Bulletin de Philosophie médiévale X
Léon Vandermeersch
Archives de Philosophie September 1, 2007 DOI: 10.3917/aphi.703.0495 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Key points | Argues that Feng Youlan's Essay on Man (1943) offers a phenomenology of individual consciousness that ascends to saintliness through four stages—natural, selfish, moral, and cosmic consciousness—the last uniting the self with the Way of Heaven (Dao). The text also notes that Feng's publicized conversion to Maoism in 1949 cost him credibility. |
Abstract
Feng Youlan (Fung Yu-lan, 1895-1990) is the author of a famous History of Chinese Philosophy translated by Derk Bodde in 1937 (1st vol.) and 1953 (2nd vol.). He attempted to breathe new life into the Neo-Confucianism of Zhu Xi (1130-1200) by bringing it into harmony with analytic philosophy. His Essay on Man (1943) is a phenomenology of individual consciousness as it rises to saintliness through four stages: natural consciousness, the primary form of existence in which the mind is immediately aware of the objective world, but without self-consciousness; selfish consciousness, rising above the objective world by calculation, following the quest of self-happiness; moral consciousness, born from the consciousness of oneself as a social being and developing altruism; cosmic consciousness, reaching saintliness through the understanding of the truth of everything and uniting oneself with the Way of Heaven (Dao). Feng Youlan was one of the most outstanding Chinese philosophers of the last century who, however, lost credibility after his well-publicized conversion to Maoism in 1949