Feng Youlan (Upper and Lower)

Author: Liu Mengxi, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1996-10-01
Features: The modern great philosopher Feng Youlan, who consciously established his own philosophical thought system and whose influence spans the world, is a leading scholar in China. His academic achievements are represented by the "Three Histories and Six Books." The Three Histories are A History of Chinese Philosophy, A Short History of Chinese Philosophy, and A New History of Chinese Philosophy; the Six Books include works such as New Logic, New Metaphysics, New Ethics, New Human Nature, New Way, and New Language, collectively known as the "Six Books of Zhentuan." This volume includes all the "Six Books of Zhentuan" as well as eight essays. Feng Youlan (1895–1990), styled Zhisheng, was from Tanghe, Henan. In 1912, he entered the preparatory class of the China University in Shanghai. In 1915, he enrolled in the Department of Chinese Philosophy at the Peking University College of Arts. In 1919, he went abroad to study in the United States and obtained his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 1924. Upon returning to China, he served as a professor at Zhongzhou University, Guangdong University, and Yenching University, and later as the Dean of the College of Arts and the Head of the Department of Philosophy at Tsinghua University. During the War of Resistance, he served as a professor and the Dean of the College of Arts at Southwest Associated University. In 1946, he went to the United States as a visiting professor. From late 1948 to early 1949, he served as the Chairman of the Academic Affairs Committee at Tsinghua University. He was awarded honorary doctorates in literature by Princeton University in the United States, Delhi University in India, and Columbia University in the United States. After 1952, he remained a professor at the Department of Philosophy at Peking University. His major works include A Comparative Study of the Ideals of Life (also titled The Theory of the Gain and Loss of Heaven and Humanity, his dissertation for the Ph.D. in Philosophy at Columbia University in the United States), A Philosophy of Life, A Philosophy of Life, A History of Chinese Philosophy (Volume 1 and 2), and the "Six Books of Zhentuan": New Logic (1937), New Ethics (1940), New Metaphysics (1940), New Human Nature (1942), New Way (1945), and New Language (1946). These works collectively created a highly influential and vast philosophical system: the New Logic system. After the liberation, Mr. Feng abandoned his New Logic system and accepted Marxism, subsequently writing works such as A New History of Chinese Philosophy (two volumes), Collected Essays on the History of Chinese Philosophy, Second Collection of Essays on the History of Chinese Philosophy, A Preliminary Study of the Sources of the History of Chinese Philosophy, Forty Years of Reflection, and the seven-volume A New History of Chinese Philosophy, establishing himself as a key figure in the Marxist philosophy camp in China.