仰望星空:当代哲学前沿问题论集
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西方哲学研究

过去十年中国西方哲学研究的热点问题本文发表在德国Nomos出版公司2008年出版的Perception and Images of China一书中的221~231页(Heinz-Dieter Assmann, Thomas M.H.Chan, and Karin Moser V.Filseck eds., Perceptions and Images of China, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, Baden-Baden,2008, Printed in Germany, pp.221-231)。

·冯俊·

冯俊,哲学博士,中国人民大学哲学院教授、博士生导师,享受国务院政府特殊津贴专家,现为中国浦东干部学院常务副院长。曾任中国人民大学副校长(2001.2—2008.8)、哲学院院长(2005.5—2008.7)。主要学术兼职有:教育部哲学学科教学指导委员会副主任委员,国家社科基金项目评审组专家,中华全国外国哲学史学会理事长,中国自然辩证法研究会副理事长,中国欧盟学会副会长,上海市社会科学界联合会副主席等。

The Highlights of Western Philosophy Studies in China over the Last Ten Years

by Feng Jun


At the very beginning of reform and opening-up to the outside world, the Wuhu(a city in Anhui Province)Conference in 1978 marked that Chinese academia restarted the research of Western philosophy and discarded the Soviet Union's analysis model of the history of philosophy.the introduction of Western philosophy marked a kind of enlightenment in China.It helped to reset the minds of the people and paved the way for economical and political reform.Western philosophy became a favorite subject in the university classroom, and many philosophers and philosophical theories such as Nietzsche, Freud and Sartre became the fashion among young intellectuals.In 1980's, a great amount of translations of Western philosophy were published by some western-oriented publishers such as the Commercial Press, Shanghai Translation Press and Three Union(San Lian)Publishing House.Analytical philosophy, philosophy of science, Freudianism and Existentialism were introduced into China.

In the 1990's, there appeared many new characteristics in the studies of Western philosophy.Firstly, the works of Western philosophers were more systematically translated into Chinese.For example, Miao Litian organized a group of scholars to translate The Complete Works of Aristotle; Liang Zhixue translated The Selected Works of Fichte; Professor Sun Zhouxing translated The Selected Works of Heidegger, etc.Secondly, more profound and in-depth research on some significant philosophers and important schools or trends of thought were conducted, such as The History of Ancient Greek Philosophy written by Wang Zisong, Yao Jiehou, Fan Mingsheng and Chen Cunfu or One Thousand and Five Hundred Years of Christianity written by Zhao Dunhua.Professor Feng Jun's research on Descartes, Hong Handing's on Spinoza, Fu Youde's on Berkeley, Zhou Xiaoliang's on Hume, and Zhang Shiying's, Yang Zutao's and others'on Hegel and Kant had a big impact on academia.Thirdly, some important schools and trends such as the phenomenological movement, hermeneutics and postmodernism also attracted the attention of Chinese scholars:Professor Ni Liangkang's and Zhang Qingxiong's research on Husserl; Sun Zhouxing's, Chen Jiaying's and Jin Xiping's research on Heidegger; Feng Jun's, Wang Tangjia's, Shang Jie's and Mo Weimin's studies in postmodernism.Gao Xinmin's research on philosophy of mind.Fourthly, younger generation scholars instead of old ones became the pillars of Western philosophy studies.Most of them returned from the Western countries after a period of study.They had a good command of foreign languages, and were very knowledgeable in Western cultural backgrounds.They had some penetrating understanding of the cutting-edge issues and hotspots in Western academia.They could communicate with the Western colleagues and quickly responded to their new scholarly developments.Lastly, “the history of Western philosophy”and“contemporary Western philosophy”were merged into one single subject rather than two fragmented subjects, as used to be the case. In 1980's, a group of scholars studied“the history of Western philosophy”, while another group of scholars studied“contemporary Western philosophy”. Each group had its own research and teaching institutions and societies, and they never communicated and exchange any information with each other, until in 1990's, they terminated this embarrassing separation, and restored the original looking of this subject.

