The Search for Subjectivity: Chinese Philosophical Studies in the Last Hundred Years and Its Contemporary Orientation

Abstract

Chinese philosophical studies, in the last hundred years, have gone through three main periods: the Republican period, the period from 1949 to the late 1980s, and the period from 1990 to date. During the Republican period, Chinese philosophical studies remained within the self-conscious scope of “philosophy,” characterized by the works of the history of Chinese philosophy. The period from 1949 to the late 1980s signified the ideologization phase of Chinese philosophical studies, consisting of two parts in succession, the former belonging to Zhdanov’s model and the latter to Lenin’s model. The ideological openness of Leninism and the political environment of reform and opening up jointly contribute to the pluralism of Chinese philosophical studies in the 1980s. From a more macroscopic view, Chinese philosophical studies before the late 1980s were of the “prototype-imitation” type in general, an imitation of the so-called general “philosophical” ideas using Western philosophy as the reference frame. The “prototype-imitation” type of Chinese philosophical writing and research features blind application and mechanical construction, lacking independence of thought and autonomy of action. However, Chinese philosophical studies have changed dramatically since 1990. To be more specific, by seeking and recognizing its particularity, Chinese philosophy has established its subjectivity. Because of the “craze” for Chinese culture and ancient civilization and the “enthusiasm” for the study of Confucian classics and excavated literature, the subjectivity of Chinese philosophy has been constantly enhanced. Its subjectivity construct, on is mainly manifested in the following aspects: proposing a methodology from particularity to subjectivity; conducting self-affirmation in the mind-nature theory, value theory, and way of thinking, establishing a selfconsistent, self-supporting, and selfgenerating discourse system; basing Chinese philosophical studies on its problems, concepts, propositions, and classics; the rise of philosophical study of Confucian classics; the re-construction on the pre-Qin philosophy; the further research on SongMing philosophy; and the establishment of fundamental threshold for the studies of Chinese philosophy. The establishment of Chinese philosophical subjectivity makes The Search for Subjectivity: Chinese Philosophical Studies in the Last Hundred Years and Its Contemporary Orientation* DING Sixina https://doi.org/10.3868/s030-012-023-0009-2 * Translated from 天津社会科学 (Tianjin Social Sciences), 2023 (1): 71-83. a School of Humanities, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, ChinaJune 2023 Volume 18 Number 2 149 both Chinese philosophy and Western philosophy truly adding word philosophies. Contemporary Chinese philosophical research should go beyond the overreliance and emphasis on particularity, thus breaking through its exclusiveness, developing an active dialogue on the universality of philosophy, and further improving its subjectivity.

Keywords

Chinese philosophy / history of Chinese philosophy / subjectivity

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2023 Higher Education Press