Were it not for the era in which I find myself, I might never have written this book. Just as Chairman Mao once said, he initially intended only to be a teacher and never imagined leading a revolution. So what kind of era is this? I believe it is an age of radical transformation, an age of great upheaval across the world, an age urgently in need of answers. Since the modern era, the Chinese nation has been plunged into a profound social crisis. Faced with various external threats and internal tr…
Read moreWere it not for the era in which I find myself, I might never have written this book. Just as Chairman Mao once said, he initially intended only to be a teacher and never imagined leading a revolution. So what kind of era is this? I believe it is an age of radical transformation, an age of great upheaval across the world, an age urgently in need of answers. Since the modern era, the Chinese nation has been plunged into a profound social crisis. Faced with various external threats and internal troubles, and after generations of arduous struggle, China has gradually overcome its material crises. However, while material crises have been resolved, the spiritual crisis has not only remained unsolved from the beginning but has grown increasingly severe. From the Red Era to the period of reform and opening up, the Chinese spiritual world has undergone several earth-shaking ideological revolutions in less than a century. This has led to a tripartite ideological confrontation in contemporary China, spanning from the grassroots to the officialdom, from the internet to academia. These three competing ideologies are: Marxism-Leninism, liberalism, and classical culture (represented by Confucianism, but also incorporating Daoism, Legalism, and Buddhism). Each of these schools of thought has its adherents, roughly distributed across different age groups. Each believes itself to be the universal truth, viewing the others as reactionary forces of ignorance and obstinacy that must be utterly eradicated. Each claims to be the legitimate authority, denouncing the others as corrupt, degenerate, and stubborn separatist forces that must be completely eliminated. However, because each school’s intellectual “weaponry” suffers from significant flaws, none possesses sufficient strength to defeat its rivals and unify the ideological landscape. This has plunged China into a protracted war of attrition and trench warfare. Beyond this, there are numerous other battlegrounds, such as traditional Chinese medicine versus Western medicine, and traditional Chinese painting versus Western painting. It can be said that from the debates between antiquity and modernity to the clashes between East and West, these spiritual contradictions and divisions reveal a severe crisis of faith in the minds of contemporary Chinese people. So, faced with such chaotic times, where should we turn? Who is the true “mandate of heaven,” the destined ruler? This is a question that must be answered correctly. Without a correct answer to this question, the historical mission of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation cannot be accomplished. Therefore, the purpose of this book, in a nutshell, is to address three key issues: the maturation of modern philosophy, the modernization of Chinese philosophy, and the Sinicization of Western philosophy. By doing so, it seeks to establish the spiritual foundation of modern Chinese civilization and make a modest contribution to the intellectual dimensions of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. This book argues that the fundamental reason why the modernization of Chinese philosophy and the Sinicization of Western philosophy have remained unresolved since the modern era lies in the shortcomings of traditional research methods. If multiple doctrines or schools exist within a field, and these doctrines or schools contradict one another yet each holds some validity, it signifies that a deeper, underlying fundamental principle lies hidden beneath them. Because this fundamental principle manifests in various phenomena, each school has grasped only a part of it, leading to contradictions among them while each retains some truth. Therefore, the integration of different doctrines or schools is by no means the simplistic patchwork often seen in current academic circles. Instead, it requires first uncovering this hidden, underlying fundamental principle, then systematically deducing from it step by step, and finally achieving a natural fusion of all schools. The specific method is as follows: First, engage in metaphysical philosophical reflection on physical science, psychological science, and economic science to establish the philosophy of physics, the philosophy of psychology, and the philosophy of economics. Then, using the philosophy of physics as the methodology for natural philosophy, the philosophy of psychology as the methodology for spiritual philosophy, and the philosophy of economics as the methodology for social philosophy, construct a complete modern philosophical system: physicalist natural philosophy, psychologicalist spiritual philosophy, and economist social philosophy. Finally, use this modern philosophical system as a standard to evaluate traditional Chinese and Western philosophies. What aligns with it is correct and should be preserved or developed; what does not align is problematic and should be reformed or discarded. Only through this novel research method can the debates between antiquity and modernity and between East and West be fundamentally resolved. Only then can the spiritual faith of modern Chinese civilization be fundamentally established, and the intellectual foundation for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation be fundamentally laid. The revival of Chinese philosophy will undoubtedly shake the entire world to its core!
