Philosophy in Taiwan

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Philosophy in Taiwan (Chinese: 臺灣哲學) is the set of philosophical and thought movements in Taiwan, while Taiwanese philosophy approaches Taiwan as a subject of philosophical significance. For instance, the postwar concurrence with Neo-Confucianism canonized the Chinese philosophy in Taiwan, contra the Cultural Revolution in the People's Republic of China, may somehow omit the complexity of Taiwanese philosophy. With the unearthing of literature and sprouting discourses due to the merits of democratization, public debates on whether historical configuration of Taiwanese Philosophy or many faces of Taiwanese philosophers, have unveiled the world intellectualism of Taiwanese philosophy via Japan in the Golden 1920s, later substituted with the postwar Chinese Confucian Canons. Nevertheless, a reinvigorated formulation on Taiwanese philosophy that China and Japan at different times imprint as exogenesis; and thus, a burgeoning philosophical development with the Taiwanese Gemeinschaft.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]}

History of Taiwanese philosophy[]

The history of Taiwanese philosophy is linked with Taiwanese history: the 1895 Sino-Japanese War was not only a turning point for East-Asian realpolitik scenarios,^[1] but also a cornerstone for the East-Asian philosophy. Taiwan, as a fragment of empires, broods its philosophical significance by absorbing quintessential from the liminal neighbors such as Japan, China. Taiwanese philosophy embarks with Lin Mosei’s (zh:林茂生) 1916 publication, ‘Wang Yang-ming's Liangzhi’(王陽明の良知說), on East Asian studies by Tokyo Imperial University;^[3] and overall, it aligns with the early sprouting from Aborigines and Ming-Qing Han settlements; the pre-enlightenment, the enlightenment, the golden times during the Japanese colonial rules; the postwar and White Terror suppression; and systemic studies since the democratization.

Aborigines[]

Literature on the Taiwanese Aboriginal philosophy is scarce that only through colloquial myths and legends can it be studied.^[9] Some other studies on the knowledge system of the Taiwanese Aborigines are an attempt to reformulate a normative principle on Taiwanese philosophy.^[10][11]

Ming and Qing Periods[]

During the Ming and Qing imperial times, the Han Chinese settlement in Taiwan came into a broad mass; the Confucianism was also imported through Han private schools and temples. Canonical Confucianism lecture scripts, on I ching in particular, were ostensible, however, lost hereinafter. The understanding on Confucianism at that time was more likely to philology, rather than philosophy.^[12]

Japanese Era[]

The year 1895 was never merely the watershed of the East Asian history, but also a running point for a modern philosophy of each nation. Taiwan, as a fragment of/f empires, on one hand influenced from the modernization movements neighbor China (May Fourth Movement), Japan (Taisho Democracy), Russia (October Revolution), and Korean Independence Movement; one the other through abroad scholarship in China, Japan, and even the United States inherited from Christian Theology, German Idealism, Dialectical Materialism, and American Pragmatism, and Heideggerian thought system via the Kyoto School.

Taiwanese philosophy was thought of as a part of Japanese colonial modern heritage, but sui generis brood from the civil society against the imperial dominance. Chronically, it was illustrated with ‘Pre-Enlightenment (1896~1916)’, ‘Enlightenment (1916~1930)’, and ‘Golden Times (1930~1945)’; and characteristically with four faces ‘The Continental through Japanese Philosophies’ , ‘American Pragmatism’, ‘Christian Theology’, and ‘Modern Sinology”.

Pre-Enlightenment (1896~1916)[]

The history of Presbyterian Church in Taiwan is tied with Taiwanese modernization since the late Qing Magistrae; Taiwanese philosophy was by no exception that Taiwanese intellectuals who acquired the westernization value and thoughts were also cultivated and educated through the Presbyterian system, e.g. (zh:李春生) was a Dadaocheng tea merchant who baptized and formulated his Christian thoughts contra Darwinism; Lin Mosei who was the first Taiwanese who held doctorate in the United States had been educated and served in a Presbyterian grammar school; and Rev. J. S. Chou (周再賜) who was the first Taiwanese studying theology in the United States and being reverend stewardship in Japan.

