Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.4, 2013

The Possibility for a New Beginning of Philosophy in Chinese Thought

(Abstract)

Ding Yun

In modern Chinese thought, “philosophy,” along with the whole disciplinary system rooted in it, has an enduring influence on Chinese people’s understanding and interpretation of their own traditions. To avoid an overly simple final interpretation of traditional thoughts, it would be better to reflect on the general framework whereby traditions are understood before we understand them. We should try to problematize “philosophy” as much as we do “Chinese thought,” which seems inevitable. This requires us to reveal the philosophical view against which Chinese thought is usually asserted in the historical fluctuations of philosophical thought, and to take it as our object of enquiry. Mou Zongsan was successful in his attempt at reinterpreting classical Chinese thought with reference to Aristotle’s Four Causes. The socalled first beginning of philosophy is to set up a system that precedes and accompanies the beingontology issue under its guidance. When Chinese thought encounters Heidegger and, by way of him, rediscovers Aristotle and Western classical thought at large, the time has become ripe for Chinese thought to reexamine and consider the beginning of philosophy based on the emerging general primordial experience.