Jin Yuelin or Chin Yueh-Lin (; 14 July 1895 – 19 October 1984) was a Chinese philosopher best known for three works, one each on logic, metaphysics, and epistemology. He was also a commentator on Bertrand Russell.
Biography Jin was born in Changsha, Hunan and attended Tsinghua University from 1911 until 1914. He obtained a Ph.D. in Political Science from Columbia University in 1920. In 1926, Jin with Zhang Dongsun and Zhang Junmai founded the Department of Philosophy at Tsinghua University. Jin was an active participant in the May 4th movement as a young, intellectual revolutionary. He helped to incorporate the scientific method into philosophy.Schwarcz, Vera. The Chinese Enlightenment: Intellectuals and the Legacy of the May Fourth Movement of 1919. Berkeley: University of California, 1985. Print. p.xii, 99 Hao Wang was one of his students. He died in Beijing.
Philosophical context: Eastern vs. Western thought Among the first to introduce certain basics of modern logic into China,His Logic of 1936 shows Jin more adept with philosophical than with technical aspects of logic. This is confirmed by remarks of Hao Wang in 'Memories related to Professor Jin Yuelin,' trans. Montgomery Link and Richard Jandovitz, in Charles Parsons and Montgomery Link (eds.), Hao Wang, Logician and Philosopher, (London: College Publications, 2011), pp, 27–38. Original article published in 1982 in Wide Angle Monthly, No. 122, 61-63. Jin also founded a new philosophical system combining elements from Western and Chinese philosophical traditions (especially the concept of Tao). Not much work on Jin's philosophy has been done in the West in English, although a decent amount has been done in Chinese.Zinda, Yvonne Schulz. Jin Yuelin's Ontology. Leiden: Brill, 2012. Print p.11 Jin does not advocate a traditional, historical approach to philosophy, but rather presents philosophy as a practicing approach to solving problems – philosophy as goal in and of itself.Zinda, 2012, p.5 This is quite different from how Chinese philosophers at the time viewed the study of philosophy. At the risk of oversimplifying, Jin's approach can be viewed as a hybrid between Western and Eastern philosophical ideologies – influenced both by his Western education in logic and science, and by his Chinese roots. He was interested in Bertrand Russell's work, and in particular with two main concepts: breaking down the complex into smaller parts, which was his understanding of Russell's logical atomism, and rebuilding through the logical method, which was Jin's reading of Russell's logicism. Both the logicism and the logical atomism affected Jin's thinking and philosophy.Schwarcz, Vera. Time for Telling Truth Is Running Out: Conversations with Zhang Shenfu. New Haven: Yale UP, 1992. Print. p.139 However Jin can be considered a Chinese philosopher because he was most informed by Chinese philosophy, and concerned himself most with Chinese concepts, such as Tao.Ma, Lin. Rev. of Dao and Truth: A Study of Jin Yuelin's Philosophy, by Hu Jun. Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy: 177-80. Print. "However," Zinda writes, "Jin used discursive structures borrowed from both Chinese and Western thought as modes of persuasion".Zinda, 2012, p.179
Jin's views on Chinese philosophy
