The Soul's Journey of European Modern Academic Thought

Author: Yu Wenjie
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: Carlyle said: "Hear, my respected friend, when praise comes in succession, who is like Sir Jebb? He stands at the crest of the ever-rising tide, ever higher, arrogant, even higher than the heavens. But the tide of flattery recedes again, just as the inevitable result of blind praise: Jebb was stranded, submerged, and forever lost in the stream of shame; the bottomless abyss of endless oblivion is the position he occupies in the eternal space of time. History remembers for reconstruction: in the process of modern human civilization, justice is unbalanced, faith and virtue face crises, secularism, technology, and power almost devour knowledge, emotion, and will, or devour academia and conscience, and at the same time devour their own souls. The remaining shells will be wrapped by secularism, technology, and power, and they will forever sink into the abyss of human shame! This book studies the history of the formation, development, and transformation of philosophy, aesthetics, and ethics, which are formed based on human psychological elements—knowledge, emotion, and will—into three major disciplines of the humanities. Through the study of this historical issue, it focuses on the internal connection between the evolution of the Western academic and the process of human civilization, especially the possibility of humans transforming from natural beings to virtuous beings through the mediation of aesthetics. It strives to retrieve the cultural roots of the failure of enlightenment and the loss of virtue, and explores the historical mission and future prospects of modern academia for the reconstruction of modern virtue.
The full text is divided into four parts:
Part 1, The Footprints of Plato and Aristotle: The Intellectual Origins of the Academic Thought. The article argues that the ancient Greek period was the earliest source of the academic thought. The ancient Greek era can be divided into two periods: the pre-Socratic era and the post-Socratic era. The pre-Socratic era can be considered a time when Greek and Hebrew cultures lived in harmony, or a time when reason and divinity developed in balance. The arrival of Socrates, especially Aristotle, made the material world more prominently manifest in the rational world of humans. The psychological classification that emerged in Plato's thought developed into a theoretical and ideological form in Aristotle's academic system. It was precisely during this period that the trend of philosophy interpreting religion began to take shape. However, the philosophy centered on reason lacked the support of science and technology, leading to the arrival of an era of mysterious,, and alienated religion.
Part 2, The Fate of Hume and Kant's Philosophy: The Contemporary Status of the Academic Thought. The article argues that after the Renaissance, the Reformation, and especially the Enlightenment, the modern civilization of humans, particularly the development of science and technology, added tremendous vitality to human reason. During this period, God was no longer sacred, and humans became the center of modern civilization. Rousseau's humanistic thought, Diderot's encyclopedia, and especially Hume's theory of human nature made the theoretical, creative, and practical discipline thoughts of the ancient Greek era officially become the knowledge forms of philosophy, aesthetics, and ethics. Kant was the synthesizer of this theory and ideological system. However, it was also during the Kantian era that a subjectivity philosophy based on humans replaced a religion-based philosophy based on God, completing the era of philosophy interpreting religion. Although Kant was deeply attached to Christianity in his later years and romantically expressed an infinite pursuit of divinity, all of this could not resist the historical trend of the Kantian humanistic philosophy as the main body and rational enlightenment as the core.
Part 3, Farewell to the Weber and Sombart Era: The Social Turn of the Academic Thought. The rise of humanism, the flourishing of the rational spirit, and especially the formation of nation-states and the development of science and technology provided the historical background and ideological source for the birth of the social qualities of academic thought in the Weber and Sombart era. The demystification of the world, ascetic thought, and the veneration of national politics constituted the basic qualities of Weber's academic thought. Although Weber also fully demonstrated his critique of technological rationality and even paid attention to the significance of art and aesthetics for modern people, all of this, compared to the basic qualities of his academic thought, can be called a drop in the bucket. This is because, after the Reformation, while demystification occurred, so did enchantment. The alienated forms of secularization, technologization, and power were crazily devouring the sacred spirit of virtue. The academic thought had already deformed, and human civilization was facing an irreparable crisis! After the Weber and Sombart era, the academic thought changed. As Bell said, the academic is technology-economy, politics, and culture, and it is also the main force of the contradictions of modern capitalist culture. During this period, the consequences of philosophy replacing religion were fully exposed. This is: the death of God and the death of humans will become the inevitable destiny of history!
Part 4, Why Can Humans Not Die: The Academic Thought and the Fate of Humans. The article argues that the modern enlightenment, although it began with humanism, in fact, increasingly leaned toward human rationality, that is, towards narrow rational enlightenment. This enlightenment gradually lost human emotional taste and moral concern in the context of the demystification of divinity and the rise of technology. Therefore, we believe that enlightenment must first shift from intellect to the heart, to the overall heart based on emotion and virtue. Secondly, in the era of the powerful empire of technological rationality, aesthetics, like ethics, became a sacrifice to secularism, technology, and power, or a slave, or an ornament, having lost its pure and free mediating quality. Modern people cannot use this to transform themselves from natural beings to virtuous beings. Unless it is an era when secularism, technology, and power are heading toward death.
This book adheres to the basic views of Marxism, negating any religious elements that are superstition and ignorance, affirming the cultural form of religious theology, and respecting the legitimacy of religious theology as an independent discipline. It pays attention to the divine qualities in religious ethics and their internal connection with the humanistic spirit in the philosophy of knowledge. Through the historical study of the relationship between European modern academic thought and human civilization, it highlights the penetration and driving force that noble faith and pure hearts have on the development of many humanistic scientific thoughts and the entire human civilization, seeking a path of hope for modern people to fulfill the mission of transforming from necessity to freedom!