Li Chun sheng published a series of Christian studies after his magum opus ‘Zhǔ jīn xīn jí’ (主津新集, 1896) in Yokohama and adopted heuristics on Confucianism canons. He considered Confucius an ‘anonymous Christian’, a concept from theologian Karl Rahner.^[13] The early sprouting Taiwanese philosophy was yet systemic until the year 1916, which Lin Mosei’s grounding paper ‘Wang Yang-ming's Liangzhi’ during his studying time in Tokyo Imperial University.^[14]

Enlightenment (1916~1930)[]

Embarked with the 1916 Lin Mosei’s Yangmingism comparative systemic study with Kant and Descartes, Taiwanese philosophy was burgeoning with the ‘Sturm und Drang’ in the East Asia, e.g. the institutionalization of philosophy departments, from the 1910 in Tokyo Imperial University, the 1912 in Kyoto University with the founding of the Kyoto School,^[15] in the same year in Peking University.

Taiwanese intellectuals who endeavored under the modernization education were multi-cultural and multi-lingual, from Taiwanese, Japanese, English, and even French and German. (zh:洪耀勳), (zh:黃金穗), and (zh:曾天從) were intellectually associative with the Kyoto School and familiar with Japanese and German languages; Lin Mosei, (zh:廖文奎) had their doctorates in the United States for their fluent articulations in English, and Wen Kwei Liao have his manifest ‘Quo Vadis Formosa?’ in French. (zh:林素琴), the first Taiwanese female scholar holding a bachelor in philosophy, published her research based on the Oeuvres De Descartes by  [fr] and Paul Tannery in 1953.

Intellectuals trends had also influenced. (zh:林秋悟)’s critique of Buddhism was Marxist, and Wen Kwei Liao’s pragmatist approach on reading intellectual histories was a pioneer. The intellectual movement was not just from works and papers but civic engagement of rebellious enlightenment.

Golden Times (1930~1945)[]

Lin Mosei’s 1929 dissertation ‘Public Education in Formosa under the Japanese Administration: Historical and Analytical Study of the Development and the Cultural Problems’ was under the supervision of John Dewey and Paul Monroe; adopting pragmatist approach on the education system observation, Lin Mosei unveiled the injustice on education policy under the colonial rule and towards a universal humane value of equality and liberty; Hung Yao-hsün’s review ‘View on Fūdo’ (風土文化觀) on Tetsuro Watsuji and Hegelian dialectics and phenomenology, distant the Being of Taiwanese from the Chinese and the Japanese. (zh:陳紹馨)’s ‘黑格爾市民社會論’ (Hegel's Theorem on Civil Society, 1936) formulated on the relation of individual and society was particularly on civil society formation from Adam Ferguson and G.W.F. Hegel; Zeng Tianzong’s ‘the Principles on Truth’ (真理原理論, 1937) is an enquiry of truth from phenomenological viewing, as founding the epistemology of Taiwanese philosophy. The salient movement of Taiwan philosophy at that time could rendered Si̍t-chûn Movement, however, came into silence with the 1937 outbreak of Sino-Japan War and the Japanization.

Four Faces of Taiwanese Philosophy under the Japan Colonial Rules[]

The Continental through Japanese Philosophies[]

Influenced by Continental philosophy, e.g. the German Idealism, Marxism, and Heideggerian philosophy from the Kyoto School, the Taiwanese philosophers such as Hung Yao-hsün, Chin-sui Hwang, Zeng Tianzong, (zh:鄭發育), Shao-Hsing Chen, (zh:楊杏庭), Shoki Coe (zh:黃彰輝), C. K. Wu (吳振坤) had the intellectual affinity with the Kyoto scholars. Hung Yao-hsün was one of these prominent figures of the Taiwanese philosophy; In 1936, he issued ‘Art and Philosophy’ (藝術と哲學) with the Wilhelm Dilthey’s perspective on literature and thinking; and later in 1938 ‘Existence and Truth – Review on ’s Theorem on Truth’(存在と真理─ヌツビッゼの真理論の一考察). , Shao-Hsing Chen in 1935/36 formulated the relation of individual and society based on the civil society formation from Adam Ferguson and Hegel (アダム・ファーグスンの市民社会論, 1935) and (ヘーゲルにおける市民社会論の成立, 1936). Isshū Yō in 1935 articulated on his ‘Infinite Negation and Creativity’ (無限否定と創造性) that from Henri Bergson, Martin Heidegger; Lev Shestov, the negation of life was not identified with the passiveness and nothingness. Zeng Tianzong’s 1937 ‘真理原理論’(the Principles on Truth, 1937) was one of the ostensibly recognized philosophical works in Japan; it was published by Risosha (東京理想社) and prefaced by (桑木嚴翼). Shoki Coe studied philosophy in Tokyo, dialectical theology in particular, and had his bachelor's degree in 1937. C. K. Wu of Tainan Theological College and Seminary studied with the religious philosopher Seiichi Hatano during the 1940s and later promoted in Yale University and published Hatano's ‘Philosophy of the Religion’ (宗教哲學, 1940) transcript.^[16] Chin-sui Hwang, was an apostle of Tanabe Hajime on mathematical logic; his 1939 ‘On Dailiness – A Phenomenological Suggestion’ (日常性について―現象學的試論) contrasted the dialects of the dailiness and nightliness, and in 1959 he transcribed Rene Descartes’ ‘Discourse on the Method’. Fa-Yu Cheng was supervised by Nishida Kitarō, and in 1984 he transcribed ‘An Inquiry into the Good’ (善的研究) and founded the empirical psychology in Taiwan.

