A Tentative Discussion of the Duality of Modern Chinese Bourgeois Philosophy

Abstract

The mainstream of modern Chinese philosophical development (i.e., from the Opium War to the May Fourth Movement) is the movement to develop bourgeois philosophy, also known as the movement of "New Learning" (Xin xue yundong). In modern times, this movement underwent the various cycles of generation, emergence, development, progress toward maturity, and decline. Owing to the limitations and stipulations of the nature of semicolonial and semifeudal society and the basic contradictions in society, and to the fact that capitalism did not develop fully in China, modern China's bourgeois philosophy contained within itself a certain duality of character. In this essay, I would like to offer some discussions on this topic in the hope of learning something from the reactions of comrades.