Thought and Historicist Methodology of Huang Zongxi
	9.3 Gu Yanwu’s “Practical Learning of Cultivating Oneself and Governing Others”
	9.4 Yan Yuan’s Discussion of “Practice” and Dai Zhen’s Discussion of “Knowledge”
	References
Part II A Brief Summary
	chSec1
	I
	II
	III
	IV
Part III Modern Period
10 The Forerunners of Modern Chinese Philosophy
	10.1 Gong Zizhen: “The Dominator of the Masses is Called the ‘Self’”—The Beginning of Modern Humanism
	10.2 Wei Yuan: “Basing My Ideas on Things” and “Knowing Something After Being Involved in Something”—The Beginning of the Debate Over the Relation Between Mind and Matter/Things (Knowledge and Action) in Modern Times
	References
11 The Stage of Evolutionism in the Philosophical Revolution
	11.1 Kang Youwei: An Advocate of Historical Evolutionism
	11.2 Tan Sitong: The “Study of Humanity” Aimed at Breaking the Chains of Bondage
	11.3 Yan Fu’s “Doctrine of Natural Evolution” and Empiricism
	11.4 Liang Qichao on the Freedom of the “Self” and the Evolution of the “Group”
	11.5 Zhang Taiyan: “Competition Produces Intelligence, and Revolution Develops People’s Knowledge”—A Rudimentary Version of the Viewpoint of Social Practice
	11.6 Wang Guowei: The Believability Versus the Lovability of Philosophical Theories
	11.7 Sun Yat-Sen’s Evolutionism and His Doctrine of the Relation Between Knowledge and Action
	References
12 The Philosophical Revolution Enters the Stage of Materialist Dialectics
	12.1 Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu: From Evolutionism to Historical Materialism
	12.2 Hu Shi’s “Experimentalism” and Liang Shuming’s Intuitionism
	12.3 The Debate Over Science Versus Metaphysics and Qu Qiubai’s Historical Determinism
	12.4 Lu Xun on National Characteristics and His Aesthetic Ideas
	References
13 The Sinicization of Marxism and the Contributions Made by Professional Philosophers
	13.1 Li Da and Ai Siqi: First Attempts to Sinicize Marxist Philosophy
	13.2 Xiong Shili: New Doctrine of Consciousness-Only
	13.3 Zhu Guangqian: An Aesthetic Theory of Expression
	13.4 Jin Yuelin: “Applying What Is Attained from Experience to Experience––Realism-Based Unity of Perceptual and Rational Knowledge, and of Facts and Principles”
	13.5 Feng Youlan: “The New Rational Philosophy”
	13.6 Marxists’ Critical Investigations on Traditional Thought
	13.7 Mao Zedong: The Dynamic and Revolutionary Theory of Knowledge as the Reflection of Reality—A Summation of the Debate Over the Relation Between “Mind and Matter/Things” in the Philosophy of History and Epistemology
	References
Part III A Brief Summary
	I
	II
	III
	IV
	V
	VI
Postscript
Glossary of Chinese Characters
Index