Chapter 17 Attacking Pragmatism Philosophy from Dewey

In June 1914, Hu Shi graduated from Cornell University and immediately entered the research institute.In September of the following year, Li Qi Sejia went to New York and transferred to the Research Department of the Philosophy Department of Columbia University, where she majored in philosophy and studied under Dewey. Columbia University in the United States has a high reputation in the academic world.It is especially famous for recruiting foreign students and creating bureaucrats and academic tycoons for third world countries.There are often as many as 300 Chinese students studying at Columbia University; ① Apart from Hu Shi, there were also Song Ziwen, Zhang Xiruo, Sun Ke, Jiang Menglin and so on.After returning from their studies, they all shook up and became well-known figures in Chinese political and academic circles.

The Department of Philosophy at Columbia University has many professors, some of whom had a great influence on Hu Shi.For example, a professor of ethics, Felix Adler, is the founder of the American Society for Ethical Culture.The atheist religion based on morality he advocated once convinced Hu Shi very much, because Hu Shi was also an atheist.In "Zanghui Room Notes", some of Erdeno's quotations have been translated and recorded, some of which are quite interesting, such as: Moral responsibility is not the command from outside; it is what must be done to bring out the best in another person, such as a loved one.

Influence others thus: Cause them not to belittle themselves. ② From these quotations, the influence of the supreme moral law of Kant's philosophy can be clearly seen.And Erdeno also became a person who "had a great influence" on Hu Shi's life. There is also a professor F. Hirth who has a deep and familiar relationship with Hu Shi.He is a German sinologist and served as the first "Ding Long Chair Professor" of Columbia University.This "Ding Long Lecture" is the first Sinology lecture set up with a special fund in the American continent, and its origin is a very touching story.A Chinese laborer in the United States in the early days, named Ding Long, worked as a servant in the home of General Horace W. Carpentier in the United States for many years, and won the trust of his master.When he retired, Carls gave him a huge sum of money (it is said to be 20,000 US dollars) as a pension.Ding Long resigned repeatedly before accepting it, and then donated all of it to Columbia University as a fund for studying Chinese culture.When Kashi learned of Ding Long's noble deeds, he was deeply moved, so he donated a huge sum of money, making up 100,000 U.S. dollars, and set up a "Ding Long Lecture" for Columbia University.

, to commemorate this ordinary but noble Chinese worker in the United States.However, at that time, Western Sinology had not yet reached the stage of enlightenment, and the United States was blowing the wind of anti-Chinese, and young students who were interested in Sinology were rare.Therefore, after Xia De became Ding Long Chair Professor, there was no student, neither major nor minor.He was very depressed.When Hu Shi came to Columbia, Xia proposed to invite Hu Shi to major in Sinology.He led Hu Shi to visit the small Chinese library of Columbia University, introduced the big book "The Collection of Ancient and Modern Books" presented by the Qing government, and used his rich collection of Chinese books for Hu Shi to use, and sometimes invited Hu Shi to his apartment. to meet his friends.Therefore, Hu Shi became very familiar with this old gentleman.This point should be said to have considerable influence on Hu Shi's combination of Chinese and Western studies, and on "The Evolution History of Ancient Chinese Philosophical Methods" as his doctoral dissertation in philosophy.

The professor who had the greatest influence on Hu Shi was John Dewey.According to Hu Shi’s own recollection, the reason why he transferred to Columbia University was because he became interested in Dewey and pragmatism philosophy.He said: Cornell's Sage philosophy is prone to criticism of "experimentalism."They always find an important object to criticize in the discussion class.Dewey was often criticized by them.In their view, Peirce and James are simply inferior and not worth refuting.However, although they sang against Dewey, they respected Dewey very much.After listening to the discussions of these critics and reading some books of Dupai in order to participate in the discussions of Canda Dupai, I gradually became interested in Dewey and Dupai philosophy, so I read as many books on experimentalism as possible, During the summer of 1915, after I had done some systematic reading and research on experimentalism, I decided to transfer to Columbia University to study philosophy with Dewey. ④

What kind of person is Dewey who has such a great attraction to Hu Shi? Dewey is 32 years older than Hu Shi.When Hu Shi entered Columbia University, Du Shi was almost 60 years old. He was tall, his waist was still straight, and he was very energetic. One of the most influential philosophers in the genre. Dewey is also an educator and the head professor of the Department of Philosophy at Columbia University, but he is not good at words.He lectured slowly, speaking slowly word by word, as if every verb, adjective, and preposition had to be thought out slowly before he continued.Many students find his classes boring.Hu Shi came here because of the fame, and took two courses of Dewey's, and listened to them for a few weeks. Not only did he understand the courses he taught, but he also said that he chose his words seriously and carefully, and highly praised them.

At that time, the Dewey family lived in an apartment on the south corner of Riverside Avenue and West 116th Street in New York.Mrs. Dewey held a monthly family tea party, and invited some friends and students to attend.Gathered in this Du family reception, there are many famous people in New York cultural circles, and there are also some yin and yang characters, men with long hair and women with short hair.As an international student, Hu Shi, like other students, with great interest, regards being invited to a reception like Du's family as the most rare opportunity and honor. What Hu Shi admired most was Dewey's thought, which was Dewey's pragmatism philosophy.So, what kind of philosophical trend is pragmatism?

