Foreword

Lewis E. Hahn,

Enhancing Cultural Interflow between East and West

P0STSCRIPT 0VERVIEW

Joseph S. Wu

Professor Lewis E. Hahn’s Enhancing Cultural Interflow between East and West marks a new approach in the field of comparative philosophy and culture. Comparative study of philosophy and culture is indeed a very complicated and difficult field for serious scholars with academic ambitions. Certainly it is difficult for a scholar to struggle to learn from a culture other than his own. It is even more difficult for a scholar to compare a philosophical school with another one, with proficient conceptualization and effective communication. I have been known as a member in this field since the late nineteen sixties with the publication of three books in comparative culture and philosophy.[1] But I would like to admit that I am not comfortably satisfied with what I have accomplished, simply because in all of my publications, I have been so serious in following academic rules but without any courage to express myself openly and liberally. There have also been other scholars in this field, being concerned with scholarship rather than expressing their genuine feelings. Very few of them would employ the comparative method to express a central theme of their own. But, after reading Professor Hahn’s book, I realize the significance of a central theme in the field of the study of comprehensive varieties. The central theme of this book is already revealed by the book title. Under this central theme, this book exhibits admirably the following five characteristics:[2]

(1) Demonstration of Historical Approach.

(2) Development and Performance of Pragmatic Philosophy.

(3) Selective Emphasis from both East and West.

(4) Preferring Parallels rather than Oppositions.

(5) Inspiration with a Central Theme.

There may still be some more admirable features inherent in this book. But the writer is going to provide characterization of only these five points. This is clearly the writer’s "selective emphasis," selecting what he thinks as the unique features of this book.

Demonstration of Historical Approach

In the field of contemporary philosophy, historical approach does not seem to be a proficient method or a popular style. But among all the philosophical essays of this book, historical approach was employed in many of them. First of all, this approach was employed in the exposition of individual philosophers. For example, in the second essay, John Dewey was introduced at first according to his academic positions, important publications, and the order of his movement from one university to another. This historical introduction was presented before the exposition of his philosophy. In another essay (No.9), when Dewey was introduced together with two Chinese philosophers, another historical approach was employed. It was a historical record of Dewey’s relation with China. Even in the introduction of the two Chinese philosophers, the historical method still continued to function.

Secondly, the historical approach was employed to expose the performance of institutions. The best example is the tenth essay. It is in fact a historical exposition of the Library of Living Philosophers. This Library was founded in 1938 by Professor Paul Schilpp with John Dewey as the first one being honored. From the earliest time down to the present day, this Library has taken care of twenty six philosophers. During these several decades, this Library experienced technical problems which were also substantial data of the tenth essay.

The most obvious historical approach is the entire essay of "Introduction: An Autobiographical Sketch." This one starts with the author’s high school graduation in 1925, and goes through many life stages and academic steps all the way to the present. Within these several decades the author has performed academically the construction of graduate programs in philosophy for University of Missouri at Columbia, Washington University in St. Louis, and Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. At the same time, the author performed academic action to attain international relations with foreign professors and students. In fact, this au-thor has been successful in educating many foreign students to accomplish their Ph.D. programs. If a reader of this book does know the author personally, he or she is advised to read this Introduction essay which is really an important historical record of this book’s author.

Now what is important for this section is the quality of the historical approach. As I have observed, Professor Hahn’s historical approach is without exaggeration or artificial style. At the same time, it is loyal to factuality and simplicity. In addition, it is semantically clear and philosophically relevant. In a certain sense, this is an important value in academic communication.

Development & Performance of Pragmatic Philosophy

Pragmatic naturalism, or simply Pragmatism, is the major representative of American philosophy in the twentieth century. It was pioneered by Charles Peirce, developed further by William James, supported by George Mead, and synthesized by John Dewey. A very substantial and creative scholar, Stephen Pepper, after attaining the substance of this school, changed its name to contextualism. Professor Hahn was a top student of Pepper at University of California, Berkeley, and inherited this tradition, including the term "contextualism." The author of this overview, however, for the sake of easier communication with all the philosophers, will still prefer "pragmatism" or "pragmatic philosophy."

Pragmatism insists on change as the necessary quality of reality, emphasizing the changing process with continuity and integration. It also insists on the unity of knowledge and action, and the interrelation between hypothesis and solution. In fact, the term "pragmatic" suggests the interrelation between an idea and its practice. Regarding this, Professor Hahn is a great pragmatist. In this book, he practiced his ideas without artificial effort. He maintained that the basic aim of education is to help us to grow as persons," and "growing is an experience with unique intrinsic values."[3] If we read his "Autobiographic Sketch" carefully, we can realize that he himself has practiced growth all the way. In the year of 1925, he was only a local graduating student. After getting his Ph.D. from U.C. Berkeley, he became a national figure with international awareness. Nevertheless, he still continued his growth through academic and international contacts. Now, he is a dynamic and active international figure with intercultural sights and views. This accomplishment is in fact the result of practicing the pragmatic concept of education, a result of the unity of his knowledge and his action.

