Tang Yijie

Tang Yijie

Tang Yijie (February 16, 1927 - September 9, 2014), male, born in Tianjin on February 16, 1927, originally from Huangmei County, Hubei Province, graduated from Philosophy Department of Peking University in 1951. He is a famous contemporary Chinese philosopher, master of Sinology, historian of philosophy and educator of philosophy.

As one of the representative figures in Contemporary Chinese philosophy, Tang Yijie once served as professor and doctoral supervisor of the Department of philosophy of Peking University, honorary director of the Institute of Chinese philosophy and culture, and librarian of the Central Library of literature and history. He is also the president of Chinese Academy of culture, the consultant of Chinese philosophy history society, the vice president of Chinese Confucius society, the vice president of China Oriental Culture Research Association, the vice president of China Yanhuang Culture Research Association, the director of research in value and philosophy, the member of the Advisory Committee of the 19th Asia and North Africa Research Association, the consultant of International Confucian Union, and the international Taoist school Vice president of the Federation.

Since 2003, Tang Yijie has been the director and chief expert of the compilation center of Ru Zang.

Life of the characters

On February 16, 1927, Tang Yijie was born in a scholarly family in Tianjin. His grandfather, Tang Lin, was a Jinshi in 1891. His father, Tang Yongtong, was one of the academic masters who integrated Chinese and western, and connected Chinese and Sanskrit in modern Chinese philosophy. He served as the vice president of Peking University. In high school, Tang Yijie became interested in western literature and tried to write some essays. In 1946, because of his failure, Tang Yijie entered the preparatory class of Peking University. During this period, he read the works of western philosophy and aesthetics, and wrote several articles on goodness, death and why people live to express his thoughts on life. In 1947, Tang Yijie was admitted to the Department of philosophy of Peking University and graduated in 1951. In May 1949, Tang Yijie joined the New Democratic Youth League. There is a general branch of the league in the College of liberal arts. It is here that Tang Yijie and his future wife, Le Daiyun, get to know each other. He joined the Communist Party of China in November of the same year. In 1952, Tang Yijie and Le Daiyun got married. In 1956, Tang Yijie returned to the Philosophy Department of Peking University and became an assistant to his father, Tang Yongtong, who was responsible for helping organize his works. After 1957, due to various political movements and academic criticism, Tang Yijie was also involved. In early 1957, Peking University held a symposium on the history of Chinese philosophy. He wrote an article on the inheritance of philosophical heritage, which was Tang Yijie's first paper after the founding of the CPC. After 1958, Tang Yijie was impacted and suppressed by the "anti rightist movement". In 1966, with the beginning of the cultural revolution, Tang Yijie was disqualified from lecturing and transferred to a cadre school. In 1973, Tang Yijie joined the "mass division of Peking University and Tsinghua University" (i.e. "Liang Xiao") and once served as the leader of the material group. After the cultural revolution, Tang Yijie was censored for various reasons. In 1978, Tang Yijie, then 51, was completely rehabilitated. In 1980, at the age of 53, Tang Yijie resumed his teaching qualification and taught metaphysics, Buddhism and Taoism in the Wei and Jin Dynasties. In 1981, Tang Yijie published on the problems of the category system of traditional Chinese philosophy, which took the lead in breaking the old idea of confrontation between "materialism" and "idealism", and put forward the idea of understanding the history of development to treat philosophical problems. In 1983, Tang Yijie was a visiting scholar at Harvard University. Tang Yijie attended the 17th World Philosophy Congress in Montreal, Canada. In 1984, the first non-governmental academic group in mainland China, the Academy of Chinese culture, was established with Tang Yijie as its president. In 1997, Tang Yijie went to the New Asia College of the Chinese University of Hong Kong to give a lecture on the academic culture of Mr. Qian Binsi. In October 2002, Tang Yijie proposed the idea of compiling Ru Zang to the leaders of Peking University, which was encouraged and supported by Zhang Dainian and Ji Xianlin. In 2003, the Ministry of Education approved the project. Peking University integrated the strength of liberal arts departments and colleges, and cooperated with relevant universities and academic institutions to officially launch the "Ru Zang" project. Tang Yijie was the chief expert of the book. In addition, 500 scholars from Japan, South Korea and Vietnam participated in the compilation. On June 29, 2010, the Institute of Confucianism of Peking University was established with Tang Yijie as its president. In 2012, he won the first Wu Yuzhang Lifetime Achievement Award in Humanities and social sciences. on March 14, 2013, the history of Chinese Confucianism edited by Tang Yijie won the special prize of the 12th Beijing outstanding achievement award of philosophy and social sciences. In May 4th 2014, general secretary Xi Jinping came to Peking University Humanities school and talked with Mr. Tang Yi Jie, 87, to understand the compilation of Confucianism and Tibet. died in Beijing at 8:56 pm on September 9, 2014. State leaders Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Yu Zhengsheng and others sent wreaths to mourn. Wang Enge, philosopher Li Zehou and others sent a wreath or a basket of flowers to mourn. On September 15, 2014, Tang Yijie's farewell ceremony was held at Babaoshan funeral home. Thousands of people from all walks of life, including Shi Yongxin, abbot of Shaolin Temple, came to see them off.

