An Outline History of Chinese Philosophy has been jointly written and compiled by over 20 spe- cialists and scholars from nine renowned universi- ties in China. including Wuha*l University and Sun Yat-sen University. It provides a concise intro- duction to the origin and devdopment of Chinese philosophy from antiquity to 1949, the year the Peoplc's Republic of China was founded, expounding its status and features at diffcrent historical stages. It gives a historical and logical delineation of th

Chapter Six
Mencius' Deepening of the
Confucian Philosophy
Mencius is the latinized form of Meng Ke (c. 372-289 BC), who was born in the small state of Zou (present-day Zouxian County, Shandong Province). Tradition has it that he was a descendent of the Mengsun fam- ily of the State of Lu. In his youth he was a pupil of Zisi, grandson of Confucius. He had a deep respect and admiration for Confucius. In his own words, "What I wish to do is to learn to be like Confucius." (Men- cius ~ Gongsun Chou (I), hereafter only the title of the quoted chapter is given) Like Confucius, he spent many years traveling with his disciples among the various states into which China was divided at that time (the Warring States Period), disseminating his theories of benevolent government. He had to contend with rival thinkers who advocated military force and harsh rule as the way to build up a powerful and prosperous state. As witness to this, we can quote the historian Sima Qian: "After the State of Qin appointed Shang Yang prime minister, it became rich and militarily powerful. When the states of Wei and Chu listened to the ad- vice of Wu Qi, they conquered their enemies. Sun Wu, Tian Ji and the like helped kings Wei and Xuan of the State of Qi to force other feudal lords to submit to Qi." (Records of the Historian ~ Biographies of Meng Ke and Xun Qing) But Mencius opposed the use of violence, and felt ashamed to talk about material gain. As a result, he failed to find a patron among the contemporary feudal lords. In his later years he retired to his native place, and devoted himself to teaching. "He wrote prefaces to the Book of Poetry and to the Book of History, he explained the sayings of Confucius, and wrote the Mencius in seven volumes." (Ibid) He engaged
in political and academic activities all his life, and since his doings and sayings contributed a great deal to the development of Confucianism,
In ancient China, there emerged treatises and books in which the au- thors made comments on the academic thought of the past ages. For in- stance, Zhuangzi ~ Under Heaven by Zhuang Zhou (c. 369-286), A Treatise on the Major Ideas of the Six Schools by Sima Tan (?-110 BC), and Academic Cases of the Song and Yuan Dynasties and Academic Cases of the Ming Confucians, both edited by Huang Zongxi (1610-1695). These works, since they summarize and analyze the sources and courses of various schools of thought from different ideological angles under the influence of the demands of different historical periods, are of reference value for present-day research in the field of the history of philosophy. However, this field was not regarded as a separate area of study until modem times.

