NATION GIVES SOME DEEP THINKING TO PHILOSOPHY
Thousands of participants attend key conference in Beijing
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, the mind and language.
The word comes from the Greek philosophia, combining the words philo (love of ), and (wisdom).
Yet the rapid advance of science and technology has made many feel that philosophy is increasingly irrelevant in modern times.
The fact that it is incapable of solving practical problems that have emerged as a result of rapid social and technological development has reinforced people’s skepticism toward the academic discipline.
And for a long time, philosophy has been regarded as something of a riddle by many observers.
Li Kun, a doctoral candidate majoring in art philosophy at Central South University in Changsha, Hunan province, said: “Philosophy raises new questions, and it gives people a deep and profound understanding of issues. And it has guided, if not created, new branches of science to resolve these questions.”
Li is among the 8,000 participants from 121 countries and regions who attended the 24th World Philosophy Congress in Beijing, which ends on Monday.
Intellectual hunger
Philosophy took center stage in China in the 1980s after the “cultural revolution” (1966-76) and the reform and opening-up of the country both created a collective intellectual hunger, and also brought about the possibility of accessing Western thought and embracing new thinking.
Yet a period that featured the popularity of Western thought and the further decline of traditional Chinese culture and philosophy gradually gave way to rapid economic growth and extensive social evolution in the early 1990s. Development flourished as idealism ebbed.
Difficulties in society and worsening environmental problems have awakened many to the harsh challenges the nation faces, which they fear will jeopardize developmental sustainability.
Zhang Fan, a doctoral student in philosophy at Southeast University in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, who is taking part in the congress, said philosophy can be a way for humans to resolve the challenges they face.
Philosophers have their own way of contributing, Zhang said.
“Before asking how to solve problems, philosophers will contribute to the solution by researching the problems, by coming to an understanding of the issues, and by communicating what they have come to understand to the world.”
Platform built
It is the first time China has hosted the World Congress of Philosophy, organized by the International Federation of Philosophical Societies, and established at the instigation of the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization at the Amsterdam congress in 1948.
Zhang Shiying, a 97-year-old philosophy professor at Peking University, told the media the congress marked a significant and progressive step in world philosophy’s integration of and exchanges between Chinese and Western philosophies.
Themed “Learn to be human”, the Beijing gathering is the largest in the event’s history.
The federation’s president, Dermot Moran, said in his speech at the opening ceremony on Aug 13, “The Congress is of groundbreaking and monumental significance for the future expansion and development of philosophy in its global context.”
Lin Jianhua, president of Peking University, said in his opening speech, “The theme shows the close connections between contemporary philosophical reflection and common concerns of human beings, as well as philosophy’s fundamental value in shaping human beings’ spiritual life and public discourse.”
Li Xiaolong, a retiree in his 80s from Jinan, Shandong province, who is interested in studies of the ancient Chinese philosophers Confucius and Lao Tzu, has been closely following the Beijing gathering.
That about 60 percent — or 5,000 — of the participants are from China, and many of them are interested in philosophy and are not professional researchers, shows not only the success of the meeting, but more important, Chinese people’s new recognition of the importance of philosophy and knowledge, Li said.
China has transformed its growth pattern from quantitative to qualitative, and paid more attention to addressing profound societal, cultural and ecological issues. “It means a paradigm shift to sustainability, fairness and justice, which entails the rise of new thinking and more inclusive philosophical environments,” Li said.
Although some participants’ ideas and papers appear “ridiculous” to a general audience, they are admitted by the Congress, and they are entitled to air their views.
Li added:“That’s exactly the spirit of philosophy and shows how it has progressed. Thinking and debating should always be encouraged to help people approach the truth.”
The Congress is generally considered a platform for the exchange of ideas among philosophers, particularly those from Asia, Africa and Latin America who have long been represented — if not sometimes ignored — by their Western counterparts.
Moran said: “This congress will also, hopefully, have an enduring impact on international cultural relations, promoting mutual understanding, respect for traditions and trust around the world. New intercultural dialogues will be initiated; new international academic partnerships will be formed; hopefully new philosophy will emerge.”
Hans-Julius Schneider, a professor of philosophy at Potsdam University in Germany, said that in an era haunted by terrorism, cultural and religious conflicts have emerged.
Ethnocentrism and relativism should be avoided. What is needed is a more neutral concept — spirit — a philosophical idea that is shared by different cultures and religions, to define differences as well as commonalities, Schneider said.
