Table Of ContentCONTEMPORARY CHINESE PHILOSOPHY
BOSTON COLLEGE STUDIES IN PHILOSOPHY
VOLUME VI
Other volumes in the series:
1. F.1. Adelmann (ed.), The Quest for the Absolute. 1966. ISBN 90-247-0211-9
2. F.1. Adelmann (ed.), Demythologizing Marxism. A Series of Studies on Marxism.
1969. ISBN 90-247-0212-7
3. F.J. Adelmann (ed.), Authority. 1974. ISBN 90-247-1594-6
4. F.J. Adelmann (ed.), Philosophical Investigations in the U.S.S.R. 1975.
ISBN 90-247-1724-8
5. F.1. Adelmann (ed.), Soviet Philosophy Revisited. 1977. ISBN 90-247-1977-1
Editor: FREDERICKJ. ADELMANN
Editorial Board
Donald A. Gallagher
Norman J. Wells
Thomas Blakeley
Richard T. Murphy
Olivia Blanchette
For a list of other volumes published in the Marinus Nijhoff Philosophy Library
see fmal page of the volume.
CONTEMPORARY
CHINESE PHILOSOPHY
edited by
FREDERICKJ. ADELMANN, S.J.
1982
MARTINUS NIJHOFF PUBLISHERS
THE HAGUE/BOSTON/LONDON
Distributors:
for the United States and Canada
Kluwer Boston, Inc.
190 Old Derby Street
Hingham, MA 02043
USA
for all other countries
Kluwer Academic Publishers Group
Distribution Center
P.O. Box 322
3300 AH Dordrecht
The Netherlands
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Contemporary Chinese philosophY,
(Boston -College studies in philosophy;
v. 6) (Martinus Nijhoff philosophy library ; v. 9)
1. Philosophy, Chinese--20th century--Addresses,
essays, lectures. 2. Communism--Ch-ina--Addresses, essays,
lectures. I. Adelmann, Frederick J. II. Series.
IlL. Series: Martinus Nijhoff philosophy library ;
v. 'I.
B5231.C66 1982 181'.11 82-14504
ISBN-13: 978-94-009-7691-7 e-ISBN-I3: 978-94-009-7689-4
DOl: 10.1007/978-94-009-7689-4
Copyright © 1982 by Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, The Hague.
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1982
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Martinus Nijho[[ Publishers, P. O. Box 566, 2501 eN The Hague, The Netherlands.
Dedicated to
Rev. JOHN P. ROCK, S.J. Ph.D.
1917 1980
a brilliant coleague, a loyal son of the Church,
a brother Jesuit, devote teacher and friend.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The Editor wishes to thank the following col
leagues and staff members for their help in the
preparation of the present volume. Special gratitude
is due to Ms. Deborah DeChiara-Quenzer and Paul Kidder,
my graduate assistants; to Dean Donald J. White of the
Graduate School at Boston College for wise counsel and
assistance in obtaining a University Subvention; to
Rev. Joseph F. Flanagan, S.J., Chairperson of the
Philosophy Department at Boston College; to Mr. Fred B.
Mills, Director of Policies and Procedures at Boston
College and to his capahle assistants, Ms. Cheryl
Simcoe and Ms. Lisa Fegley-Schmidt of the Word Proc
essing Division; to Miss Mary Raftery and to Mrs.
Lorraine C. Canavan for assisting in the typing of the
manuscripts; to Mrs. Juliette D'Andrea and to Mrs.
Louise Dietenhofer of the Philosophy Department at,
Boston College for handling efficiently so many details
connected with this project; to my colleagues in the
department for reading the manuscripts and offering
helpful advice; to Professor Peter Tang of the Depart
ment of Political Science for academic help and moral
support; and finally to the contributors for their
patience and learning and without whose efforts this
edition would not have been possible.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Frederick J. Adelmann, S.J., Introduction ix
Joseph P. McDermot, Dualism in Chinese Thought and Society 1
Brantly Womack, The historical Shaping of Mao Zedong's Political Thought 27
Francis Soo, Mao's Vision for China 63
Julia Ching, Probing China's Soul 81
Theresa Chu, Some Reflections on Mao Zedong's Thought 97
Donald E. Macinnis, Secularism and Religion in China: The Problem of
Transcendence 117
Peter S.H. Tang, Whither Contemporary Chinese Philosophy: Confucianism,
Communism, or Christianity? 135
Werner Schilling, On the Possibility of a Future Philosophical Dialogue
between China and the West 183
INTRODUCTION
The idea of the present sixth volume in the Boston Col
lege Studies in Philosophy entitled "Contemporary
Chinese Philosophy" was conceived by the editor several
years ago, before the current resumption of Chinese
American political and economic amity occurred offi
cially. Several preceding volumes in this series had
studied various aspects of Marxism especially Soviet
Marxism. Possibilities for dialogue between Christians
and Marxists were discussed not only in the series but
elsewhere too in various philosophical journals and
books through the sixties and seventies. It was only a
natural outcome then to wonder about the same possi
bilities in regard to Chinese Marxism. Hence I sent
off to many potential contributors - scholars in the
field - the following proposal seeking papers for a
volume on Contemporary Chinese Philosophy.