After stepping across the threshold of new centuries, the studies in Western philosophy in China also entered a new era and reach the heyday of research history.Apart from the regular research, we will come across many highlights. They are as follows:

Interpretation of“to be”or“being”and return to the roots of Greek philosophy

The translation of the Greek word“eimi”(be),“einai”(to be),“on”(being)and“ontology”into Chinese and explanation of their meanings reflect the concern for metaphysics.Since eimi(be), einai(to be), on(being)are(是、有、在、存在)core categories of metaphysics, the connotation and extension of metaphysics originate from these concepts.They play very important roles in the development of Western philosophy.They are differently understood and explained by the philosophers in the different periods of the evaluation of philosophical ideas.These concepts formulate the tradition of Western philosophy in as much as the tradition of Western philosophy was the tradition of metaphysics.In the ancient Greek period, Parmenides who initially explored the concept of“being”, was followed by Aristotle who referred to ten different kind of beings.Aristotle regarded the subject of metaphysics as“being as being”.In the modern period, Kant and Hegel gave it a different meaning and understanding in their re spective philosophical systems.In contemporary period, both the new metaphysics and the anti-metaphysics movements are related to these concepts.No matter who the philosophers were, whether it was Bertrand Russell and Wittgenstein in the Anglo-Saxon tradition or Husserl and Heidegger in the continental tradition, their philosophies all centered on on(being).

How to translate“eimi(be), einai(to be), on(being)”into Chinese has been a puzzling problem for Chinese scholar.Since the very beginning of the 20th century, several Chinese equivalents have been proffered to translate these concepts.Some people think they should be translated as“to be”(是)(be, to be, being); some people think they should be translated as“there is”,“there are”(有); and yet others think“exist”(存在).In the 1940's, Prof.Chen Kang illustrated the difference of the translations of“there is(are)(有)”and“exist”(存在), and concluded that“to be or being”was the proper Chinese equivalent. During his career in the early 1990's Chen's student, Prof.Miao Litian, proposed some translations in his Chinese version of the Complete Works of Aristotle, such as, “it is what it is”for“toti en einai”, and“being as being”for to on hei on.During his Southwest United University period, another two of Chen's students, Professors Wang Zisong and Wang Taiqing, joined the discussion, agreed with Prof.Chen's viewpoint presented half a century ago.Their discussion stirred up severed debates in the late 1990's.Hundreds of articles were published; two anthologies on Being and the tradition of Western philosophy were compiled by Song Jijie, and published by Hebei People's Publishing House in October 2002.

There are several different points of view this translation problem.(1)Some scholars like Wang Taiqing, Yu Xuanmeng, Wang Lu and Yu Jiyuan, despite their different ways of reasoning, insist that“eimi(be), einai(to be), on(being)”mainly function as“copula”and could truthfully be translated as是(be)和是者(being);有(there is/are)或存在(exist)are not proper translations.(2)Some young scholars like Sun Zhouxing and Han Linhe maintain that these words should be translate as存在(exist)and that since the word“ontolog y”originates from the Greek“on”, it should be translated as存在论in Chi nese.(3)Another group of scholars(like Zhao Dunhua, Chen Cunfu, etc.)join the debate by claiming that translations such as是、有、在or存在are partly proper or somehow simplified translations.As for the word“being”, there is a variety of understandings among ancient Greek philosophers.For example, there is the idea of changeable natural beings(Heraclites and Aristotle); there is an abstract being of numbers(Pythagoras); there is a stable, unmovable being or essence(Parmenides).We should start with the investigation of Parmenide's concept of Being(he is the first person who studies Being)and Aristotle's being(he took“beings”as the subject of his studies).In doing so, we are able to precisely and completely understand the meanings of“eimi(be), einai(to be), on(being)”.If we look at these words from the linguistic perspective, we will find that they do have the meanings of是(be at some place, be continuous)、有(there is/there are)、在(to be)、存在(exist), etc., but they are differently understood by the different philosophers from different backgrounds.Only one connotation is emphasized at any one time.In addition, the linguistic meanings differs from the philosophical meaning.The copula“be”is different from“to be”in philosophy; just as“the truth”in linguistics is different from“truth”in philosophy.So, according to different situations, we could translate these words into Chinese respectively as是、有、在、存在.If we survey the use of these words historically, we will find that“ontology”is based on them.If we know how to translate the former, we naturally know how to translate the later. On one occasion, ontology is translated as本体论(e.g.in Parmenides); on another occasion, it can be translated as存在论(e.g.in Heidegger).Both translations are reasonable.

