[Yangtze Forum] Prof. Wu Genyou from Zhejiang University Delivers the 219th Lecture at Yangtze Forum

On the afternoon of May 29, Prof. Wu Genyou from the Ma Yifu Academy at Zhejiang University delivered the 219th lecture of the Yangtze Forum at the Center for Traditional Chinese Culture, Wuhan University. His lecture was titled “World History and Chinese-Language Philosophy and Its Historical Mission.”

Prof. Wu began by outlining the background and purpose of the lecture and summarized three major current approaches to defining “Chinese-language philosophy” within academic philosophy. He then explained the concept and implications of “world history” as understood through the lens of Marxist historical science.

Building on this, Professor Wu Genyou further elaborated on "Chinese-language Philosophy" and its historical mission. From a commonsense perspective, he defined Chinese-language philosophy as encompassing all philosophical thought expressed in the Chinese language, while philosophical discussions of its issues in other languages could be regarded as its spillover effects. He then proposed that Chinese-language philosophy can be divided into three phases: ancient, modern, and contemporary/future. Professor Wu argued that the historical mission of contemporary and future Chinese-language philosophy lies in addressing the issues of "China in the world" and "the world in China," with its intellectual content focusing on matters of universal human concern. From a functional standpoint, its mission is to construct a philosophy with comprehensive capabilities.

In conclusion, Professor Wu summarized why Chinese-language philosophy should be discussed within the framework of "world history." He posited that as a philosophical form in the era of world history, Chinese-language philosophy can demonstrate unique intellectual perspectives when confronting shared human challenges. The "world-historical" lens also enables Chinese-language philosophy to develop new mechanisms for self-reflection and enrich the historical substance of national subjectivity. By emphasizing the intrinsic relationship between the linguistic characteristics of Chinese, its cultural information, and philosophical expression, philosophical issues can be examined with greater scholarly rigor. This approach integrates philosophy—the most abstract discipline in the humanities—with concrete, perceptible, and analyzable linguistic concerns, thereby deepening humanity’s understanding of the complexities of spiritual thought.

During the Q&A session, Professor Wu engaged in in-depth discussions with faculty and students on topics such as the interplay between neuroscience and the philosophy of language, the translatability of language, the definition of Chinese-language philosophy, its relationship with other ethnolinguistic cultures, the role of Chinese as a medium of expression, and how future-oriented Chinese-language philosophy might engage with religious and cultural issues. (Reported by: Liu Jiayuan)