Abstract:

Jin Yuelin and Feng Qi are important representatives of modern Chinese philosophy. The transition from Jin Yuelin to Feng Qi not only reflects the evolution of modern Chinese philosophy but also forms a significant academic lineage. Feng Qi, who was once a student of Jin Yuelin, reflected on Jin’s philosophy in a series of lectures in his later years. Jin Yuelin examines sensory experience and proposes that “the given is the objective presence”, affirming the reliability of sensory experience. By linking the given in the realm of sensibility with the process of practice, Feng Qi provides a more realistic foundation for the theory of the “given”. On the issue of concept, while Jin Yuelin argues that a concept has dual functions of description and prescription, Feng Qi elaborates on this from the perspective of dialectical thinking. As for induction, Jin Yuelin regards objective order as the intrinsic basis for moving from the particular to the universal, thus providing an ontological foundation for induction. Feng Qi further explores the dialectical process of induction, including the unity of analysis with synthesis and that of induction with deduction. As for the process of knowing, Feng Qi introduces the issues of questions, opinions, and viewpoints into epistemology, both elaborating on Jin’s theory and presenting new epistemological insights. He also connects the realms of the effable and the ineffable on the one hand with the relation between knowledge and wisdom on the other, arguing that the transformation from the effable to the ineffable is concretely manifested as a leap from knowledge to wisdom. In metaphysics, Feng Qi analyzes the formalist tendency in Jin’s A Treatise on Dao and develops Jin’s theory of the original into a theory of the four worlds, i.e., the original world, the world of facts, the world of possibilities and the world of values, which contains both theoretical insights and issues for further discussion.

Key words: Jin Yuelin, Feng Qi, academic lineage of Jin-Feng