The emergence of any philosophical trend in the world cannot be separated from its environment and cultural traditions.Pragmatism, translated by Hu Shi as experimentalism, is a philosophical trend of thought that grew up in the soil of American industrial society and emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.At that time, after the Civil War in the United States, the Northern Industrial Capital Group controlled the federal government and removed obstacles to the development of capitalism. Capital forces gained a vast area of ​​activity, the level of technology was unprecedentedly improved, and the economy grew rapidly.By the 20th century, the United States had become one of the world's developed capitalist powers.This is a world full of opportunities, struggles, entrepreneurship and adventure. Success is accompanied by failure, wealth and alienation go hand in hand, and people generally have a sense of instability in their pioneering efforts.As William James said through the mouth of God: "I'm giving you a chance to join this world. You know I don't guarantee that the world will be safe. This world is a real adventure, dangerous A lot, but maybe there is a final victory." James' own answer is: "I am willing to admit that this world is really dangerous, and risks must be taken; I will never back down, and I will never say 'I quit! '" ⑤ The pragmatism produced in this American soil is, in Russell's words, a "philosophy of American industrial society".As a theoretical summary of American practice, pragmatism emphasizes starting from people's "experience", advocates using behavioral effects to prove the rationality of thinking, and judging or revising beliefs based on factual effects. Move to the last things; from general principles to facts, from categories (Categories) to effects", ⑥ with a strong color of anti-dogmatism and reflective philosophy, reflecting the spirit of truth-seeking and innovation during the American entrepreneurial period, embodying An American style of pioneering, aggressive, action and success above all else.Pragmatism introduces "human problems" into modern Western philosophy and achieves a major transformation in the field of philosophy. Dewey said:

If philosophy does not deal with those "philosophers' problems", if philosophy becomes a philosophical method to solve "human problems", then the day of philosophy's recovery will come. ⑦ In this way, "problems of philosophers" are replaced by "problems of people", grasping the central link of human practical activities, replacing the rational and abstract cognitive subjects in traditional philosophy with practical subjects, and promoting the concept of philosophical subjects and realism. , the theory of truth and epistemology, etc., put forward a series of anti-traditional views, thus opening up a new path between scientism and modern humanism, so that pragmatism philosophy shows a kind of emphasis on scientific methods and rich in humanistic spirit. In social life, it is manifested as a cultural attitude that not only advocates science, but also promotes democracy and freedom.Therefore, it is generally welcomed by the American society that is struggling to open up but suffers from alienation and cultural conflicts.In short, pragmatism is "American instrumentalism" (Dewey), a philosophy that reflects the spirit of the American society and emphasizes the independent and free subject-human practical activities and achievements, with a tendency of subjective idealism.

Hu Shi specialized in pragmatism philosophy from Dewey, and was deeply influenced by this contemporary "leader of experimentalism".He himself said: My thinking has been most influenced by two men: one was Huxley and the other was Mr. Dewey.Huxley taught me how to doubt, taught me to distrust everything without sufficient evidence.Mr. Dewey taught me how to think, taught me to take into account the current problems, taught me to regard all theoretical ideals as hypotheses to be proved, and taught me to take into account the results of thinking.These two people made me understand the nature and function of the scientific method...⑧The influence of pragmatism accepted by Hu Shi is mainly in the aspects of truth theory and methodology.This had an important influence on his later advocacy of literary revolution, advocacy of vernacular poetry, research on ancient history and traditional novels, research on the history of Chinese thought and philosophy, as well as various aspects of politics and life.As he himself said: "Since then, experimentalism has become a guide for my life and thinking, and has become the basis of my own philosophy." ⑨Dewey is a "scholar who has a lifelong influence" on him, and has a great influence on him throughout his life. "has a decisive influence" on the cultural life of

①According to Mr. Chen Heqin’s speech at the Second Session of the First Jiangsu Provincial People’s Congress, “there are often as many as 300 Chinese students studying at Columbia University.” Come, there are "tens of thousands of Chinese students" who graduated from Columbia University.A summary of Chen's speech was published in "Wen Wei Po" on February 28, 1955. The editor of the newspaper added the title "I accuse Dewey of being a big liar". 213-218 pages. ② "Mr. Adler's Quotations" (January 11, 1916), Volume 12 of "Zanghui Room Notes", Shanghai Yadong Library Edition, p. 820. ③ Hu Shi’s doctoral dissertation “A Study of the Development of Logical Method in Ancient China”, which Hu Shi translated as “The Evolutionary History of Ancient Chinese Philosophical Method” (see “Zanghui Room Notes” Volume 16 “16 My Doctor Thesis", Shanghai Yadong Edition, p. 1133). It was published by Shanghai Yadong Library (English version) in 1922, and it was translated as "History of Pre-Qin Mingxue" in Chinese; until December 1983, there was a Chinese translation of "History of Pre-Qin Mingxue" published by Shanghai Xuelin Publishing House. Translated by a group of people, schooled by Li Kuangwu. ④ "Hu Shi's Oral Autobiography" (Chinese translation by Tang Degang), Taipei Biographical Literature Publishing House, March 1981, first edition, pp. 91-92. ⑤ James: "Pragmatism", see "Hu Shi Wen Cun", Shanghai Yadong Library, August 9, 1926, Volume 2, p. 109. ⑥James: "Experimentalism", see "Hu Shi Wencun", Volume 2, p. 95. ⑦ Dewey: "Creative Intelligence", see "Hu Shi Wencun Two Collections", Shanghai Yadong Library, March 6, 1929, Volume 2, p. 270. ⑧Hu Shi: "Introducing My Own Thoughts", see "Hu Shi's Recent Works on Studies", Episode 1, Shanghai Commercial Press, April 3, 1937, Volume 5, p. 630. ⑨Hu Shi: "The Notes of the Zanghui Room? Preface", the first page of the volume of Shanghai Yadong Edition, page 5.