The translation of“eimi(be), einai(to be), on(being)and ontology”reflects the concerns with the Western metaphysical tradition.It is related to the basic issues of the ancient Greek philosophy which is the origin of Western philosophy, and it also incorporates the origins of all the philosophical problems in the history of Western philosophy.Irrespective of who carries on or restores the tradition of metaphysics, or who challenges or deconstructs the tradition of metaphysics, one can by no means avoid this problem.Therefore, it is not surpris ing that at the beginning the 21stcentury Chinese philosophers nostalgically return to the ancient Greek period.

Along with the discussion of the translations of“being”, the studies of Greek philosophy are increasing.The greatest achievement in this area is the publication of The Complete Works of Aristotle translated by Prof.Miao Litian and his students.This ten volume Chinese version of Aristotle's works was translated directly from ancient Greek language.It is the first complete translation of the works of a great Western philosopher.It was awarded many prizes from academic and publishing areas.The Complete Works of Plato translated by Prof.Wang Xiaochao, and Plato Dialogues translated by Prof.Wang Taiqing, also attracted the attention of scholars.Apart from these translations, Professors Wang Zisong, Fan Mingsheng, Yao Jiehou and Chen Cunfu published their joint works, four big volumes on The History of Ancient Greek Philosophy. Prof.Zhao Dunhua's general studies on Greek philosophy in his first volume of Western Philosophy, and Prof.Jin Xiping's Biography of Aristotle expounded some new understandings of Greek philosophy.The studies of the relation between Greek mythology and philosophy, reason and soul in Greek philosophy, as well as the relation between late Greek philosophy and early Christianity philosophy are the main concerns of Chinese scholars.

Recovery of studies in pragmatism——a new generation of pragmatism

The history of pragmatism can be traced back a hundred years.It can be divided into two phases.The first phase is called the early period or“traditional pragmatism”, with Charles Sanders Peirces, William James, and John Dewey as its representatives; the second phase is called late period or“New Pragmatism”, with Willard Van Orman Quine, Hilary Putnam, Richard Rorty and Donald Davison as its representatives.In American philosophy, the 1980's and 90's are deemed as“the era of recovery of pragmatism”.

New pragmatism represents the confluence of analytical philosophy and old pragmatism.In some sense, it is a revolt against analytical philosophy.The key person who made this change possible was Quine.His two publications Two Dogmas of Empiricism and From a Logical Point of View challenged the dominant ideas of logical positivism and marked the turn.He proposed a new, more radical pragmatism.Another representative is Hilary Putnam.He turned from scientific realism to pragmatism, and elaborated some new elements and interpretations of pragmatism.He plays a very important role in the recovery of pragmatism.Rorty's book Philosophy and the M irror of Nature criticizes Western traditional philosophy and analytical philosophy.Rorty regards John Dewey as one of the greatest philosophers in the 20thcentury.Donald Davidson's philosophy is regarded as“the new form”and“summit”in the development of pragmatism. The appearance of the new pragmatism is related, on the one hand, to the predicament of the development of analytical philosophy, and on the other hand, to the spread of postmodernism trend.

In the 1950's and 60's, pragmatism was a popular subject of philosophical research in China.But, in the 1980's and 90's, people paid more attention to analytical philosophy.Pragmatism was almost forgotten by the younger generation in China.The recovery of pragmatism aroused a general interest in Chinese academia.Many scholars did in-depth research on the main representatives of new pragmatism, such as Chen Bo's research on Quine, Chen Yajun's research on Putnam, Mo Bo's and Jiang Yi's research on Davidson.Richard Rorty was studied by even more researchers.Nowadays, there is a great interest not only in the new pragmatism, but also, we can observe a growing interest in traditional pragmatism, from which it developed.In recent years, a couple of books on William James and John Dewey have emerged.Furthermore, two distinguished professors restarted a translation and research projects.The translation project The Complete Works of John Dewey is organized by Prof.Liu Fangtong in Fudan University, and will presumably comprise more than 30 volumes; the other is a big research project on pragmatism headed by Prof.Tu Jiliang.Both of them are big events in the learned community.

Studies in Phenomenology and of its main representatives Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty and Immanuel Levinas become manifest and active

Phenomenology is a worldwide philosophical movement.Its influence is not individual and local but far-reaching and global.It changed the direction of philosophy research by representing a new spirit, a new style and a new methodology.It is said that the philosophy in 20thcentury undergoes two changes of direction.One is the“linguistic turn”, another the“phenomenological turn”.They are new tendencies in the course of philosophy development.

