Heavenly Principles And The Trend Of The Times: The Political Thought Of Feng Youlan And1930s

The title of this paper is “Heavenly Principles and the Trend of the Times”.“heavenlyprinciples” means the transcendental concepts of “principle”. which Feng Youlan suggested.“the trend of the times” means the situation that Feng had faced. The thoughts of Feng Youlanin all his life, on the one hand, insisted “heavenly principles”,on the other hand, followed“the trend of the times”. Moreover, Feng expected that “the trend of the times” could combinewith “heavenly principles”. Therefore, Feng not only constructed the metaphysics ofNeo-lixue, but also tried to make up a solution for the crisis of contemporary Chinesethoughts. In the term of actual social problems, Feng always followed the “the trend of thetimes”. However, in the term of idealism, Feng always insisted his understanding aboutoriginal principles of Chinese civilization.This paper consists of three chapters.The first chapter,“Collapse of Heavenly Principles”, tries to analyze that how theinvasion of Japan effected the thoughts of Feng Youlan. Feng concerned about the problemsof Chinese society during the transforming period. One of the motives of Neo-lixue was thatthrough inheriting the “heavenly principles” in Neo-Confucianism, Feng provided the valueconsciousness for society. According to Feng Youlan, no matter how the society would change,there were some morals that people must follow, if not, any organization would not exist.However, Zhang Yinlin pointed out that this thought failed to solve the problem betweenindividual and organization, especially the virtual problems among countries. Feng wasperplexed by Zhang’s argument. Although he tried to retort, in “New Rational Philosophy”and “New Discourses on Events”, Feng in fact partly accepted Zhang’s idea. Behind thedebate about Lixue, it was the fact that Japanese Imperialism ignored the International Lawand continued its invasion.The second chapter,“Follow the Trend of the Times”, tried to explore the relationshipbetween socio-political thoughts and the historical context in Feng Youlan’s “New Discourseon Events”. Through understanding contemporary situation and watching the situation ofBritain and Russia, Feng believed the failure of Capitalism and placed the hopes on Socialism.This was the result of the socialization of production in modern society. Moreover, it alsoemphasized Feng’s belief that traditional values also were appropriate for modern society. Theindustrialized modern states had already showed that traditional values were indispensable inhighly organized society.The third chapter,“Returning of Heavenly Principles”, expanded the question in firstpart to study Feng’s plan about the postwar order during and after the Sino-Japanese war.Although Feng pointed out that there was no morality in current international relationship, hestill expected this relationship would become rational. Moreover, Feng wished China couldreinstate the leader of East Asia, in order to respond to the pretence of Japanese Imperialismabout the leadership in East Asia. This represented Feng Youlan’s confidence to the spirit ofChinese thoughts which were appropriate in a rational and equal world.