Jin's writing is intertwined with his desire to navigate the space between Chinese and Western philosophy. In his essay "Chinese Philosophy", Jin highlights the differences he sees between the two spheres regarding the study of philosophy. He sees the Western approach to philosophy as being more of a meticulous scientific and logical approach that he traces back to the Hellenistic thought in Ancient Greece.Jin, Yuelin. "Chinese Philosophy." Collected Writings of Jin Yuelin. Vol. 2. Gansu People's, 1995. 531-50. Print. p.536 In contrast, he explains Chinese philosophy as having "underdevelopment of what might be called logico-epistemological consciousness".Jin, Yuelin. "Chinese Philosophy." Collected Writings of Jin Yuelin. Vol. 2. Gansu People's, 1995. 531-50. Print. p.533 He explains Chinese philosophy as being more poetic in that it has "bareness and disconnectedness",Jin, Yuelin. "Chinese Philosophy." Collected Writings of Jin Yuelin. Vol. 2. Gansu People's, 1995. 531-50. Print. p.534 where Western philosophy is more verbose. This lack of extended explanation in Chinese philosophy leads, Jin notes, to Chinese philosophy being more about interpreting old philosopher's work, rather than presenting new original ways of thinking. In contrast, Jin does not attribute ideas to past thinkers or quote past thinkers in his own philosophy.Zinda, 2012, p.29 Additionally, he did not pursue the nationalistic aims of China in his philosophy, as many of his colleagues did.Zinda, 2012, p.181 Jin notes that China has a long history of the study of philosophy and political science being intertwined; the philosophy of today is a more specialized and differentiated discipline. This detachment from the discipline, while it creates objective knowledge, distances the philosopher from the philosophy. Jin advocates for living philosophy, rather than just knowing it.Jin, Yuelin. "Chinese Philosophy." Collected Writings of Jin Yuelin. Vol. 2. Gansu People's, 1995. 531-50. Print. p.547 Thus, he works to take advantage of the emotional attachment of Chinese words. For example, Jin chooses not to translate the word "Dao" to English, but keeps its Chinese origin.Zinda, 2012, 31
Works 1936: Logic () 1940: On Tao () 1965: Criticism of Russell's Philosophy () 1983: A Theory of Knowledge ()
Basic writings and concepts
Jin's most accomplished philosophical writings are his three principal publications written in Chinese: Logic (1935), On Tao (1940), and A Theory of Knowledge (1983). His English publication, "Tao, Nature, and Man" draws heavily on thought from "On Dao", which he considers to be one of the most central parts of his philosophical work.Hu, Jun. "On Jin Yuelin's Metaphysics." Department of Philosophy, Peking University. Web. <http://www.phil.pku.edu.cn/zxm/pdf/spec05.pdf>. p.2 Jin's metaphysics is focused mostly on Tao, which he argues is what life is made up of. It is composed of two main elements that Jin coins as Stuff and Form. In short, Stuff is the inexpressible matter that fills everything, while Form is all of reality that is being filled.Jin, Yuelin. "Tao, Nature and Man." Collected Writings of Jin Yuelin. Vol. 2. Gansu People's, 1995. 568-750. Print. p.604-610 Essentially, Tao is the result of when Form is filled with Stuff.Hu, p.3 Jin uses his definition of Tao to posit a universal sympathy: everything – including humans – is one and the same, and we should appreciate life as such.
Stuff
Stuff is inexpressible. In fact, the word "Stuff" itself is simply a word Jin uses to approximate the definition because, he posits, no word or human will ever fully grasp the concept.Jin, Yuelin. "Tao, Nature and Man." Collected Writings of Jin Yuelin. Vol. 2. Gansu People's, 1995. 568-750. Print. p.604-610 Scholar Hu Jun writes, "What is required in order to grasp matter [Stuff] is a sort of intellectual projection, in which recognition of the limits of one's intellect is accompanied by a leave out of the intellectual process...".Hu, p.2 Stuff is the capacity of all things to change – pure activity and potentiality. It is composed of two categories – Universals and Possibilities.
