Discussing the Way

Author: Jin Yuelin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-02-01
Features: Jin Yuelin's fundamental ideological framework is clearly Western, especially in its epistemological structure, but his charm and emotional depth are Chinese. He has a solid foundation in traditional Chinese studies, which results in his scholarship embodying the strong Sino-Western blend characteristic of his generation. On Tao is a significant work completed by Jin Yuelin during the War of Resistance Against Japan. It is a systematic and highly creative monograph on ontology in modern Chinese philosophy. The book uses Tao, Pattern, and Potential as its fundamental categories, adopting a logical writing style where each proposition is a logical statement. Through rigorous logical deduction, it constructs a unique ontology. The publication of this book brought a methodological revolution in the history of Chinese academia, holding epoch-making significance in the Chinese cultural sphere, which traditionally emphasizes intuition over logic. This book fully demonstrates Jin Yuelin's Sino-Western blended writing style. He uses the highest concept "Tao" in traditional Chinese philosophy to encompass Pattern and Potential, elevating them to the supreme concepts and highest realms of his philosophy. The book extensively employs traditional Chinese philosophical terms such as Wuji (Boundless), Taiji (Supreme Ultimate), Li (Principle), Shi (Tendency), Ti (Substance), Yong (Function), Ji (Measurement), and Shu (Number), while intentionally using many traditional Chinese philosophical propositions but interpreting them in new ways.