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Name: Aaro n 李浩亮
Book Report Date: December 30th, 2013
(Chi The book : Feng Youla n: A Short History of Chi nese Philosophy
nese versi on tran slated by Tu Yougua ng) Publisher: Pek ing Un iversity Press
The book A Short History of Chin ese Philosophy is mainly about the history of
Chinese philosophy as the title writes, and it also talks about howthe Chin ese philosophy came into being and expla in it by show ing lots of detailed information, political and economic situation at that time and backgro und kno wledge in cluded. And the book shows us the developme nt of Chin ese philosophy in the order of time, too, besides main thoughts and ideologists of several chief schools, such as Laozi, one of the most well-known ideologists of Taoist school. In addition, in the last two chapters we can have a further understanding of the mixture of Chin ese and wester n philosophy duri ng latest cen turies, whe n our country was facing the import of western culture as well as the invasion.
In a word, A Short History of Chin ese Philosophy is a brief summary of Chinese philosophy with a great number of main details, and the vital
part is to give us readers especially foreign ones a brief introduction of several chief schools in clud ing their main thoughts and characters.
The author, Professor Feng Youlan, had a lecture on Chinese philosophy in Un iversity of Penn sylva nia. The n his En glish lecture scripts were collected and the book A Short History of Chinese Philosophy was published Macmillan USA. He taught foreign students this lecture using words as simple as possible, because it was difficult for them to understand so manyshort but nearly nonsense sentences. As a result, we can also easily un dersta nd some complicated and stra nge views of an cie nt ideologists.
For example, whenthe author talks about the way of achieving Relative Happ in ess and Absolute Happ in ess at first, as well as the disti nguish betwee n these two kinds of Happ in ess of Taoist school, I thi nk it is
certa inly difficult for foreig n people to un dersta nd, because it
'also
hard for us Chinese readers to realize the true theory entirely. Therefore, Professor Feng explains it with many simple stories. Furthermore, he tran sforms the orig inal words of those classic masterpieces into some simple though long senten ces.
With the help of relative stories and simple sentences, we can figure out the key to achieve Relative Happ in ess that we have to have a full and free exercise of our inner n atural ability, and follow the free development of our nature without any artificial change of it. And the method of gett ing Absolute Happ in ess is to have a higher level
un dersta nding of the n ature so that we will not be disturbed by the emotions, so we won t be sad, upset or even angry. However, if we can do this, we will
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becomeGod. In conclusion, only a few people can achieve Absolute Happ in ess while most of people can on ly but absolutely achieve Relative Happ in ess. Besides the simplicity of words of this book, I also appreciate the complete and overall n arrati on coveri ng almost all aspects of kno wledge and in formati on of the chief thoughts and schools.
Before this book was published, ano ther book, A History of Chin ese Philosophy , which was also written by Mr. Feng, had been published and he became one of the most famous and kno wledgeable philosophers of this field. A History of Chin ese Philosophy shows us more details. So many people draw a con clusi on that A Short History of Chin ese Philosophy is a simplified versi on of A History of Chin ese Philosophy, true, the author said this in the preface. Although Chin ese Philosophy has less details, it does n
but it 'not
A Short History of
t just list the n ames or
the main points of those famous thoughts of schools in the book A History of Chi nese Philosophy. On the con trary, the book A Short History of Chi nese Philosophy has its own clue to illustrate the thoughts. Comparing with the former masterpiece A History of Chin ese Philosophy , the latter book selects less but more precise examples and quotati ons to dem on strate his
opinions of those thoughts, in the mean while, it also covers all items referred in the former one. For instanee, in order to include nearly
all items n eeded, the book elim in ates a appropriate nu mber of details without any impact of the proof, and some sec on dary views of thoughts and ideologists are referred one time but not expla ined in details. The chapter of the Yi ng-Ya n School refers to less details and expla nati ons, but it reserves and quotes somesentences from the relative masterpieces in this school, by the way, the senten ces are easy to un dersta nd so as to no n eed of more detailed in formatio n and illustrati on. In ano ther way, it has in cluded all aspects of kno wledge about the uni versal and natural thoughts of the Yi ng-Ya n School, so it can still give readers a full and complete un dersta nding. Therefore, though it is in such a short editio n, the book A Short History of Chi nese Philosophy can still shows out its function con tributi ng to people
s perfect and full knowing
about the history and process of Chin ese philosophy.
Additi on ally, some words reserved origi nally from the an cie nt and classic books can lead us to experie nee those famous ideologists
experie nces, thoughts and eve n their men tal activities. It is won derful
to read these to experienee different dynasties and phases by yourselves own.
At last, I hope all people can have a cha nee to read this book, and the n people can have a more un dersta nding of their lives, their family, coun tries, n ature and
'
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the uni verse. Maybe they will have differe nt opinions among themselves or differe nt from those ideologists, but it is the aim of philosophy to make people thi nk much further by themselves and try to find out the final and true an swer. And the
philosophy can get people to be fond of the kno wledge and virtue, and the pursuit of them as well. It may also be the purpose of this publishme nt of A Short History of Chin ese Philosophy, I think
Quotatio ns
1. The place which philosophy has occupied in Chinese civilization has
bee n comparable to that of religio n in other civilizatio ns.
哲学
在中国文化中所占的地位，历来可以与宗教在其他文化中的地位 相比。（P5）
2. Fortunately, however, besides religion there is philosophy,which provides man
with an access to the higher values-a n access which is more direct tha n that provided by religi on, because in philosophy,
in order to be acqua in ted with the higher values, man n eed not take the
roundabout way provided by prayers and rituals. The higher values with which man has becomeacqua in ted through philosophy are eve n purer than those acquired through religion, because they are not mixed with
imag in ation and superstitio n.
不过幸好除了宗教还有哲学，为人
类提供了获得更高价值的途径 一一一条比宗教提供的途径更为直 接的途径，因为在哲学里，为了熟悉更高的价值，无需采取祈祷、 礼拜之类的迂回的道路。通过哲学而熟悉的更高价值，比通过宗 教而获得的更高价值，甚至要纯粹得多，因为后者混杂着想象和 迷信。（P9）
3. Sageliness within and kingliness without
内圣外王（P12）
4. The purpose of the study of philosophy is to enable a man, as a man, to be a man, not some particular ki nd of man. Other studies-not the study of philosophy-e
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