Academic achievements

Metaphysics in Wei and Jin Dynasties

Tang Yijie inherited his father's career and built the theoretical conception of metaphysics in Wei and Jin Dynasties together with his father Tang Yongtong, which is regarded as one of Tang Yijie's important academic achievements. By studying the system of Wei Jin metaphysics, Tang Yijie found out the internal logic and development of Wei Jin metaphysics, broke through the previous research methods, and was a supplement to Tang Yongtong's study of Wei Jin metaphysics.

Traditional philosophy system

Tang Yijie's attempt at the historical development of Chinese philosophy reveals his concept, proposition and theoretical system as a whole. In "on the problems of the categories of Chinese traditional philosophy", Tang Yijie discusses the conceptual categories of Chinese philosophy and constructs a category system for Chinese philosophy. In his article on the truth, goodness and beauty in traditional Chinese philosophy, Tang Yijie put forward that Chinese philosophy often uses three basic propositions to express their views on the truth, goodness and beauty, which are "the unity of heaven and man" (to discuss the problem of "truth", that is, the fundamental problem of the universe and life), "the unity of knowledge and practice" (to discuss the problem of "good", that is, the fundamental principle of being a man), "the unity of situation" (to discuss the problem of "truth" On the problem of "beauty", that is, the problem of aesthetic realm), and the two propositions of "unity of knowledge and action" and "unity of scene" are the expressions of different aspects of the universe and life from the "unity of heaven and man". In his essay on the truth, goodness and beauty in traditional Chinese philosophy, Tang Yijie compares the three great philosophers in Chinese philosophy with the three great philosophers in German classical philosophy, so as to illustrate the differences between Confucius, Laozi and Zhuangzi on the issue of truth, goodness and beauty, as well as the differences between Chinese philosophy and Western Philosophy on this issue. because Chinese philosophy is based on "the unity of man and nature", both Confucianists, Taoists and Chinese Buddhist sects are philosophical systems characterized by "internal transcendence", which is very different from Western Philosophy (including Christian Philosophy) characterized by "external transcendence". "Inner transcendence" can be said to be the cosmology and life theory of Chinese philosophy. "Unity of knowledge and action" has epistemological significance in Chinese philosophy, but it is fundamentally an ethical problem. Therefore, in Chinese philosophy, "knowledge" is not only a question of "knowledge", but also a question of "conscience" (knowing what is "good" and "evil", as Wang Yangming said, "knowing good and knowing evil is conscience"). "Knowing" must be "doing". Most of the philosophers in the history of Chinese philosophy have a strong sense of social responsibility and historical mission. Their ideal is "Sage Inside and king outside", and "sage" (that is, a person with high morality) is most suitable to be "King" (the supreme ruler). This can be said to be the moral enlightenment theory of Chinese philosophy or a kind of political philosophy. In the article "on the realm of Confucianism", Tang Yijie put forward that although the theory of "inner sage and outer king" has its merits, its disadvantages are also very obvious, that is, it will go to the road of Pan moralism and attaching importance to "rule by man" rather than "rule by law".

On the study of Sinology

After 1949, he studied the Soviet Union in an all-round way and especially introduced the philosophy of the Soviet Union. Of course, literature was also introduced. We carried out a comprehensive liquidation of China's traditional culture until the "Cultural Revolution". The degree of damage is great. Confucius and Mencius, Lao Zhuang, Cheng Zhu and Lu Wang were all denied and criticized. The old culture and morality have been destroyed. Although the reform and opening up has played a positive role in correcting the ideological trend of the left, the situation has not been fundamentally reversed. historically, Buddhism has been absorbed, and the absorption of Buddhism has made great progress in Chinese culture, which is obvious to all. Without the introduction of Buddhism, Neo Confucianism in song and Ming dynasties would not have appeared. When we look at the impact of Western learning, on the one hand, we can see its destructive effect; on the other hand, it is precisely because of the impact of Western learning that it stimulates us to reflect, to reflect on our own shortcomings, to reflect on their good things and to enrich ourselves. On the one hand, we should carry forward our own traditional culture, on the other hand, we should constantly absorb the good aspects of other cultures.

Chinese Hermeneutics

Inspired by the study of Western hermeneutics, in 1998, Tang Yijie raised the question whether he could create Chinese hermeneutics, so as to open his exploration of Chinese hermeneutics. Tang Yijie pointed out that compared with the west, China has a longer history of interpreting classics, which can be traced back to the Warring States period at least. But up to now, we haven't set up a theoretical system which takes "explanation problem" as the research object consciously. So, in the next two years, Tang Yijie did it

Chinese PinYin : Tang Yi Jie