The themes that should constitute the content of the
articles were as follows:
1. How rigidly do contemporary Chinese adhere to
Marxism-Leninism? Naturally this means principally the
educated persons, but it might include the non-academic
segment of the peop.le. By Marxism-Leninism here, J
mean the contemporary Soviet brand. Hence, I do not.
mean Marx's early writings or the developments of
people like Kolakowski.
2. Are they constrained to think in a kind of hori
zontal materialism or are they open to a species of
transcendence that might include the God problem or a
belief in another life after this one on earth?
3. What do they think about the human person? For
example, is the person to be defined only in terms of
the social whole? Is there a basic autonomy within thE"
person so that there is a source for human rights that.
is the ground for the social relationship?
Adelmann, F.J. (ed.): Contemporary Chinese Philosophy.
© 1982, Martlnus Nijho!f Publishers, The Hague, Boston, London. ISBN-13: 978-94-009-7691-7
x
4. What do they think about human psychology? Is the
will free? Is it possible to look at the human person
in this way, in other words, is there any common basis
for dialogue on the level of metaphysics or phenomen
ology?
This is the schematization that was basically the
same in my correspondence with prospectiv e contrib
utors. I wish to thank and to congratulate the aca
demicians whQ have responded positively and whose con
tributions are to be found in this volume. Suffice it
to say, my format was not adhered to in detail in many
of these studies, a fact explainable in terms of my
naivete at the time regarding Chinese thought and the
depth of divergences that exist between different sys
tems in the,East and West. Nonetheless, th~ result has
been both fortunate and informative. Much spade work
on the academic level had to be cultivated before one
could enter into the more i~ediate discussions of dia
logue. Thus a necessary foundation has been estab
lished in these papers about the vasi' Idifferences be
tween Western and Eastern categories of thinking, at
ti tudes of mind, and philosophical roots. I hope that.
the readers will be as satisfied with the results as 1
am.
A Chinese rarely says "yes" or "no"; when one says
"yes" one probably means "no" and vice versa. I came
upon these ideas in an article by Joanna Chann, M.M. in
a magazine entitled Maryknoll for July, 1980. The
author went on to explain in fuller detail the meaning
of these statements and revealed some basic categorial
differences that were helpful to me. It seems too that.
many Chinese are less interested in ideology than in
conduct. Most Chinese want to get along with people
amiably. Hence, a kind of polite masking of immediate
and personal reactions goes on and they seem to agree
on points that one discovers later they really don't go
along with. It is even interesting according to my in-'
formants to discover how rarely one can detour or
change already committed positions. Conversion means
very often that the hearer will weigh your good points
according to his way of thinking but you may wait in
xi
vain for what we in the West would expect to be a con
version.
The practical sphere is different from the over
arching view of things. Many Chinese would agree with
someone's general ideas, but prefer to work practically
in their own private sphere. Such persons are cosmic
philosophically, but really act as individuals pri
vately. These notations are written after reading and
conversations. They are not set forth as absolutes but.
as some insights revealing the differences between oc
cidental and oriental thinking. Such a theme has
actually been developed in a much more sophisticated
way in the articles in this volume.
In Chinese thought one begins with one side of a
concrete relation and then realizes that there is an
other side that is different, contrary, or contradic
tory in our categories. But these experiences are al
ways seen in the harmony of unity that explains the
tensions of the earlier experience. Thus, there is a
cosmic interpretation of reality as a unity and harmony
of various elements. History or the on-going ex·'
perience of life is a cyclic process subsumed under the
unity of the whole. The combination of both elements
results in a hopeful and optimistic attitude toward the
negative and the evil aspects of life. Thus, in the
Chinese Communist Party, axioms include:
Idea is Reality
Finite is Infinite
I am the All
Life is Death; Death is Life
Present is Past and Future
Past is Future and Present
Yin is Yang
The Changing is Eternal
Contradiction is Universal, Absolute.
It exists in every evolving Progress among things.
One of the key philosophical notions that recur in
Chinese thought and in Maoism in particular is that a
person can only be defined adequately in relation to a
wider whole, be it family, the village, or the nation.