Chinese scholars started research on Husserl, Heidegger, and Sartre in the 1950'and 60's.The studies thrived in 1980's and 90's.Since entering into the new century, the studies of the main representatives of phenomenology like Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty and Levinas have become dominate in the research of Continental philosophy.More and more of Husserl's and Heidegger's works are being translated into Chinese.Merleau-Ponty used to be ignored by Chinese scholars, however, his Phénoménologie de la Perception, Signes, Eloguede la Philosophie, le Primat de la Perception et ses Conséquences Philosophiques etc.have now been successively been published in China.A few years ago, Immanuel Levinas was not very well known, but now, he is the popular subject of doctorate dissertations.A sub-society of Phenomenology has been established under the leadership of China Society of Contemporary Western Philosophy.Seminars and symposia are regularly held.In the Institute of Foreign Philosophy at Peking University, there is a newly built library of phenomenology which collects all kinds of materials.A group of talented middle-aged scholars, such as Ni Liangkang, Zhang Qingxiong, Jin Xiping, Chen Jiaying, Du Xiaozhen, Sun Zhouxing, Peng Fuchun, etc.have produced a great number of achievements which attracted nationwide attention.

Post-modernist philosophy becomes a hot topic

The study of post-modernist philosophy was a hot topic of the new period. Post-modernist philosophy was introduced into China at the beginning of the 1990's.More and more books of the main representatives of post-modernist philosophy are translated into Chinese and more and more Chinese scholars turned their attentions towards post-modernist philosophy.I retrieved almost 970 papers.There are 275 papers whose contents are relevant to post-modernist philosophy, about 83 of which have titles related to“post-modernist philosophy”. These numbers would be big enough to show that post-modernist philosophy is a hot topic for the magazines and periodicals.

The most influential philosophers of post-modernist philosophy are Derrida, Foucault, Lyotard, Deleuze, and Baudrillard.Derrida's books Introduction à“le origin de la geometrie”de Husserl, lavoix et le phénomène, de la Grammatologie, Mémoires pour Paul de M an were turned into Chinese version; almost all published works of Foucault have been translated into Chinese, e.g.I'Achéologie du Savoir, Surveiller et Punir, les mot et les choses,Histoire de la Folie à l'Age Classique, Naissance de la Clinique, Histoire de la Sexualité, Cours au college de France—les Anormaux, —Il faut defender la société, l'H erméneutique du Suj et, etc..Lyotard's la condition postmoderne, l'Inhuman, de la moralité postmoderne have already been published, and there are at least three version for la Condition Postmoderne.Deleuze's books le Bergsonisme, Lire Nietzsche, Pourparlers and some other selected works as well as Baudrillard's works la Société de consommation, le système des Obj ects, le M iroir de la Production, and le Crime Parfait were published within a very short time. It is unprecedented in history that so many books are so systematically translated and published within such a short period.

In 2001, Derrida came to China to undertake a lecture tour in Beijing, Nanjing and Shanghai.He attracted great attention in the media.Particularly his claim that there was no philosophy in China provoked the Chinese-speaking philosophy world.Since then, a discussion of the“legitimacy of Chinese philosophy”has been continuous and active.Derrida's lectures in China has been compiled by Du Xiaozhen and Zhang Ning, its publication has expanded Derrida's influence beyond the philosophical audience.

Apart from the translations of the philosopher's works, many scholars publish their own research works on post-modernist philosophy.These are not introductory but of rather high quality.Some examples are Feng Jun's Lectures on Postmodernist Philosophy, Mo W eimin's Fate of Subject—research on Michel Foucault, and Wang Min-an's The Limit of Foucault.Yang Haifeng and Kong Ming-an published books and papers on Baudrillard.These books and papers are very influential taday.

Frederic Jameson went to China several times.China Renmin University Press published four volumes on The Selected Works of Frederic J ameson in 2004.Jameson himself went to Beijing to attend the launch seminar of his books and delivered lectures to the Chinese audience.The popular rise of post-modern studies extended all over China.

Strong interests in political philosophy

Since the 1990's, political philosophy has aroused the interest of academia. There are two reasons for that.On one hand, political philosophy has been developing very rapidly in the Western world.After the thriving of logical philosophy and philosophy of language, people has been paying more attention to the social and moral issues than ever before.On the other hand, along with the deepening of China's economical reform and political regime reform, people have developed high expectations and a strong desires for political philosophy and social and political theories.

