Nanzhou, Gansu, China:

In the present work, which might well be subtitled as "Collected Essays on a New World View," the author has demonstrated his combined capacities as a scientist philosophically-minded, a philosopher scientifically-minded and, above all, a historian of thought with synoptic vision of Life as a Whole. Take for instance the article reprinted here in this issue for sampling: "Yin-Yang Dialectical Monism: A New Attempt to Explore the Symbiotic Relationship of Man and Nature through Reformation of the Confucian-Taoist metaphysical System."

He throws new light on the time-honored concept of the "Yin-Yang" dynamism as a paradigm for "creative harmony" or "dialectical unification" by elucidating its multi-dimensional imports and implications in the contemporary context. The presentation is marked by an immense sweep of inter-disciplinary scholarship ranging from quantum physics to new geometry, biochemistry, medicine, psychology, politics, economics, strategy, naturalistic metaphysics, empirical epistemology, and axiology of creativity, all culminating in eudaemonics. Of particular interest to us is the author’s ingenious hermeneutics on (1) the primacy of unity as implying complementarity, and even the unity of symmetry and asymmetry in the light of dialectical monism; and (2) the Neo-Confucian distinction of li (quality) and qi (quantity) viewed from the same perspective as a remedy for the difficulty involved in the Marxian "qualitative leap" of dialectical materialism.

In certain sense Professor Dow’s masterly exposition herein presented reads like a miniature pocket edition de luxe of the Philosophy of Comprehensive Harmony. It covers more than its title indicates: The concept "symbiotic relationship of human beings and nature" suggests a new way of rendering scientifically explicit a cluster of parallel visions and insights implicit in the vast treasure of wisdom, both contemplative and practical, as a part of our common property in human cultural heritage, Ancient and Modern, East and West: such as "unity of man and nature"; "cosmic identification" (Confucianism and Taoism); "bing sheng" as "growing-together" (Chuangtzu); "equilibrium and harmony" (chung yung) in China; "Brahman- tman-Atyanta" (Upanishads); "Advaita" or "Non-Duality" ( ankara); "the Dharmadhª tu of One Truth" (Avatamsaka Buddhism) in India; "union of opposites," "harmony in contrariety" (Heraclitus); "concrescence," "contrast as the mode of synthesis" (Whitehead); "organic coordination" (Dewey); "mutual enhancement of all existences," "unity of life and form" (Goethe); "aufgehoben" (Hegel); "functional unity of form and freedom" (Cassirer); "fusion of opposites" (Pepper), in the West, etc., to mention a few. All these can treated under the same category of "Yin-Yang Ddialectical Monism and exemplified by the "symbiotic relationship between human beings and nature" as the author here eloquently advances, though in highlight.

As the reviewer has come to learn further from the author through correspondence, he is making new attempts to interprete the Taoist concept "wu" and the Buddhist concept "Śūnyatª " or "k’ung" in terms of somewhere between "1" and "0."– A daring and dashing move in comparative philosophy, indeed!

Basically, in philosophies of East and West we have more in common than we realize. All the kindred ideas listed above exhibit an amazing family resemblance that may well serve as the base upon which to build what the late Professor Fang had proposed as a "Philosophical Confederation" in resonant echo to the powerful statement of the Neo-Confucian philosopher Lu Hsiang-Shang (1139-1193): "Sages appear tens of thousands of generations ago. They shared this one and same Mind; they shared this one and same Principle. Sages will appear tens of thousands of generations to come. They would share this one and the same mind; they would share this one and same principle. Over the four seas sages appear. They share this one and same Mind; they share this one and same Principle." "The Mind is one and Principle is one. Perfect truth is reduced to a unity; the essential principle is never a duality."[1] "Basic principles," says Stephen C. Pepper, "are the same the world over."[2]

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[1] Cf. Wing-tsit Chan, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1973), p. 574; p. 580.

[2] Cf. Stephen C. Pepper, "Review on Principles of Chinese Painting by George Rowley," Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Vol. IX, September 1948, 330.