In addition to the practice of pragmatism, Professor Hahn has written one essay with a clear and brief introduction of pragmatic philosophy. This is the fifth essay of this book. It is "Contextualistic Philosophy of Life." In this essay, he has outlined seven important points of this philosophy, including metaphysics, epistemology, value theories, and logical inquiry.[4] This fifth essay is not only an expression of his own philosophy, but also an educational contribution to those who want to learn something from pragmatic philosophy.

Selective Emphasis from both East and West

Selection for the purpose of emphasis has been an important method of academic scholars. But very few of them would openly admit the use of this method. It is simply because declaration of using this method may suggest the author’s own problem, such as insufficient knowledge, and selective emphasis is used to cover up such a deficiency. Now, my characterization of Professor Hahn’s work as performing selective emphasis does not mean that he does not have sufficient knowledge. I just want to show that selective emphasis is an important quality of logical order and creativity.

Among all schools of Western philosophy, Professor Hahn just selected American philosophy, and among so many well-known American philosophers, he just selected several philosophers of pragmatism. And among these several selected ones, John Dewey and Stephen Pepper are the chief figures. Now, can we make a judgment that Professor Hahn does not know European philosophy? Can we make a judgment that he does not know the philosophy before American pragmatism? As to the field of Eastern philosophy, Professor Hahn just selected Chinese philosophy. But within the long history of Chinese culture, he just selected Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism. Among these three, only Confucianism has received substantial attention. At the same time, the account of Confucianism is mostly based on the information provided by Thomé Fang. Now, can we make a judgment that Professor Hahn knows only Confucianism among all the philosophical schools of the East? Can we say that Professor Hahn knows only Chinese philosophy outside the American continent? If we make any judgment like this, we just commit the fallacy of oversimplification. The performance of selective emphasis can also be found in some other ways. Among all the divisions of philosophy, metaphysics, esthetics, and philosophy of education were seriously selected. But there is no selection of formal logic or supernaturalism at all. The question is now only one word: Why? The answer to this question is based on the instrumental value of selective emphasis. Then, what is its instrumental value? As I have suggested, the instrumental value of selective emphasis consists in managing logical order and expressing creativity.

In the procedure of including subject-matter, if Professor Hahn selected formal logic, the comparative work would become unmanageable, because Chinese culture has never produced any formal logic at all. If he selected supernaturalism, there would be no way to explore Chinese philosophy in a proper comparative way. Professor Hahn understands the naturalistic and humanistic nature of Chinese culture so well, that, in his comparative work, he just performs a selection of subject-matter to attain an essay in good logical order.

In addition, selective emphasis is an important avenue for the expression of creativity. In a certain sense, selective emphasis is an artistic method, providing taste and style, and it certainly helps the process of scientific performance. A scientist definitely desires success, but success is very often the result of creatively selected hypothesis, creatively selected data, and creatively selected use of rationality.

Preferring Parallels Rather Than Oppositions

One significant feature of Professor Hahn’s comparative philosophy is his preference of parallels. In comparative philosophy, there have been interesting contrasts composed of varieties of differences including contradictions and oppositions. I have written quite a few articles comparing Chinese culture with the culture of the Western world.[5] Whenever I started writing, I was heavily occupied by an opposition: Chinese culture is primarily artistic and Western culture tends to be scientific. To tell the truth, my mind is usually occupied by the major differences between different cultures I am about to do comparative work. But now, after reading Professor Hahn’s book, I begin to open my mind for the parallels. In his first paper, Professor Hahn proposes to sketch a few parallels between his contextualistic philosophy and such traditional Eastern views as Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism.[6] In fact, this first essay accounts for the similarities between his philosophy and his selected Eastern philosophy. The similarities consist in (1) their common stress of time and change; (2) their common naturalistic approach; and (3) their accounts of creativity, education, and novelty.[7] In the sixth essay, Professor Hahn provided an exposition of Thomé Fang. In this essay, there is a description of the parallels between Fang and contextualist philosophy. The first parallel is the concept of time and change, and the second parallel consists in their working practice in analysis.[8] The third parallel "is their opposition to dualism and the method of bifurcations.[9] In his eighth essay, "Contextualism and Chinese Philosophy," he proposed "to trace some important parallels between the relatively new Western world view of Contextualism and various traditional Chinese outlooks."[10] The first parallel consists in the concept of change. The second one is "their working practice in analysis."[11] The third one is their naturalistic approach.[12] The fourth parallel consists on "their common emphasis on education, the human community, and democracy."[13]

In the eleventh assay, the vivid presentation of parallels started again. It is a presentation of "five sets of parallels between American Contextualists and Chinese Taoists and Confucians in dealing with people, nature or environment, and their relations to one another."[14] Since the five parallels are summarized at the end of this eleventh essay, readers can experience them directly. Let us now turn to an important question: What is the value of parallels? What is the value of this method in the comparative study of philosophy and culture?

