Metaphysics or Xing(er) shangxue ? A western philosophical term in modern China

摘要

One of the most notable features of modern Chinese scholarship is the reinterpretationrnof traditional Chinese learning in terms of Western academicrnand philosophical categories. However, this article will argue that there alsornexists a corresponding reverse process to which not enough attention has beenrnpaid by scholars of modern Chinese studies. This reverse process consists ofrnreinterpreting Western philosophical concepts in terms of traditional Chineserncategories and concepts. In fact, these two processes have occurred simultaneouslyrnand can in effect be seen as two sides of the same coin. What has happenedrnis that, on the one hand, modern Chinese scholars have been trying tornreinterpret traditional Chinese thought with Western categories and concepts,rnwhile on the other hand they are interpreting and therefore misunderstandingrnthe meaning of Western categories and concepts by confounding them withrnconceptions from Chinese intellectual traditions. It is the interweaving of theserntwo processes that becomes characteristic of modern Chinese scholarship. Byrnexamining how modern Chinese scholars have interpreted the meaning ofrn"metaphysics" as a Western philosophical term, this article will try to show howrnthe meaning of this Western term has been to a large degree shaped by traditionalrnChinese thinking, especially by that of neo-Confucians.