Chen Shaoming on the Methodology of Chinese Philosophy: Experience, Imagination, Reflection

Abstract

More than a decade ago, three consecutive issues of Contemporary Chinese Thought presented the papers of twenty-one Chinese scholars on the then hot topic of the “legitimacy of Chinese philosophy,” discussing whether or not Chinese masters were philosophers and, hence, ought to be taught at philosophy departments. Since the very lack of consensus on the definition of “philosophy” leads to fruitful debate in the field, the contributions to these three issues were themselves instances of philosophical reflection. Most inspiring were those that did not reduce the matter to merely proving (or disproving) that the label “philosophy” fits the early masters. There was a sense among most authors, including the co-editors, that this very question was doomed to lose its urgency—like medieval castles falling into ruins due to a lack of attention—as soon as more crucial issues would come to the foreground. One of these issues concerned the methodology for studying pre-modern Chinese texts: Which approach would do justice to the early Chinese masters and convince contemporary scholars of their relevance? One author who tackled this question was Chen Shaoming 陈少明. Born in 1958 in Guangdong, he spent two years of his youth (1975–1977) working in the countryside. This experience made him somewhat suspicious of grand theories, but all the more sensitive toward the vagaries of daily life. As soon as China opened up, he took the college entrance exams and, mistakenly, ended up at the history department of South China Normal University (Huanan shifan xueyuan) in the city of Guangzhou (1978–1983). This mistake turned out to be fortunate, since it sharpened his interest in concrete situations and shielded him from the ideological simplicities that dominated at philosophy departments. Shaped by countryside experiences and historical narratives, Chen then turned to the Philosophy department of Sun Yat-sen (Zhongshan) University, also in Guangzhou, to complete a master’s degree (1983–1986). He has stayed there ever since, notwithstanding some temporary visiting and teaching appointments at other places (Harvard University, Fudan University, Taiwan National University, Chinese University of Hong Kong). After several stays at Harvard and his work under the supervision of Tu Weiming in the first decade of this century, the tone in Chen’s work became more existential and was no longer dictated by Hegel and Kant. In 2004 he started the project Classics and Interpretation (Jingdian yu jieshi), which expanded his scope of interest and increased collaboration with colleagues in the field. His teaching and research have been on a wide variety of topics concerning early Chinese texts, especially Zhuangzi, the Lunyu, the Four Books, and the scholarship of late Qing and Republican scholars. In 2009 Guangdong province recognized him as a Pearl River Scholar (Zhujiang xuezhe). And in 2015 he received from the Ministry of Education the national honor of Yangtze Scholar (Changjiang xuezhe). none defined