■ "Three Histories Explain the Present and Ancient, Six Books of the Zhenyuan Dynasty." This is Feng Youlan's summary and summary of his academic achievements, and the study of Feng Youlan's philosophy naturally takes this as the outline Feng Youlan's important philosophical achievement is the creation of a new theory.
New Science is a vast philosophical system, including the Six Books of New Science (1939), New Events (1940), New Lessons (1940), New Original People (1943), New Original Path (1944), and New Zhiyan (1946).
Mr. Feng Youlan
The new theory revived traditional Chinese philosophy and stimulated people's patriotic thinking at that time.
Although the new science was taught by Cheng Zhu Lixue, the ancient Chinese philosophy it absorbed was not limited to Confucianism, but also adopted Taoism and Buddhism.
The new theory is oriented to the world, drawing not only on Neoplatonism, neo-realism, pragmatism and logical analysis, but also on part of Marxist philosophy. It integrates East and West, runs through ancient and modern, the system is rich, unique, and becomes a family.
Limited by the times, the new science has not been able to get rid of the conservatism of Cheng Zhu Lixue, and has the duality of conservatism and revolution.
Since its birth, although people have mixed evaluations of it, it has been generally recognized (including critics of it) that in terms of the completeness of the system, the richness of its content, and the great influence, in non-Marxist philosophy, new theory has taken the lead, and has no one on the right.
From the perspective of the modernization of traditional Chinese philosophy and the sinification of Western philosophy today, the new theory of science provides useful experience and reference for the development of contemporary Chinese philosophy.
With the changes and development of the times, although the new theory has become history, we can still draw valuable content from it, so as to benefit the development of contemporary Chinese Marxist philosophy and the prosperity of socialist culture with Chinese characteristics.
Feng Youlan's greatest achievement in philosophy was the study of the history of Chinese philosophy, and he published the "Three Histories" (History of Chinese Philosophy, A Brief History of Chinese Philosophy, and New Edition of the History of Chinese Philosophy).
In the 1930s, he published a two-volume History of Chinese Philosophy, which he became famous in academia. Whether from the philosophical, historical, and methodological point of view, or from the perspective of content and system, his history of Chinese philosophy is a great step forward from hu Shi's "Outline of the History of Chinese Philosophy" (volume I) written during the "May Fourth" period, and is the first complete "History of Chinese Philosophy" written with a modern new view of history and new methods, with many creative ideas that have never been developed before.
In 1946, Feng Youlan was invited to the United States to give a lecture and wrote a brief history of Chinese philosophy in English.
The History of Chinese Philosophy and A Brief History of Chinese Philosophy have been translated into English, Italian, Korean and other languages and published, and are important reference books for studying and understanding the history of Chinese philosophy abroad.
Introducing and disseminating Chinese philosophy to the world is a major contribution of Feng Youlan. In this regard, Feng Youlan's philosophy is not only Chinese, but also the world.
After the founding of New China, Feng Youlan devoted herself wholeheartedly to the study of the history of Chinese philosophy, sincerely studied Marxist philosophy, and strived to write a new history of Chinese philosophy from the viewpoint of Marxist philosophy, which was different from the old works written before the founding of New China.
Although there were ups and downs in the past forty years, especially the tribulations of the "Cultural Revolution", his original intention of chinese philosophy was not only not to change, but to be old and strong, and regarded Chinese philosophy as life.
In the last ten years of his life, he finally completed the "New Edition of the History of Chinese Philosophy" with amazing perseverance under the condition of "the eyes and ears lost their wisdom, and the book could not be written", a total of seven volumes, counting more than one million words.
In the new period of reform and opening up, he was emancipated ideologically and spiritually, "drawing lessons from the past" and "I only write about what I can see at the existing level of Marxism, and directly write about my own understanding and experience of Chinese philosophy and culture at the level of existing Marxism, and do not rely on others." With the continuous and in-depth development of the entire social ideological emancipation movement, Feng Youlan also kept pace with the times, especially when writing about the sixth and seventh volumes of modern times, he put forward many "very strange theories" that are not easily accepted by the theories of the times, reaching the realm of "the sea and the sky I fly by myself".
■ "Expounding the old state to supplement the new life, extremely wise and moderate", the study of Feng Youlan's spirit should be an indispensable and important content of Feng Xue's research
To study Feng Youlan, we must not only study Feng Youlan's theory, but also study and appreciate the spirit of its connotations in depth.
Feng Youlan's spirit is rich in connotations, mainly patriotic spirit, dedication to philosophy, spirit of advancing with the times, and spirit of moderation.