American Pragmatism[]

Pragmatism is the intellectual heritage in the nineteenth and twentieth century America, as an interdisciplinary studies on philosophy, psychology, education and so forth. Lin Mosei, as (zh:胡適), studied under the pragmatist John Dewey. Lin Mosei had this pragmatist approach on researching education and critique on Japanization as his Columbia dissertation ‘Public Education in Formosa under the Japanese Administration: Historical and Analytical Study of the Development and the Cultural Problems’. (zh: 廖文奎)’s Chicago dissertation ‘the Individual and the Community’ on intellectual histories comparison from George Herbert Mead's pragmatist social psychology.^[17] (zh:蘇薌雨) had studied in Peking University since 1924, while he accepted the intellectual influence from the May Fourth Movement.

Christian Theology[]

The Presbyterian church in Taiwan is tied with the intellectual history of Taiwan. Li Chun sheng, a tea merchant and founder of the Presbyterian Church in Dadaocheng. His ‘Mín jiào yuānyù jiě’ (民教冤獄解, 1903), ‘Tiān yǎn lùn shū hòu’ (天演論書後, 1907), ‘Dōngxī zhé héng’ (東西哲衡, 1908) et cetera has stanced for the Christian dogmas. Lin Mosei was cultivated in the Presbyterian system and his the Christian view of points on civilization histories had been published on the ‘Taiwan Church News’. J. S. Chou was a son of the priest and the first Taiwanese studying theology in Kyoto, the United States and being reverend stewardship in Japan. He was also the principal of the Kyoal Girls’ Senior High School (共愛学園中学校) in Gunma. Rev. Koe Bé-se was recommended by the Church to Meiji Academy (Meiji Gakuin) studying theology and later to the Auburn Theological Seminary, Union Theological Seminary in New York City (1921), and the Department of Anthropology at the Columbia University (1926).^{[18][19][20][21][22][23]} (zh:蔡愛智) was also a graduate from a Presbyterian grammar school and has his bachelor's degree at (1938), master (1940) and doctorate (1941) on theology at the University of Chicago; and the first Taiwanese steward in Seattle and the first one who found the Taiwanese church in Seattle, and the first president of the Taiwanese Union.^{[24][25][26][27][28][29][30]} C. K. Wu revived the postwar Tainan Theological College and Seminary with Shoki Coe. Shoki Coe also started with the founding of Tunghai University^[31]

Modern Sinology on Confucianism[]

Modern Sinology, aside from canonical interpretation, is a research through the lens of modern western philosophy and elaborate further on own problematics. As the Japanese, Korea, and the Western Sinologists, Taiwanese philosophers Lin Mosei, (zh:張深切), (zh:郭明昆), Lin Qiu-wu, (zh:張冬芳) reinvigorated understandings onto Confucianism canons. Lin Mosei's ‘Wang Yang-ming's Liangzhi’(王陽明の良知說) compared Kantian and Cartesian conscience with Yangmingism. Lin Mosei and Dongfang Zhang lectured the Oriental philosophy and literature in the postwar founding National Taiwan University. Shenqie Zhang's ‘Studies on Confucianism’(孔子哲學評論) (1954) was banned, and his manuscript ‘Studies on Laoziism’(老子哲學評論) could not be published, either. Lin Qiu-wu’s Marxist critique of Buddhism was another westernized interpretation on the Oriental canons.

