It is hard to find a twentieth century Chinese philosopher who spent more time and more ink than Feng Youlan馮友蘭 in explaining the motivations behind and hopes for his philosophical work. Feng Youlan’s autobiographical descriptions can be found in the prefaces to many of his works and his retrospective summaries of his philosophical path as well as such classic sayings as “explaining the old state to assist the new mandate” (chan jiubang yi fu xinming闡舊邦以輔新命), “the six classics record felicitous origins, and the three histories explain times past and present” (liushu ji zhenyuan sanshi shi gujin六書紀貞元三史釋古今), and “my mind contains four transformations, and my meaning is entrusted to the three pines” (xin huai sihua yi ji sansong心懷四化意寄三松). From such sayings as these we can see Feng Youlan’s diligence, self-appraisal, and state of mind. On the whole, the philosophical mission borne by Feng Youlan is closely related to his contemporary time where the Chinese people and Chinese state experienced great change. But this association cannot be limited to the notion of modernization in the sense of industrialization, that is, Feng Youlan expressed in his Xin Shilun新事論 (New Treatise on Practical Matters) that he wished to solve the problem of Chinese freedom. This was because Feng Youlan was always interested in the problem of reformulating the Chinese spiritual realm or ultimate concern. Max Weber once differentiated between instrumental rationality and value rationality, and accordingly, we can see instrumental rationality as a kind of rational work developed through practical motivations as well as such work’s achievements. In comparison to this, value rationality can be said to be the rational pursuit that begins from humanistic spiritual and value beliefs and seeks to obtain the self-perfection of the humanities. The main content of Feng Youlan’s value rationality that we will discuss here is his “theory of a cosmic realm” (tiandi jingjie shuo天地境界說). We know that this problem makes up a central element of Feng Youlan’s research. But I have discovered that other than expanding the application of this theory to the ecology and environment, previous discussions mostly revolve around Feng Youlan’s own rather concise explanation and did not reveal or develop its particular meaning of the spiritual realm and ultimate concern. After discovering this insufficiency, I have determined that it was necessary to overcome it. At the same time, I also hope to understand his value rationality against the background of the foundational intellectual framework of the “boundary of humanity and the cosmos” (tianren zhi ji天人之際) and the construction of modern Chinese value rationality. This is also something that has gone unnoticed by previous research.

Feng Youlan’s Value-Rationality and the Manner of Its Construction

章节
发表日期：

2026年

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Zhongjiang Wang

摘要

It is hard to find a twentieth century Chinese philosopher who spent more time and more ink than Feng Youlan馮友蘭 in explaining the motivations behind and hopes for his philosophical work. Feng Youlan’s autobiographical descriptions can be found in the prefaces to many of his works and his retrospective summaries of his philosophical path as well as such classic sayings as “explaining the old state to assist the new mandate” (chan jiubang yi fu xinming闡舊邦以輔新命), “the six classics record felicitous origins, and the three histories explain times past and present” (liushu ji zhenyuan sanshi shi gujin六書紀貞元三史釋古今), and “my mind contains four transformations, and my meaning is entrusted to the three pines” (xin huai sihua yi ji sansong心懷四化意寄三松). From such sayings as these we can see Feng Youlan’s diligence, self-appraisal, and state of mind. On the whole, the philosophical mission borne by Feng Youlan is closely related to his contemporary time where the Chinese people and Chinese state experienced great change. But this association cannot be limited to the notion of modernization in the sense of industrialization, that is, Feng Youlan expressed in his Xin Shilun新事論 (New Treatise on Practical Matters) that he wished to solve the problem of Chinese freedom. This was because Feng Youlan was always interested in the problem of reformulating the Chinese spiritual realm or ultimate concern. Max Weber once differentiated between instrumental rationality and value rationality, and accordingly, we can see instrumental rationality as a kind of rational work developed through practical motivations as well as such work’s achievements. In comparison to this, value rationality can be said to be the rational pursuit that begins from humanistic spiritual and value beliefs and seeks to obtain the self-perfection of the humanities. The main content of Feng Youlan’s value rationality that we will discuss here is his “theory of a cosmic realm” (tiandi jingjie shuo天地境界說). We know that this problem makes up a central element of Feng Youlan’s research. But I have discovered that other than expanding the application of this theory to the ecology and environment, previous discussions mostly revolve around Feng Youlan’s own rather concise explanation and did not reveal or develop its particular meaning of the spiritual realm and ultimate concern. After discovering this insufficiency, I have determined that it was necessary to overcome it. At the same time, I also hope to understand his value rationality against the background of the foundational intellectual framework of the “boundary of humanity and the cosmos” (tianren zhi ji天人之際) and the construction of modern Chinese value rationality. This is also something that has gone unnoticed by previous research.