Hou Waijun's Research On The "early Enlightenment Theory"

During in the early 20 th century,It was during Chinese revolutionary war period,Marxism was gradually introduced into China,It had an important influence on Chinese academic fields.Many scholars had paid great efforts for the spread of Marxism.In the academic field,Some scholars used Marxist theory to study the history of Chinese thought and achieved fruitful academic achievements,Hou Wailu's "early enlightenment" theory is the typical representative.In the view of Marxist theory,Hou Wailu began to study the history of thought from the end of the Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty systematically.Through the research methods which is combination of social history and thought history,he find “ the early enlightenment theory”from the history of Chinese Ming and Qing Dynasties.That can highlight subjectivity of traditional Chinese culture in the world culture,It can criticize ideas centered on western culture.It has a profound impact in academia.Many later scholars have innovated and developed it.Since the 1990 s,"Early enlightenment" theory had been disintegrated and impacted by Cultural conservatism,Postmodernism and the thought which think enlightenment comes from the outside of China.So "Early enlightenment" theory became the focus of academic discussion,It is necessary to study it.From the author's point of view,the scholars who insisted on "early enlightenment" theory should come out of the mode of thinking which always compare between Chinese and western enlightenment mechanically.It should stand on the local standpoint of enlightenment and insist on the state of mind of Cultural self-consciousness and cultural confidence,then combing the positive enlightenment thought factors which from Ming and Qing Dynasties with Chinese characteristics socialistic theory,let it become ideological resources,spiritual motivation and intellectual support for modernization construction of China.Hou Wailu's "early enlightenment" theory can keep alive and active through this method at the background of multicultural in Chinese contemporary social environment.