Yu Sang

Xiong Shili 熊十力 (1885-1968) was one of the most important Chinese philosophers of the twentieth century, and a founding figure of the modern New Confucian school of philosophy. In this seminar, I will discuss how cultural nationalism was reflected in, and affected the direction of, Xiong’s thought. I will, first, introduce Chinese cultural nationalism in the late nineteenth century and the early decades of the twentieth century, and discuss how this situation influenced Xiong’s early philosophical perspectives. On that basis, I will, then, examine Xiong’s cultural nationalism after the Second Sino-Japanese War, focusing on the ways in which his thought changed and developed due to the intense national crisis caused by the War. I will also consider how an understanding of this context enables us to comprehend Xiong’s metaphysics more precisely.