What does it mean by "parallels"? A common-sensical answer is "sets of similarities." But from the viewpoint of the present writer, it means more than just similarities. It signifies even cooperative dynamic styles in the sense that both sides aim at the same direction toward future activity or development. The term "similarities" is usually applied to different sets of unchanging entities, but Professor Hahn’s use of "parallels" is to indicate different sets of processes which can be growing processes or developmental processes. In this particular sense, when we say that there exists a parallel between Confucianism and Pragmatism, what we mean is more than just ideological similarities. It can mean a great deal more, including the process of growth, the direction of future activities, and the tendency of influencing people. This also suggests that the two can be integrated or united with satisfaction or even perfection. When a young person is looking for a spouse-candidate, the concept of parallel is uniquely helpful. In a certain sense, a good set of parallels means an encouragement of marriage. If my reader understands what I am talking about, he or she can understand the value of this parallel method employed by Professor Hahn. After reading Professor Hahn’s book, I discover that in his mind, he is valuing the interrelation between Chinese philosophy and American Pragmatism. I make this comment which is a product of my artistic talent, intuitive awareness rather than empirical knowledge of sense data. Dear readers, I wish you could read this book again with more intuitive appreciation rather than with critical and analytic approach.

Inspiration with A Central Theme

In recent decades, scholars in comparative philosophy and culture usually aimed for the fulfillment of academic requirement and accomplishment of reputation. Does Professor Hahn aim for the same purposes? My answer to this question is a very simple word, "No!" Since I provide this answer so openly and directly, my readers may ask me reasons for this simple answer. Now I would like to provide some explanation. First of all, Professor Hahn does not need this book to fulfill the requirement of publication because he already published more than enough to meet the requirement. As to accomplishment of reputation, Professor Hahn does not need this book either, since he has accomplished admirable reputation through construction of philosophy programs for several significant universities. And, in the recent years, he accomplished international reputation through his enthusiastic academic activities. In a certain sense, he already acquired a reputation of the highest level. Now, what is the purpose of this book? Professor Hahn has never provided any answer to this question throughout the text. But, the purpose of this book is implied within all the essays, including the title of the book itself. If we observe the title with serious concern, we should be able to realize that the purpose of this book is encouraging the cultural interflow between the East and the West. This is in fact the central theme of the book, encouraging scholars and students to study comparative philosophy and culture between the East and the West. Nevertheless, some general concepts have to be clarified in order to make the purpose-statement clearly understood. This is the issue of the meanings of the terms "East" and "West". In our observation, we already realize that "selective emphasis" is a very important instrument of academic performance. In a certain sense, what is recommended is not a comparative study of any two kinds of philosophy like Plato and Lao Tzu or Bertrand Russell and Confucius. In Choosing subject-matter for comparative study, we need to observe whether there have been parallels between the two. If the parallels are to the point and promising for the two cultures to be related, these two cultures can be selected for comparative study in order to produce admirable results. If we compare Confucius with Plato, I really do not know how Confucius would handle the Platonic love. If we compare Confucius with Russell, I really do not know how Confucius would handle formal logic. So, Professor Hahn’s parallel method is important. In a certain sense, according to my intuitive thinking, he is encouraging the continuing interflow between Contextualism and Confucianism. Certainly, he also encourages similar approaches, comparative study of two cultures with amiable parallels with the hope of promising results of our effort.

Now, our question is: If the purpose of this book is to encourage the continuation of the interflow of American philosophy and Chinese philosophy, has Professor Hahn accomplished this purpose? My answer is, Professor Hahn does not care about that. He is an artist in philosophical thinking. A true artist does not care whether his artistic work could be sold for money. As to the result of publishing this book, Professor Hahn does not care if no one would adopt it as a text. But I would like to say, great works in philosophy or culture may not fit the purpose of being a text. Instead, a great work becomes a significant reference through all generations all the way, vividly, admirably, and infinitely, together with the world of nature and culture.

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NOTES

1. Among the three books on comparative philosophy the English one is: Joseph S. Wu, Clarification and Enlightenment: Essays in Comparative Philosophy (Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, 1978). The other two were written in Chinese, which are: Wu Sen, Comparative Philosophy and Culture, 2 Vols., (Taipei: Tung Ta Publishing Company, 1978 & 1979).

2. These five characteristics are only the result of intuitive observation. There is no claim of objectivity by this reviewer.

3. Page 102 of This Book.

4. Ibid., pp. 76-77.

5. Within Clarification and Enlightenment, there are many essays written for comparative purpose. Notable examples are: No. 2, No. 5, No. 6, No. 9, No. 10, and No. 18.

6. Page 35 of this Book.

7. Ibid., pp. 42-43.

8. Ibid., p. 97.

9. Ibid., p. 98.

10. Ibid., p. 107.

11. Ibid., p. 112.

12. Ibid., p. 113.

13. Ibid., p. 114.

14. Ibid., P. 151

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