Reflecting on Research on Chinese Philosophy: Transcending Explaining Chinese Philosophy Using Western Theories

Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.11, 2014

Reflecting on Research on Chinese Philosophy: Transcending Explaining Chinese Philosophy Using Western Theories

(Abstract)

Qiao Qingju

The concept of Chinese philosophy was first put forward in Philippe Couplet’s Confucius Sinarum philosophus. Where research on Chinese philosophy in the modern sense is concerned, France was first, Germany was the most systematic and most profound, and Japan the most productive. Both Germany and Japan have produced multi-volume general histories of Chinese philosophy. “Chinese philosophy” as such owed its appearance in East Asia to the development of world history and the modernization of East Asia. Its distinctive features lie in its break with tradition and its assuming the status of an object. Reflecting on Chinese philosophy in the world scene, we find that research on the subject has only one model, that of “explaining Chinese philosophy using Western theories.” Different Western philosophies are more or less appropriate for Chinese philosophy; most of the latter’s values have had to depend on Western philosophy for their establishment. This is to a certain extent a historical inevitability, and has made possible the examination of Western philosophy from the perspective of Chinese philosophy. Future research on Chinese philosophy should take the standpoint of constructing interpretations in order to inspire contemporary research on moral philosophy.