Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No. 6, 2022

Body/Soul Monism and the Establishment of the Life Subject

(Abstract)

Wu Fei

The mainstream of modern Western philosophy is a subjective philosophy based on body/soul dualism. Unlike Western philosophy, which mainly concerns being, the central concern of Chinese philosophy, represented by Confucianism, is life and living. Most modern Chinese philosophers readily accept materialism because there has long been a tradition of the philosophy of qi in China. Such materialism, however, is not a mechanical materialism, because it is not based on dualism. Subjective life is constructed on the basis of body/soul monism and is closely related to two philosophical propositions. One is the cosmology of the philosophy of qi, and the other is considering human beings as the mind of cosmos, thus providing an initial outline of the philosophy of life.