Rebuilding "Science" And "Subject Of Reason" In1980’s China

"Science" had been a key word in the problem of Chinese modernity. When the first time this concept was transplanted into China, many Chinese intellectuals accepted that concept as a kind of philosophy about human life and morality. These intellectuals thought that they could solve every problem using the "science". But on the contrary to this, other intellectuals did not agree with this perspective. During accepting "science", Marxism had played a decisive role. After1949, the role of Marxism had become shackles. According to the main principle of Marxism, especially "the natural dialectics", truth is something unitary or objective and because of this principle, truth was thought as something that human kind could not make. The principle of the "natural dialectics" argues that "truth" is outside of human thoughts. As scholars such as Tang Tsou(邹谠)and Hong Zicheng(洪子诚)had accurately pointed out, this principle about "truth" had made China fall into the period of "integration")(一体化).And the Cultural Revolution was the peak point of that integration trend. This process is the background of the reappearing of "science" in1980’s China. During May Fourth period,"science" had the meaning of both Marxism and non-Marxism, but the intellectuals of1980’s China wanted to challenge the "scientific Marxism" or "natural dialectics".Introduction is about critical reviews on the discourse on the problem of1980’s China. In this part, this paper critically analyzed the master narrative of Wang Hui(汪晖)and He Guimei(贺桂梅)and tried to find out another possibility of researching1980’s of China. This research argues that these master narratives have simplified or concealed the complicated relationships between ideas of1980’s and the "Real", Marxism, Chinese tradition. We have to historicize the1980’s of China and re-interpret the "political unconscious" and the "structure of feeling" of that period.Chapter1is about theoretical research about the subject of reason and historical context of the concept "science" in the period of1980’s. Chapter two is about the relationship between science and society. For them,"science" has the political sense, and it is the important instrument for acquiring the freedom of intellectual activities. Chapter three is about the theoretical research about "reason" itself. Chapter four is about the historic perspective of TF(Toward the Future) group. The theory of "ultra stable structure" of Chinese history has been a polemic problem. Because of that its perspective, the "ultra stable structure" has been seen as the view of Western Centrism. But from another kind of view, this paper tried to find out the allegory of that historic perspective.Finally, this research suggests that we should put the period of1980’s in China in the more complicate and various contexts. This work would make us understand1980’s China more fundamentally.