Postwar and the White Terror (1945-1980)[]

The postwar retrocession was expected from the Taiwanese civil society. Public engagement in the public sphere from Lin Mosei’s ‘Mingpao’ (民報), Chin-sui Hwang’s ‘Hsin-hsin’ (新新), Wen Kwei Liao and his brother (zh:廖文毅)’s ‘Avant-garde’ (前鋒), Hung Yao-hsün and Shenqie Zhang’s ‘New Taiwan’ (新台灣) in Beijing.^[1] was temporarily revival until the February 28 Incident.

Most of these Taiwanese philosophers suffered for the wartime and the suppression. Lin Mosei was disappeared and murdered by the espionage during February 28 Incident. (zh:張冬芳) was mentally ill due to the White Terror prosecution. Wen Kwei Liao witnessed the corruption and urged the emancipation, Formosa Speaks (1950) during his exile in Hongkong, Isshū Yō involved with the Taiwanese Independence movement in Tokyo, Shoki Coe left Taiwan but engaged with overseas Taiwanese Independence and addressed ‘Self-determination for Taiwanese People’ (臺灣人民自決運動) in 1972, and coorganized ‘ in 1980. C. K. Wu on his deanship of Tainan Theological College and Seminary sustaining the intellectual lineage of Taiwanese philosophy.

The outbreak of the Korean War drew United States foreign aid to Taiwan, whereas the western culture imported occasionally. Hung Yao-hsün introduced Existentialism into the Taiwanese intellectual circles, Chin-sui Hwang promoted the Erlanger school of constructivism; in the 1960s, Yin Haiguang introducing logical positivism and Keynesian thoughts systems. In the 1958, ‘A Manifesto on the Reappraisal of Chinese Culture: Our Joint Understanding of the Sinological Study Relating to World Cultural Outlook’ was jointly addressed by Carsun Chang, Mou Zongsan, Xu Fuguan in Hongkong.^[32] In the meantime, Yin Haiguang, Lei Chen, and Chang Fo-chuan (張佛泉)’s liberalist stance on “Free China Journal" and organizing ‘China Democracy Party’ caused prosecution from the authority, and even in 1972’ a scandal occurred that McCarthyism student spies prosecuted the professors and students in the department of philosophy at the National Taiwan University (see, zh:臺大哲學系事件).^[33]

Development since Democratization (1980-)[]

In the 1980s democratization, it had sprouting the thoughts and movements from the long silence. Bookstores, salons, and soapboxes, along with the mass movement, burgeoned and formulated the public sphere. 15. July, 1987 was the watershed of the Taiwanese political history when the lifting of Martial law in Taiwan was proclaimed, however, in the 90s still a battlefront for enfranchising liberty and freedom. Cheng Nan-jung, a graduate from philosophy and a dissident magazine founder, was intellectual martyrdom for speech freedom from body to mind. By the Taiwanese cultural sociologist Ren-yi Liao (廖仁義)’s 1988 grounding formulation, ‘Taiwanese philosophy has been a civil intellectual movement against domination, rather than an academic form of conception.’^[34] Systemic researches on Taiwanese philosophers from Wen Kwei Liao, Li Chun sheng, Hung Yao-hsün^{[35][4][36][37]} embarked with two proceedings published in 2016^[38] and 2019.^[39]

See also[]

• Si̍t-chûn Movement
• Academia Sinica, ‘Taiwan Philosophy and Si̍t-chûn Movement’，《Literature Archive》。 *中央研究院「日治臺灣哲學與實存運動」研究計畫，《日治時期臺灣哲學文獻清單列表》.
• 中央廣播電臺，《2017 世界哲學日plus 臺灣》（2017年11月16; 17日）.
• 哲學 Cafe，《2017 被遺忘的臺灣哲學家們》（2018年4月10日）.
• 《臺灣哲學100週年學術研討會》，南港：中央研究院歐美研究所（2016年7月14; 15日）
• 臺灣大學哲學系臺灣哲學研究室，《臺灣哲學研究資料庫》.
• 民視臺灣學堂，《哲學談，淺淺地─淺談日治時期的臺灣哲學》（2017年9月22日）.

References[]