Chen Weiping ‖ a historical summary of the gradual development of Western philosophy

Mr. Tang Yijie edited the series of "History of Western Philosophy in the 20th Century"

In recent years, a phenomenon worthy of recognition has emerged in the field of philosophical research, that is, the mutual observation of Chinese and Western philosophy, that is, the researchers of Western philosophy have noticed the significance of traditional Chinese philosophy to Western philosophy, while the researchers of Chinese philosophy have examined the influence of Western philosophy on modern and contemporary Chinese philosophy. The series of "History of Western Philosophy in the 20th Century" (hereinafter referred to as the "History of Eastern Gradual" series) edited by Mr. Tang Yijie is an outstanding achievement of the latter aspect. It can be said to be the most systematic, in-depth and comprehensive summary of the history of Western philosophy to date. This is mainly manifested in the following aspects:

　　First, it clearly reveals the essential connection between Western philosophy and 20th-century Chinese philosophy. We have become accustomed to distinguishing the field of philosophical studies mainly into Chinese philosophy, Western philosophy, and Marxist philosophy. From a logical point of view, there is a problem of different standards in this distinction: the distinction between philosophy as "middle" and "west" is from a regional point of view, while "Marxism" and "non-Marxism" are distinguished by schools of thought. So, in general, outside of China, there is rarely such a distinction between the fields of philosophical research. However, what does not make sense logically is not without historical rationality. Historically, there has been no independent philosophical discipline in traditional Chinese scholarship. In China, the development of philosophy as a modern discipline independent of traditional scholarship is the product of the influx of Western philosophy and the result of the interpretation and reconstruction of traditional Chinese scholarship with Western philosophy. Therefore, the distinction between the field of philosophical study as "middle" and "west" naturally formed. However, this distinction must be opened up in the study of Chinese philosophy in the 20th century. Because Chinese philosophy in the 20th century is closely related to the Eastern and Eastern philosophies of the West, it can be said that without the study of the latter, it is impossible to grasp the former. The reason why this series of books can make significant progress on the basis of predecessors is that it generally reveals the substantive connection between Chinese philosophy and Western philosophy in the 20th century. The whole series of books forms an organic whole with the main axis of revealing this substantive connection, that is, summarizing the successes and failures of the sinification of Western philosophy. This avoids the patchwork drawbacks that the series is most prone to commit. Summarizing the historical experience of Western philosophy in the east with such a main axis not only makes the series of books show a more profound theoretical discussion than that of its predecessors, but also makes the series of books show the practical significance of the construction of contemporary Chinese philosophy.

　　Secondly, it comprehensively presents the historical picture of Western philosophy over the past hundred years. Compared with a single book, the advantage of a series of books is that it can have a more comprehensive grasp of a certain field or a certain issue. The "History of the Eastern Gradual" series gives full play to this advantage, and we can see this from the following aspects: First, the bird's-eye overview of the general description and the careful analysis of the genre are combined. On the one hand, the series of books has the macroscopic narrative of "Introduction to the History of Western Philosophy in the 20th Century", "Western Philosophy from the Perspective of Chinese Local Culture", the former summarizing the historical inevitability and historical stages of Western philosophy, the latter cleaning up several different types of Western philosophy treated by Chinese philosophers in the 20th century; on the other hand, the series of "Evolutionism in China", "Pragmatism in China", "Analytic Philosophy in China", "Realism in China", "Christian Philosophy in China", etc. The influence of many Western philosophical schools in China is also analyzed separately. Second, the investigation of the first half of the 20th century is as important as the inspection of the second half of the 20th century. We see many works that review the "20th century", often with more detailed research on the first half of the 20th century, while the study of the second half of the 20th century is vague. The "History of the Eastern Gradual" series of books has lived up to its name. Attaching importance to examining the gradual development of Western philosophy in the second half of the 20th century undoubtedly requires theoretical courage that does not shy away from reality and a theoretical vision that perceives reality. Third, the study of ideological trends is combined with case perspective. The influx of Western philosophy into China often becomes a trend of thought at a certain time, and the ups and downs of the trend of thought are often marked by a certain figure. The works in the "History of eastern gradualism" series of works run through the combination of ideological trend research and case perspective, so they have a comprehensive grasp of the historical process of Western philosophy.

　　Third, it profoundly summarizes the universal problems contained in the history of Western philosophy in the 20th century. As mentioned earlier, the "History of the Eastern Gradual" series of books takes the sinicization of Western philosophy as the main axis, so it actually summarizes some of the general problems of the sinicization of Western philosophy. If we look at the series of books, we can see that it analyzes the sinification of Western philosophy from the social and cultural levels. At the social level, modern China is an era of great social changes, and the reason why Western philosophical ideas can influence China is because they meet the needs of the great changes in modern Chinese society in some aspects and to a certain extent. As analyzed in "Evolutionism in China", evolution theory was originally a scientific theory with philosophical significance, and it did not have much influence in China, but it was linked to the needs of the Chinese nation to save the chinese nation and survive, and became a philosophical theory of scientific significance, which swept China and greatly affected two generations from the Penghu Restoration to the May Fourth Period. On a cultural level, the works in this series show us that the sinicization of Western philosophy means that they have acquired a new theoretical form in China, with a different appearance than in the West, such as evolution in China, which has a new form of world view; Dewey's pragmatism is a symbol of its national spirit in the United States, and in China it appears mainly in the new form of scientific methodology of "bold assumptions and careful verification"; even the highly technical analytic philosophy is another form in the hands of Chinese philosophers. That is, instead of using logical analysis to disintegrate metaphysics as in Western analytic philosophy, logical analysis methods are used to construct metaphysics, as is demonstrated in some of the works of Feng Youlan, Jin Yuelin, and Zhang Dainian. This new form means that the sinicization of Western philosophy has caused a certain deformation of Western philosophy, which means that Western philosophy has developed and renewed in China, showing the creativity of Chinese philosophers in constructing their own theories. The summary of such common problems contained in the history of Western philosophy in the 20th century shows the theoretical innovation of the "History of Eastern Gradual" series, and also provides valuable enlightenment for how we can develop contemporary Chinese philosophy in the interactive dialogue between Chinese philosophy, Western philosophy and Marxist philosophy today.