Chen Rongjie's Academic Research In The Perspective Of Modernity

This paper focuses on the comprehensive investigation on Wing-tsit Chan's academic research from the perspective of modernity,and shows the academic achievements and methods of Wing-tsit Chan's Chinese philosophical research in the United States from the perspective of modernity,which shows how to solve the independence problem of Chinese knowledge western spreading and the study and development of Chinese philosophy in the process of modernization.Besides,it further investigates Wing-tsit Chan's thinking and solution to this problem and reveals its positive contribution and academic methods as well as its enlightenment to the globalization of Chinese philosophy in the field of modernization.Chapter 1 mainly introduces Wing-tsit Chan's life story.It restores his growth epitome from the ancient and modern Chinese and Western learning experiences,analyzes the four changes in his academic career from his academic research focus changes,and presents his academic achievements of Chinese knowledge western spreading from promoting Chinese philosophy in overseas.The previous experiences of Mr.Chen were of great time brand.On the one hand,he studied in the old Qin Xuan Private School,the semi-new half-old Tam's School,the New Lingnan University and Harvard University.This process of ancient-modern and Chinese-Western education epitomized the excellent experience of modern intellectuals.On the other hand,when he was at Lingnan University,he took an active part in the student patriotic movement to save the nation,and went to Harvard to pursue inspirational education and save the country.After returning to his alma mater to carry out educational administration reform,he finally sank into a political whirlpool,which was the portrayal of modern intellectuals'patriotic salvation,education and national salvation,which were forced by the times and politics for them to carry out their aspirations.For Mr.Chen's sixty years of academic career in Chinese philosophy research and promotion in the United States,the author takes his academic purpose as a starting point and takes time and academic focus as clues to divide the course of his personal study into four stages:the stage of introducing Chinese culture,the stage of Chinese philosophy research,the stage of Neo-Confucianism research and the stage of Chu His' Philosophy research,and sums up his academic activities and works in the four periods.Chapter 2 summarizes Wing-tsit Chan's modern interpretation of Chinese philosophy and religion.Based on Wing-tsit Chan's explanation of the humanistic spirit of Chinese philosophy and the modernization analysis of Confucianism's "two rounds of philosophy",this paper makes a positive exploration on the inner relationship between Chinese cultural tradition and modernity,and also shows its efforts to rediscover the traditional value of Chinese philosophy from the perspective of heterogeneous culture,as well as the enlightenment of its approach to the interpretation of traditional value of Chinese philosophy in the cultural leap of Chinese philosophy.His first attempt through Chinese and Western cultures was a humanistic interpretation of the spirit of Chinese philosophy.He analyzed the Confucian moral humanism,Taoist humanism,Mohist practical humanism,and Buddhist humanism to embody the distinctive humanism color of Chinese philosophy,which is an attempt to interpret the value of modernization of Chinese philosophy.Chen's second attempt on the value of modernization of Chinese philosophy is the interpretation of two rounds of philosophy and modernity.He discusses the modern value of the two rounds of philosophy from three aspects:rule by virtue and rule by law,intuition and rationality,and personal and social aspects.This is a way to excavate the value of modernity of traditional value under the condition that Chinese philosophy maintains its own independence.In order to respond to the misunderstanding of Chinese religion in the West,the author divides Chinese religion into two levels:literati religion and folk religion,and points out their differences in the form of belief,object of worship,religious behavior,etc.Then he points out that in the first half of the 20th century,the Chinese folk religion was widely displayed,while the literati religion,represented by the intellectuals,showed a trend of pluralistic development.Chapter 3 This chapter combines with the achievements of Mr.Chen's Neo-Confucianism research in the United States from the 1950s to the 1970s,from the perspectives of "observing the development of ideas in the context of history,and exploring the evolution of the school based on conceptual analysis"to explore its position on the study of Neo-Confucianism and its academic significance.In part 1,he combs and evaluates the historical context of Neo-Confucianism and Taoism by taking Neo-Confucianism as the premise of consciousness from the perspective of modernity.Chen's combing and summarizing the context of Neo-Confucianism and Taoism reflects his definition on the scope of Neo-Confucianism.He emphasizes the orthodoxy of Neo-Confucianism,and thinks that Neo-Confucianism could include the Confucianism of Song,Yuan,Ming and Qing dynasties.Although there are many branches,it is actually the same root.According to the connotation of "Taoism",Mr.Chen divides "Daoism" into three stages:"knowledge","sacred study" and"study of sexual reason",which clearly shows the evolution of the meaning of"Taoism";Through his argumentation on the historical origin of Neo-Confucianism in the early Ming Dynasty,which will inevitably lead to the trend of Yang-ming School,he reappears his academic context of Neo-Confucianism.Part 2 explores the historical school changes of Neo-Confucianism through the development of the concepts of "benevolence"and "reason" by Mr.Chen.On the one hand,while exploring the development of the concept of "benevolence",this paper combs the research history on the concept of "benevolence" in European and American academic circles,and explores the research trend of Neo-Confucianism in European and American academic circles.On the other hand,it sorts the connotation changes of "Li" in different historical periods,and summarizes the reasons for the development of Neo-Confucianism.Chapter 4 discusses the achievements and contributions of Wing-tsit Chan to Zhuzi doctrine from three aspects,including:firstly,he promotes the overseas Chu His' research cause;secondly,he analyzes Chu His' ideological and philosophical nature;thirdly,he breaks the public and private goals to extend the academic scope of Chu His to the life of Chu His.First of all,by combing Wing-tsit Chan's research results on the Zhuzi doctrine in Europe and the United States,we can find out the general development situation and trend of Zhuzi doctrine in Europe and the United States before the 1980s,and based on the development of Zhuzi doctrine in Europe and the United States in the 20th century,it can be seen that Mr.Chen plays a role in the development of Zhuzi doctrine in Europe and the United States.Secondly,Wing-tsit Chan believes that Chu His' comprehensive completion of Neo-Confucianism is reflected in the philosophical choice of Chu His' ideas such as the path of Neo-Confucianism,the relationship between Li and Qi,and the concept of Tai Chi.Although the concept of Taoism seems to be based on authority on the surface,in essence,whether it is the establishment of Taoism or the connotation of Taoism,it is philosophical.Again,from three angles of responding to the outstanding cases of Chu His,clarifying the misunderstanding of Chu His,and restoring Chu His' life,it shows Wing-tsit Chan restores the characteristics of Chu His' life world out of answering questions,responding to academic circles and their own interests and other reasons.Chapter 5 discusses the methods and principles of Wing-tsit Chan's academic research.In his academic research,he consciously avoids using the concept of western philosophy and insists on using the method of medium interpretation to discuss Chinese philosophy thus to seek for multiple perspectives of the study on Chinese philosophy.Wing-tsit Chan attaches great importance to the collection and study of traditional classics and the study on the history of thought.He explores the development of Neo-Confucianism and Chu His' practical activities by using the research methods of historiography.On the one hand,he attaches importance to the analysis on the history of ideas and skilled in evaluating the development of thoughts in the historical context,on the other hand,he also attaches importance to the textual research of historical materials,and can exhaust the relevant materials and make strict arguments and choices when discussing problems.He does not focus on public purpose in studying Chu His but puts Chu His in the concrete background to understand the research method,this kind of mode directly facing Chu His' life world and life experience,is a mode of returning to life personality and a new attempt in Zhuzi doctrine and Chinese philosophy research.