He had great philosophical ambitions and ambitions from his youth. He was not content to talk about the history of philosophy, about the philosophy of others, but about his own philosophy and the creation of his own philosophy.
After the founding of New China, Feng Youlan took the initiative to accept Marxism, worked hard to use Marxism to transform himself, and carefully used Marxism to guide academic research in order to serve the construction of a socialist new China. Although there was a process of accepting and applying Marxism, and there were inevitably misunderstandings and twists and turns in the middle, his heart was always warm and sincere. From this point of view, although Feng Youlan's philosophical thought after 1949 is related to this previous one, the two are fundamentally different after all.
In his later years, he wrote a self-portrait of his own spirit and realm, "Illustrating the Old State to Supplement the New Life, Extremely Wise and Moderate".
He was convinced that classical Chinese philosophy contained rich and precious treasures and was an important source of ideas for Chinese-style Marxist philosophy;
I am convinced that Chinese philosophy will certainly shine in the future and make important contributions to mankind.
In March 1987, he believed that the blueprint for socialism with Chinese characteristics can already be roughly seen, that it will be the continuation and development of Chinese culture centered on "he", and that this continuation and development will be a great contribution of the Chinese nation to mankind in theory and practice.
Although the author has always had reservations about the philosophy of "harmony", I still can't help but admire Feng Youlan's premonition that he did have a "spring plumbing duck prophet", and the proposal of "harmonious society" and "harmonious world" seems to confirm his prophet. In his old age, Feng Youlan devoted all his life and effort to the "new life" of modernization and socialist construction. The study of Feng Youlan's spirit should be an indispensable and important content of Feng Xue's research, and it is urgent to promote and encourage it.
■ How to view the controversy over Feng Youlan's philosophy
Since the 1930s, there have been different controversies in the academic circles about Feng Youlan's philosophy, and Feng Youlan himself is very sober about this: those who know me and sin against me have all.
A small number of scholars hold certain prejudices and stereotypes about Feng Youlan's philosophical thoughts and personality, which I cannot agree with.
Of course, this is by no means to say that Feng Youlan and his philosophy have no shortcomings and cannot be criticized.
In fact, Feng Youlan, like all philosophers in history, has the limitations of the times. Therefore, if there is no comprehensive and objective scientific analysis of Feng Youlan's philosophy, it is also inappropriate not to see the problems existing in it.
Traditional Chinese philosophy, especially Cheng Zhu Lixue, despises or even denies material interests, and despises or even denies individual freedom, which seriously imprisons personal development.
Feng Youlan's new theory has not been able to get rid of the conservative nature of Cheng Zhu Lixue, so there is no idea of human rights and individual freedom.
He pays attention to human understanding, advocates the moral realm and the realm of heaven and earth, and has its academic value and social significance, but he exaggerates moral consciousness, completely integrates the individual into society and the universe, and denies personal value and individual freedom, which is an obvious lack.
For this reason, his "realm theory" was sharply criticized by the academic community at the time it was proposed.
Chinese philosophy pays attention to the problems of life, pays attention to the cultivation of life, and is the study of oneself, which is a significant advantage; But epistemology is not developed enough, and it is obviously insufficient compared with Western philosophy.
Feng Youlan emphasized that philosophy is the reflection of life, aiming to improve the realm of life, which inherits the advantages of Chinese philosophy and naturally has its value, especially in today's market economy conditions.
But his neglect of epistemology is a shortcoming.
Feng Youlan is right to emphasize that the contribution of Western logical analysis methods to Chinese philosophy is very correct, but he ignores the significance of the value theory and epistemology of Western philosophy to Chinese philosophy. Strengthening the study of epistemology and axiology is still needed in contemporary Chinese philosophy.
I propose that some of the shortcomings of Feng Youlan's philosophy are not to be harsh on the ancestors, but to draw attention to the study of these aspects in contemporary Chinese academic circles, so as to promote the contemporaryization of classical Chinese philosophy.
In short, it is normal that scholars at home and abroad will still have different understandings and comments on Feng Youlan and his philosophy.
Of course, when evaluating, we must vigorously guard against prejudice and prejudice, and maintain a rational and scientific attitude.
For Feng Youlan's philosophy, as with the philosophical thought of all philosophers, we should take a scientific attitude of seeking truth from facts, expound and absorb its positive results, and overcome its negative aspects, so as to benefit the development of contemporary Chinese philosophy.
Author: Xu Quanxing (The author is the former dean of the Graduate School of the Party School of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China)
Mr. Xu Quanxing