After entering the new century, the debates on social and political philosophy in philosophical community mainly focus on the following four schools or trends.

(1)Liberalism vs.Communitarianism

John Rawls'On J ustice was published in China more than 20 years ago. Justice as Fairness—A Restatement was turned into Chinese version not long before his death.He himself passed away in November 2002, he is still one of most studied representatives.Some scholars intended to do comparative studies between him and another liberalist called R.Nozick, or between him and the continental philosopher Jürgen Habermas on liberty, justice and equality.Others compare the early period and late period of his works.As an opposition to the new liberalism, communitarianism as expounded by A.Macintyre, M.Sandel and Charles Taylor is now predominantly being translated and introduced into China.A few years ago, Sandel and Charles Taylor were seldom studied in China, however now they are a popular subject of study.Since Prof.Han Zhen's translation and introduction of Charles Taylor, more and more people have taken Taylor as subject of Ph.D.Dissertation.

(2)Studiesin I.Berlin and Hayek

Talking about liberty, people naturally think of two philosophers who have conducted thoroughgoing studies in freedom and liberty.One is Isaiah Berlin, the other is F.A.Hayek.They have been very popular in recent years.After Berlin passed away, a great amount of papers were dedicated to him.His theory on negative liberty and positive liberty has been much appreciated.His theory of multiple values was given more significance when cross-cultural dialogues were launched after September 11 Event.Over the last ten years, almost all works of Hayek were translated into Chinese.Mr.Deng Zhenglai was a main contributor to the translation and research of Hayek.Many masters' theses and Ph.D.dissertations also have Hayek as their subject.

(3)ResearchonLeo Strauss and his classical political philosophy

As George W.Bush took his office in White House, Strauss, political philosophy of“Neo-Conservatism”was one of the hot topics in China.He was awarded an honour as“father of neo-conservatism”.Prof.Liu Xiaofeng translated and compiled Leo Strauss and Classical Political Philosophy, and Mr.Gan Yang edited a collection of Strauss called Natural Right and Classical Political Philosophy in 2003.Their translations and research papers attracted the interest of the academic public.More translations are underway.

(4)Habermas

Habermas'theory of communicative action is an ever-green subject in the research garden.His defense on modernity and Enlightenment in the debate with Lyotard finds many supporters in China.His theory of truth, his point of view of democracy and his distinction from Marxist ideology are of much concerns to Chinese scholars.In April 2001, Habermas paid a visit to China, and delivered many speeches, including one at our university, spurring our enthusiasm for social and political philosophy.We can say that, from our perspective, Habermas is one of the most influential philosophers in the area of political philosophy in Continental Europe apart from Michel Foucault.

Extensive concerns about universal ethics, bio-ethics and environmental ethics

Universal ethics is also alternatively called global ethics or world ethics.It is not an ethical theory or a school of ethics but rather a bottom line of morality to consider all people as human beings.In the era of economic globalization, political multi-polarization and cultural diversity, universal ethics or global ethics is a kind of necessity.Cultural dialogue and building of common moral norms or behavior rules are consonant voices of the world after the cultural shock of September 11 Event.As an advocator of universal ethics, Prof.Hans Küng, facilitates the spread of it via his frequent visit to China.Prof.He Guanghu and Prof.Wan Junren are supporters respectively from the perspective of religious studies and ethical studies.

Bio-ethics becomes the focus of academia due to the rapid development of cloning and genetic technology.Many new ethical issues are exposed to us and need to be resolved.Cloning technology changes the traditional idea and model of reproduction.It will result in some chaos of ethical ideas.For example, if we can clone organs or parts of human body, does that mean man is no longer the end but the means? Or does that mean life can be produced in batches like any other goods? Who can decide who can clone or who can be cloned? Does every nation and every individual have equal right of existence and development? Does the cloning technology reduce the bio-diversity and adaptability of human genes, and finally, does it threaten the existence and sustainable development of human beings? “The Human Genetic Grouping Project”proposes similar problems, such as:who can get hold of or who can be supplied with genetic information of the patents? How can we protect the right of privacy? Can every individual be equally treated if a genetic decease is diagnosed? Who can judge and evaluate the best choice, genetic equality and social justice of genetic selection? These problems are receiving great attention from Chinese as well as Western people.It is consensus of China and the world that life should be treasured.Human rights of existence, autonomy and privacy should be respected.