Chinese insights
The Beijing meeting also has symbolic meaning and practical value in the eyes of many, including the participants, as it provides global philosophical circles with inspiration from China.
Luca Maria Scarantino, secretarygeneral of the federation, said, “We perceive a growing awareness that what we usually term ‘philosophy’ is dramatically defective without the intellectual legacy of Chinese philosophy, culture and spirituality.
“Because of its inclusiveness and scholarly influence, this Congress may therefore represent a historical opportunity for reassessing the sense of philosophy, for enhancing the theoretical diversity of philosophical concepts, and for rethinking in widely comprehensive ways the notion of ‘being’ — or ‘becoming’ — human.”
Mogobe Ramose, a professor of philosophy at the University of South Africa, thinks that the Confucian virtue ren, which denotes the feeling of a virtuous human experience, shares similarities with ubuntu, a term used in Bantu languages to mean humanity, or “the belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity”.
This is because both require us to put ourselves in the place of others and spread love from oneself to others.
Graham Parkes, a professor of philosophy at the University of Vienna in Austria, urged people to care more about living creatures beyond humans.
The thoughts in traditional Chinese philosophy that all exists in qi — believed to be a vital force forming part of any living entity — and that all things form an organic whole are what modern times need most, he said.
The Congress has 99 sections of contributed papers: including one entitled “Chinese philosophy” with four sub-headings: Pre-Qin philosophy (221BC-207BC); Philosophy from the Han (202BC-220) to the Qing (1644-1911); Modern Chinese philosophy; and Contemporary Chinese philosophy; as well as Confucian Philosophy, Buddhist Philosophy and Taoist Philosophy.
There is a new section entitled Contemporary Philosophies in China, in recognition of the fact that not all philosophy in the country is Chinese, and also a separate section on Marxist Philosophy.
Moran added: “Clearly, these new sections are meant to reflect the complexity of the Chinese tradition of philosophy … . We have much to learn from one another if we open our ears and our hearts and come prepared to have our presuppositions challenged in an atmosphere of friendly and supportive collegiality.”
Evolving system
Tu Weiming, a professor of philosophy at Peking University and professor emeritus and senior fellow at the Asia Center at Harvard University, played a key role in China winning the bid to host the conference, over Brazil.
“The first character in The Analects of Confucius is “learning”, or xue in Chinese. Learning to be human is a ceaseless process of selfrealization,” he wrote in an article for China Daily eight years ago. This coincides with the themes of today’s Congress — self, community, nature, and spirit and tradition.
Humanity is a notion central to Confucianism. Tu, in advocating New Confucianism, firmly believes the ancient philosophy contains rich resources of wisdom to help deal with present-day problems, and that China’s fast development has provided an ideal platform for New Confucianism to unfold.
“The sun of philosophy rose in Greece, but should not set in Greece”, he added. Its rays should be able to fall on the whole world, including countries with ancient civilizations, such as those in Asia and Latin America.
In the 1980s, long lines formed outside bookstores in China for the newly published translated works of the German philosopher Martin Heidegger. But nowadays Chinese are taking a more measured approach in their observations of both Western and Chinese philosophy.
This represents a historical turning point from the blind pursuit of Western thought, which dates to the late Qing Dynasty, to more rational attitudes to “others” and “self”.
Ding Yun, a professor of philosophy at Fudan University, Shanghai, wrote in a thesis published last year, “The Chinese people now have their own judgment of Western philosophical history as a whole, and they are intent on drawing nutrition from it to nourish modern Chinese philosophy” so as to better reflect and meet the practical needs of Chinese society.
Tu believes that now is the right time for a dialogue among civilizations that focuses on the core values necessary for human survival and progress.
“Civilizations do not clash. Only ignorance does. The danger of shared vulnerability as well as the hope of shared aspiration impels us to move beyond unilateralism in order to work toward a dialogical civilization,” Tu said.
In the age of reason, when the Enlightenment movement began to shape the Western mindset, leading thinkers such as Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716), Voltaire (1694-1778) and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-78), took China as an important reference country and Confucianism as a significant reference culture.
Tu said that with an eye on the future, it is likely that the spirit of East Asian modernity imbued with Confucian characteristics will serve as a reference point for public intellectuals in North America and Western Europe as well as for intellectuals elsewhere in the world.