Universals and possibilities
Jin explains the notions of Universals and Possibilities as stemming from the ideal version of concepts, which in turn stems from abstracting the concrete.Jin, Yuelin. "Tao, Nature and Man." Collected Writings of Jin Yuelin. Vol. 2. Gansu People's, 1995. 568-750. Print. p.604-610 The Universal is a concept which a group of things have in common. Jin writes, "Each universal is an aspect shared by a class of objects, for example… horseness which is shared by a class of quadrupeds".Jin, Yuelin. "Tao, Nature and Man." Collected Writings of Jin Yuelin. Vol. 2. Gansu People's, 1995. 568-750. Print. p.606 Universals are groupings that we are familiar with. A Possibility, therefore, is a concept that is not a Universal. It is that which has not been imagined yet, but could be imagined. Thus, Jin writes, "we are able to define an universal as a realized possibility… A universal is merely a Stuffed possibility".Jin, Yuelin. "Tao, Nature and Man." Collected Writings of Jin Yuelin. Vol. 2. Gansu People's, 1995. 568-750. Print. p.607-608 Jin posits that the reality we feel with regard to events and objects is the realization of possibilities of those events and objects.Jin, Yuelin. "Tao, Nature and Man." Collected Writings of Jin Yuelin. Vol. 2. Gansu People's, 1995. 568-750. Print. p.608 Hu writes, "The realization of contingent possibilities gives us the richness, variety, and completeness of Tao, whereas the eternally unrealized possibilities supply us with the implements in the realm of thinking and thought".Hu, p.4
Form
Form is what Stuff must remain inside of. Hu writes, "Whether or not matter [Stuff] enters into or withdraws from possibilities, it must stay within Form".Hu, p.3 Everything is inside of Form. Jin explains that unlike Universals, it does not have "a boundary line dividing what belongs to it from what doesn't".Jin, Yuelin. "Tao, Nature and Man." Collected Writings of Jin Yuelin. Vol. 2. Gansu People's, 1995. 568-750. Print. p.611 Thus Form is formless – it incorporates everything and is nothing at the same time. It is what is left when there are no possibilities – there is nothing outside of Form.Ma, Lin. Rev. of Dao and Truth: A Study of Jin Yuelin's Philosophy, by Hu Jun. Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy: 177-80. Print. Form and Stuff are inescapably intertwined. Stuff fills Form, and Form contains Stuff. Jin writes, "Un-Stuffed Form or Un-formed Stuff is a contradiction".Jin, Yuelin. "Tao, Nature and Man." Collected Writings of Jin Yuelin. Vol. 2. Gansu People's, 1995. 568-750. Print. p.619 Jin defines their relationship as, "Stuff as a sort of raw material and Form as a kind of mould".Jin, Yuelin. "Tao, Nature and Man." Collected Writings of Jin Yuelin. Vol. 2. Gansu People's, 1995. 568-750. Print. p.617
Tao
Tao is Jin's most basic concept, but is also his highest ideal realm.Hu, p.6 Tao is the coming together of Stuff and Form to create the universe. If Tao were only Stuff then it would be fluid, and if it were only Form then it would be empty. Jin writes, "Tao is simply Stuffed Form or Formed Stuff. It is therefore neither pure Form nor pure Stuff".Jin, Yuelin. "Tao, Nature and Man." Collected Writings of Jin Yuelin. Vol. 2. Gansu People's, 1995. 568-750. Print. p.624 Tao is all-pervasive and incorporates everything. Therefore, Jin posits that humans are part of Tao, and urges us to be "conscious of the fundamental oneness at which we are with the universe and everything there is in it".Jin, Yuelin. "Tao, Nature and Man." Collected Writings of Jin Yuelin. Vol. 2. Gansu People's, 1995. 568-750. Print. p.637 He presents a universe where everything has the same status because everything is made up of the same fabric. Scholar Yvonne Schulz Zinda writes, "he established a kind of ontological certainty that integrates individuals the evolutionary process of dao, through which they are interrelated with each other".Zinda, Yvonne Schulz. Jin Yuelin's Ontology. Leiden: Brill, 2012. Print. p.178 While different things have different jobs – Jin gives the example of a mosquito's job being to bite a human, and a human's job to kill the mosquito – one thing not innately superior to the other.Jin, Yuelin. "Tao, Nature and Man." Collected Writings of Jin Yuelin. Vol. 2. Gansu People's, 1995. 568-750. Print. p.638
See also Feng Youlan Hao Wang (academic)
References