Foreword
Part I
The Emergence and Development of Philosophy in the Age
of Slavery 5
Introduction 7
Chapter One The Emergence and Development of Philosophy in
the Slave-Owning Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties 16
I. The Germination of Philosophical Thought in the Xia, Shang
and Zhou Dynasties 16
1. The theological monopoly of severing communication between
earth and heaven -- from nature worship to the worship of
god on high 16
2. Harnessing the rivers and leveling the land -- from mythology
and fantasy about conquering nature to the germination of the
philosophy of cognition of nature 18
II. The Political Changes Accompanying the Transition from the
Yin Dynasty to the Zhou Dynasty, and the Emergence of
Philosophical Thought 21
1. The philosophical thought of enlightened political commen-
tators in the last years of the Yin Dynasty 21
2. The philosophical thought of the ruling clique in the early
stage of the Western Zhou Dynasty 22
III. The Social Upheavals in the Last Years of the Western Zhou
Dynasty and the Further Development of Philosophical Thought 27
1. Blaming heaven and man 27
2. Development of the concepts of the five elements and yin-yang 30
Chapter Two The Ideological Trend of Atheism in the Spring and
Autumn Period and the Naive Dialectics of Shi Mo and Sun Wu 35
I. The Ideological Trend of Atheism in the Spring and Autumn
Period 35
1. Ji Liang and Shi Xiao: Putting Man above the Gods 35
2. Shu Xing and Zi Chan: separating heaven and man 36
II. Yan Ying and Shi Mo: Naive Dialectics 38
1. Yan Ying's two propositions: "Harmony and identity are
different" and "The no and the yes may complete each other." 38
2. Shi Mo's two propositions: "Things are produced in twos"
and "All things have their counterparts." 40
III. Sun Wu's Naive Materialism and Military Dialectics 42
1. The Sunzi and naive materialism in the proposition "Know
yourself as well as the enemy." 43
2. Military dialectics in Sunzi as summed up in the proposition
"The direct and the indirect lead to each other in turn." 46
Chapter Three The Philosophy of Confucius 51
I. The World Outlook of "Following Fate and Benevolence" 51
1. From esteeming heaven to fatalism 51
2. The benevolent thought stressing the subjective and con-
scientious spirit 54
II. The Cognitive Theory Laying Equal Stress on Learning and
Thinking 57
1. Stressing superior wisdom: "The wisest are born with knowl-
edge." 57
2. Cognitive method: "My studies lie low, while my penetration
rises high." 58
III. The Doctrine of the Mean: "Taking Hold of the Two Extremes
and Determine the Mean" 61
1. The harmony of contradictions 62
2. The developmental view of history: "Three dynasties all
followed the former regulations." 63
3. The cognitive method: "Keeping to the two extremes" and
"Learning the new by restudying the old." 64
IV. The Historical Role of Confucius 65
Chapter Four The Mohist School 68
I. Materialist Empiricism on the Basis of "What People Have
Seen with Their Own Eyes and Heard with Their Own Ears." 69
1. The origin of cognition is "the actual experience of the eyes
and ears of the multitude." 69
2. "Nominate things on the basis of facts" and "examine
analogical things to know the cause." 71
3. The three tests: "For any doctrine some standard must be
established." 73
II. Ideological Contradictions: "Elevating Strength," "Attacking
Fatalism," "the Will of Heaven" and "Beware of Ghosts" 75
1. Criticism of predestination: "elevating strength" and "attack-
ing fatalism" 76
2. The mystical ideas of "the will of heaven" and "beware of
ghosts" 78
III. View of Social Contradictions: "The Universal Is Revealed in
the Particular." 81
1. "Elevate the worthy to government positions" and "agree with
the superior" 83
2. "Universal love" and "the condemnation of wars" 85
3. "The condemnation of wasteful musical activities" and "the
condemnation of unnecessary expenses" 86
Chapter Five The Philosophy of the Taoist School 89
I. The World Outlook with the Way as the Supreme Substance 90
1. The "Way" has a double attribute 90
2. The Way produced the myriad things. "The Way models itself
after Nature." 91
II. The Mysterious Epistemology of "Calm Observation" and
"Profound Insight" 94
III. "Reversion Is the Action of the Way" and Dialectical Thought 98
1. "Being and nonbeing produce each other; The difficult and
the easy complete each other." 98
2. "Reversion is the action of the Way." 100
3. "Blunt the sharpness," "untie the tangles," and "returning to
the root means tranquility." 101
4. Historical view: restoring old customs and going backwards 102
IV. The Historical Position of the Philosophy of the Laozi 104
Part H
The Unfolding of Philosophical Contradictions in the Forma-
tion of the Feudal System 107
Introduction 109
Chapter Six Mencius' Deepening of the Confucian Philosophy 116
I. The Original Goodness of Human Nature -- the Philosophical
Basis of Benevolent Government 117
II. Cognitive Line: to Exhaust All One's Mental Constitution, to
Know One's Nature and to Know Heaven 122
III. The Heroic Conception of History and the Theory of Historic
Cycles 126
Chapter Seven Zhuangzi's Development of the Taoist philosophy 129
I. The Way of Heaven: the Way Created Heaven and Earth 130
II. The Theory of Knowledge Based on Relativism 133
1. The negation of the stipulations of the objects of cognition 133
2. The negation of the objectivity of the criterion of cognition 135
3. Skeptical attitude to man's knowledge 138
III. Fatalism: Make Your Mind Content with the Inevitable 139
Chapter Eight Cognitive Line: to Exhaust All One's Mental
Constitution, to One's Nature and to Know Heaven 146
I. "The Uniformity of the Same and the Different" -- Hui Shi's
Philosophical Viewpoint and His Logical Thought 148
II. "The Separation of the Qualities of Hardness and Whiteness
from the Object Itself" -- Gongsun Long's Philosophical
Viewpoint and His Logical Thought 151
III. The Natural Philosophy and Logical Theory of the Later Mohists 157
1. The philosophy of the later Mohists 159
2. The logic of the later Mohists 168
Chapter Nine Xunzi's Summation of the Contention of the Hun-
dred Schools of Thought in Pre-Qin Times 176
I. Xunzi's Materialist View of Nature: Beware of the Separation
of Heaven from Man 176
1. The way of heaven is nature 177
2. "The course of nature is constant." 178
3. "Understanding the division between nature and man" 179
4. "Regulate what heaven has mandated and use it" 180
II. Xun Kuang's Materialist Theory of Knowledge: "Emptiness,
Unity and Stillness" 181
1. "Natural organs arrange knowledge according to proper clas-
sifications" and "The mind has the function of collecting
knowledge through the senses." 181
2. The epistemological method of "dispelling blindness" by
means of "emptiness, unity and stillness" 184
3. Knowing and doing: "Learning reaches its climax when it is
fully put into practice." 188

PartⅡ The Unfolding of Philosophical Contradictions in the Formation of the Feudal System
PartⅢ Philosophy in the Early Stage of Chinese Feudal Society
PartⅣ The Emergence nd Development of Philosophy in the Age of Slavery
PartⅤ New Trends In Philosophical Development in the Period of the Decline of Feudalism and the Emergence of Capitalism
PartⅥ The Tortuous Development of Philosophy in the Course of Social Changes in Modern Times
……