CollectionUTCP10_Nakajima_08英文学习资料.pdfVIP

III. Philosophemes in Chinese Philosophy 131 8 The History of Chinese Philosophy as Philosophy Professor Francisco Naishtat tells me that “metaphilosophy” means “on philosophy.” It is not a “over philosophy” or “after philosophy.” If so, “metaphilosophy” is nothing other than a self-reflexive activity. However, it is not a pure and inner self-reflexivity, but one with refer- ence to an exterior and para-philosophical something. We can find this system of self-reflexive thinking more clearly and severely in a non- Western context. That’s why I am going to give you an example of this “metaphilosophical” system in Chinese Philosophy. In this regard, I am touching on a problem of “history” for philosophy. 1. China, Philosophy, and History What would history be for philosophy? This question is especially important for Asia, where philosophy was transplanted in the modern period. To begin with, when Asia confronted modern Western philosophy, philosophy was simultaneously a universal form of scholarship and a form of scholarship unique to the modern West. Therefore, although philosophy attracted Asian modernists because it represented the uni- versality of modernity, philosophy also encouraged people in various parts of Asia to “discover” philosophy in these regions. Consequent- ly, from the time of its inception, Asian philosophy was somewhat philosophical and un-philosophical at the same time in comparison to modern Western philosophy. 132 Philosophemes in Chinese Philosophy Hence on the one hand, in order to establish philosophy in Asia, Asian philosophy had to transcend the particularity of Western phi- losophy and be relatively universal, but on the other hand, to be Asian philosophy it had to have a particularity different from that of the