The Theory Of Feng Qi's Contribution To The Sinicization Of Marxist Philosophy

This essay is an attempt to present the contribution to the sinicization of MarxistPhilosophy made by Feng Qi(1915-1995), a well-known twentieth-century Chinesephilosopher. For a long time Feng Qi was considered only as a historian of Chinesephilosophy, but actually he was also a distinguished Chinese Marxist philosopher whohad made most prominent contribution to the sinicization of Marxist Philosophy.Under the premise of upholding and developing Marxist philosophy, Feng Qiinherited the critical spirit of Marxism and tried to solve the problem of therelationship between Knowledge and Wisdom. Focusing on the Central Issue“Whither China?” he fully absorbed the essence of Chinese traditional philosophy,Western Philosophy, the Western theoretical results of scientific and technologicalrevolution. On the basis of a redefined and reconstructed epistemology, anepistemology that he called “epistemology in a broad sense”, Feng Qi arguedaccordingly that the process of Knowing should include two “leaps”: a leap fromIgnorance to Knowledge and a leap from Knowledge to Wisdom. Under thetheoretical framework “epistemology in a broad sense”, Feng solved the theoreticalquestions about Logic and Methodology, the theory of Freedom and the theory ofValue by drawing on some reasonable points made by a variety of Schools ofphilosophy, Marxian and Non-Marxian. Therefore, he developed philosophicaltheories of Wisdom.In the academic process of exploration, Feng gradually formed the basicviewpoints on the connotation and means of the sinicization of Marxist philosophy.And Feng used them consciously in the “wisdom” philosophical system construction.Thus Feng formed unique theoretical perspectives in Marxist epistemology, ValueTheory, Dialectical Logic and Methodology, and so on. Truly he achieved theacademic level of the sinicization of Marxist Philosophy in modern China. To respondto “Whither China?”, the Central Issue of the Time, Feng converged Chinese andWestern cultures into a mighty current under cultural integration through theperspective of theoretical construction. Thus his theory of Wisdom theoreticallyachieved its own targets: to develop Marxist philosophy in China, to make-up for thedeficiency of the development of Chinese philosophy and to improve the sinicization of Marxist philosophy. Feng Qi’s theoretical exploration highlights the maindistinctive characteristics and personalities needed by Chinese theorists in promotingMarxism in China.Feng Qi’s signification of Marxism can be seen as the main theoretical result ofthe second time of the sinicization of Marxist philosophy. Based on practice, frombasic viewpoints of the interaction and the confluence of trends of Chinese andWestern cultures, Feng summed up the experiences and lessons of socialistconstruction. Feng’s theory thus not only has distinctive characteristics but also aChinese national style as well. As the new development of the philosophy of Marxistin China, Feng’s theoretical contribution constitutes the important ideologicalresources of the theoretical system of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Theresearch methods and theoretical contributions of Feng Qi’s philosophy, fullydemonstrated his way of sinicizing Marxist philosophy in China. Feng Qi’s workrepresents a new development and elaboration of Marxism. We should attach greatimportance to the valuable spiritual and intellectual enlightenments in Feng Qi’sphilosophy and his elaboration on Marxist Philosophy research in China.