Environmental ethics, including the theories of anthropocentrism, animalcentrism, eco-centrism, animal rights were introduced into China in the late 1980's.The main debate lies in the opposition of anthropocentrism and anti-anthropocentrism, and whether nature has its own right or independent value.The China Environmental Ethics Society was established in 1994.The 1st International Symposium on Environmental Ethics in China was held in 2004.China resolves its own environmental problems by means of its special situations and creative practice, which constitutes the pre-requisites for the Chinese school of environmental ethics.

The rising of feminism

Feminism was introduced into China in 1990.Some female scholars who had returned from overseas translated feminist books into Chinese.Currently, the research on feminism covers four areas as follows:(1)gender studies;(2)feminist epistemology;(3)the relations between feminism and post-modernism;(4)studies of the main representatives of Western feminism, such as Julia Kristeva, Luce Irigaray and Hélène Cixous, Sandra Harding, Judith Butler, Seyla Benhabib and Drucilla Cornell.These women are gradually been acknowledged by Chinese scholars.In addition, some female feminists are interested in the localization or indigenization of feminism due to their belief that foreign feminism is alien to Chinese audience since Chinese women have a different historical and cultural background and grow up in different social environment and living conditions.Hence, Chinese female feminists are trying to build up their own feminist theories.

Comparative studies of Chinese philosophy and Western philosophy

Comparative studies of Western philosophy and Chinese philosophy receive more interest than ever before.There is a very interesting phenomenon that the main researchers of comparative studies are those who originally studied Western philosophy rather than Chinese philosophy.This is partly a consequence of their good command of foreign languages and their thorough knowledge of Western philosophy which is the foundation of comparison.It is also owing to the fact that the more they know Western philosophy, the more they want to question their own positions and“cultural roots”.Over the last few years, some distinguished professors such as Zhang Shiying, Ye Xiushan, Wang Shuren and Yang Shi transferred their interest from Western philosophy to Chinese philosophy, focusing on Chinese original and creative thinking, image thinking, etc..Some middle-aged scholars such as Zhang Xianglong and Zhang Rulun compare Heidegger with Taoism, phenomenology with Confucius so on and so forth.Prof.Ye Xiushan and Wang Shuren co-compiled the ten-volume set of History of Western Philosophy whose first volume presents their viewpoints on comparative philosophy.Also, younger scholars join the team of comparative studies and publish their papers.

At the threshold of the new century and new millennium, people are easily reminiscent of the past.However, a few scholars are interested in exploring the route of Western philosophy into China.Prof.Huang Jiande wrote two books in late 1990's, one is History of Western Philosophy Going to the East, the other is Western Philosophy in Today's China.Prof.Tang Yijie edited a series entitled History of Western Philosophy Going to the East in 20th Century(14 books in planning).Relevant reviews and papers appeared pervasively in journals and magazines in the past years.

Why are Chinese people interested in these philosophical topics rather than the others? There are several reasons.Firstly, for the historical reason within the discipline, Greek philosophy is the origin of Western philosophy.The basic concepts“to be”or“being”are essential and critical to the understanding of Western ontology and anti-ontology movement.Secondly, as for new progresses in the Western world, China tries to catch up with the new waves of thinking, such as new pragmatism and postmodernist philosophy.Thirdly, with the social and political changes in China, Chinese people pay more attention to the theories of social and political reform.Hence, political philosophy, Western Marxism and feminism are becoming more and more popular.Fourthly, due to globalization, the universal concerns of the human being have become a common topics of different philosophies regardless of the West or the East.Universal ethics, bioethics and environmental ethics increasingly attract the attentions of different nations, especially after September 11 Event.Finally, Chinese people feel more affinity with continental philosophy than with Anglo-Saxon tradition philosophy, because they have similar themes and topics, therefore, Chinese scholars are very much fond of phenomenology.Owing to the cultural self-consciousness and awareness of cultural identity, more and more comparative studies are conducted by Chinese scholars.Cultural positioning can help us to know more the characteristics of Western philosophy and about ourselves'.

References

[1]Foreign Philosophy,66 Volumes, January 1999—June 2004, edited by Social Sciences InformationCentre, RenminUniversity of China, Beijing.

[2]HuangJiande, Introductiontothe History of WesternPhilosophyGoing to the East in 20 th Century, Capital Normal University Press, Beijing,2002.