Reviewing the Past to Know the New: A Collection of Research Papers on Chinese Philosophy

Author: Lou Yuli
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-11-01
Features: With the care, supervision, and assistance of my students, I have selected some of the articles I have written over the past two decades on Chinese philosophy and culture, compiling them into this collection titled Wen Gu Zhi Xin. Although I have long been engaged in the research and teaching of the history of Chinese philosophy and have delivered numerous related lectures, frankly speaking, I have never had a systematic or overall plan in my writing. As a result, I have never written a monograph and have not even produced a finalized topical lecture series. The more than 30 articles in this collection are simply a loose compilation of such unsystematic and unstructured writings. The intention behind the title Wen Gu Zhi Xin is to hope that readers, after reading these old articles filled with outdated and unrefined views, will be inspired to generate numerous enlightening and insightful new ideas. For myself, looking back at some of my past writings and reflecting on my academic and intellectual journey, I also hope to derive new perspectives and insights from them.
In the classroom, I never ask students to take down everything I say, nor do I expect them to memorize what I teach as the standard answer during exams. I only hope that students can grasp the essence of my lectures while forgetting the words themselves. If they can understand the underlying meaning, simply jotting down a few notes for future reference would suffice. Similarly, when reading my articles, I hope everyone can grasp the essence while forgetting the words, and from these old ideas, derive your own new and profound writings. This is my sincere expectation.