New Edition of the History of Chinese Philosophy, Middle Volume

Author: Feng Youlan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1998-12-01
Features: This book is an important representative work of the renowned scholar Feng Youlan. Organized around the theme of the era's intellectual currents, it presents a unique and original study of the entire history of Chinese philosophy and even cultural history, proposing a series of new insights that have significantly influenced academia. Guided by the principle of "not relying on others," the author independently conducts research on Chinese philosophy and culture based on his own understanding of Marxism. In terms of content structure, the book weaves through the history of Chinese philosophy with the fundamental issues of universals and particulars, as well as general and specific, creating a broad yet coherent, rigorous yet vivid narrative that achieves a harmonious balance between substance and form, breadth and conciseness. The book places special emphasis on exploring the theory of spiritual realms in Chinese philosophy, further endowing it with profound significance in the study of the history of human spiritual development. For those interested in or researching Chinese philosophy and culture, it is an indispensable reference.
The history of Chinese philosophy is divided into four eras. Each era has its own unique spiritual characteristics. Class struggle and national struggle run through all the eras. This is their commonality. Each era also has its own unique spiritual characteristics, which is their particularity. Commonality is embodied within particularity, and without particularity, there is no commonality. The task of historiography lies in discovering commonality within particularity and explaining particularity through commonality. Among these four eras, some are further divided into several periods, each with its own particularity. Based on these periods, the book is divided into seven volumes. The historical period of the first volume spans from the Yin and Zhou dynasties to the late Spring and Autumn period and the early Warring States period; the second volume primarily covers the Warring States period; the third volume covers the Han dynasties; the fourth volume covers the Wei, Jin, Sui, and Tang dynasties; the fifth volume covers the Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties; the sixth and seventh volumes cover the modern and contemporary periods.