Tang Junyi Lecture Series

The History of Chinese Philosophy: Continuity vs. Change

Intellectual History and the Inner Logic of Chinese Philosophy

In this presentation Professor Makeham argues that whereas earlier generations of internal participants in the formation of Chinese philosophy as an academic discipline acknowledged that one or more non-Chinese philosophical traditions were essential to articulating China's philosophical past, influential modern commentators have instead argued that paradigms and norms derived from the West, in particular, are not only inappropriate to the articulation of China's philosophical heritage but are also fundamentally hegemonic.  Professor Makeham also draws attention to the influence of what he calls the "inner logic" paradigm, which emphasizes the continued agency and relevance of the past in the present.  He maintains that this paradigm has contributed to the conferral of methodological legitimacy on so-called epistemological nativism: the idea that the articulation and development of China's philosophical heritage must draw exclusively on the endogenous paradigms and norms of China's indigenous heritage.