Reflections And Transcendence:a Study Of Humanities And Social Sciences At Universities

In an age of prevailing scientism when science and technology are getting more and more homage, natural sciences, termed as "hard science", occupy a dominant position at universities, while humanities and social sciences (HSSs) are being or have been marginalized, and their established functions are dissolving, thus losing their predominance and glory they once possessed. HSSs have been reduced to embarrassing "soft science" against the backdrop of the collapsed ivory tower and the eclipsed home of the soul. One cannot help asking, why is that the ideal university as envisaged by Newman and Humboldt barely registers in our mind as a fond memory?Centered around these questions, this research reflects on and explores HSSs, especially those at universities, and arrives at the following conclusions:The first conclusion pertains to the contents and features of HSSs, the paper analyzes the content, the paradigm and the features of humanities and social sciences respectively. It points out that knowledge about the former is facts about meaning and value, and it is concrete, situational and complex, thus requiring open-mindedness, tolerance and individualized expression in the researcher; and knowledge about the latter concerns the description and the attribution of objective social facts, processes and relations, its theories and logic comprising of some variable language, and its purport being to identify the logical relations between these variables. Based on this analysis, the research puts forward the term "humanities-social sciences" to cover the two.The second conclusion concerns the evolution of HSSs at western universities. Based on an analysis of classical western ideas about education, the paper finds that in earlier times, especially since the medieval times, the traditional paradigm of researches in HSSs at universities is interpretation and reading, faith and contemplation, piety and transcendence, that because of the matrimony between humanism and rationalism since renaissance and the union of academic politicalization and scientization, the rise of HSSs at modern universities is a sure thing in a period of social and cultural transformation, and that researches in this regard care for humanity and ideals, spiritual independence and pursuit of excellence, and the underlying spirit is holy, faith-based, rational, and detached from the once popular merely-serve-society philosophy. It explores the reasons why HSSs in our era are declining, and their possible re-rise after the myth of scientific rationalism is pierced; it points out that researches in HSSs, once liberated from scientism, should follow practical, diversified and scientific development routes. In terms of research methodology and awareness, or subjects and values, researches in HSSs at universities would inevitably bear the prints of the times and should keep abreast of it.The third conclusion is related to the evolution of HSSs at Chinese Universities. The paper analyzes some typical westernized institutions of higher learning and new-style academies during the Westernization Movement period and clarifies the contents and the nature of the ideas about education introduced from the west. In terms of the content, natural sciences were dominant while introductions of HSSs were confined to language, law and history in desperate need. In terms of the nature, the introduction efforts did not go beyond translation. It is safe to say that during this period, Chinese academic traditions, characterized by dominant dynasty-to-dynasty inheritance, still reigned while western traditions only played a supportive role in researches in HSSs. Universities did not become the major players of researches in HSSs until the advent of the Republic of China. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, such researches experienced a turn to the emphasis that they should be done under the guidance of Marxist theories and that they should serve political, economic, social and cultural purposes.The fourth conclusion hinges on the value expression of researches in HSSs as an undertaking to pursue practical rationality and probe into things. Such researches cares for human nature, origin, social harmony and sustainability, human relationships, the relationship between man and nature, and even that between man and gods as they are. In a postmodern context, the paper also highlights the cultural, social and educational value of cultural choice, reflection and criticism, cultural turn and guidance, cultural communications and understanding as they should be.The fifth conclusion regards the organizational system of HSSs. Through a criticism of the existing scientized and instrumentalized research paradigm, the resreach argues that researchers in HSSs at universities, as practitioners into "things", as thinkers pursing "truth" and practical rationality, as keepers of the home of the soul and as marginalized explorers, should keep their academic conscience and responsibilities, solitude and perseverance so as to pursue prominence and transcendence. Through an analysis of the academic community as an organizational pattern, tt also argues that the maximization of the organizational function should be based on its respect for the looseness, openness, complexity and virtuality of researches in HSSs; considering the internal and external environment of such researches, it also argues that internationalization and localization, interconnectedness and independence, homogeneity and diversity, competition and cooperation should be properly handled to make such organization more effective.The sixth conclusion concerns the supporting system of HSSs at Chinese universities. Through a discussion of the conflict between academics and politics within these researches, this research maintains that to handle the conflict as such, value orientation should be set, and the relationships between reality and vision, science and ideology, norms and freedom, etc. should be properly handled, and that to promote effective researches, amiable and harmonious atmosphere should be created in law, the mechanism of university, and academic norms. Through an exploration into the research platforms, programs, and resource allocations and their bearing on the development of HSSs, as well as a criticism of the existing defects of the mechanism, this research offers some routes and methods for distributing research resources in a more rational and fairer way; based on a criticism of the management and evaluation system, it argues that the academic management and evaluation should follow the inner law of the development of HSSs, and the principles of historicality, openness, manageability, human-centeredness and exceptionalism, thus guaranteeing academic quality. In short, the discipline design and planning can be carried out in the respects of value orientation, atmosphere creation, resource allocation and quality guaranteeing, thus forming the supporting system of HSSs at universities.Finally, with Soochow University as a case, this research summarizes and analyzes its achievements in the management of researches in HSSs over the past years to substantiate the effectiveness and feasibility of the views, principles, routes and methods offered herein.