Scientism and Humanism

Shiping Hua is Visiting Fellow with the Program for Cultural Studies, East-West Center and also teaches Political Science at Hawaii Pacific University.

• Preface PART I Origins of the New Thinking Introduction: Scientism Versus Humanism Chapter 1 Science, Scientism and HumanismWhat Is ScienceWhat Is ScientismWhat Is HumanismTheoretical AssumptionsCarriers of New Thinking: The Establishment Intellectuals Chapter 2 Historical Origins of the New ThinkingCultural Origins: Holistic-Monistic ChineseTraditionPolitical Origins: Voluntarism and Ethic-Purism of the Cultural RevolutionEconomic Origins: The Country Has Become Richer, the People Have Become Poorer. PART II Three Versions of Scientism Chapter 3 Marxist Scientism—Hu QiaomuLife and ExperienceScience as the Philosophical starting PointApplication of Marxist Science Chapter 4 Technological Determinism: SuShaozhiLife and ExperienceScience as the Philosophical Starting PointApplication of Marxist science Chapter 5 Empirical Scientism: Jin GuantaoLife and ExperienceScience as the Philosophical Starting PointApplication of Empirical Science PART III Three Versions of Humanism Chapter 6 Marxist Humanism: Wang RuoshuiLife and ExperiencePeople as the Philosophical Starting PointApplication of Empirical Science Chapter 7 Confucianist Humanism: Li ZehouLife and ExperiencePeople as a Philosophical Starting PointApplication of Humanistic Philosophy Chapter 8 Critical Humanism: Gan YangLife and ExperiencePeople as the Philosophical Starting PointApplication of Humanistic Philosophy PART IV Conclusion Chapter 9 The New Thinking and the Chinese Political Culture Notes Bibliography Index

"Not only is this topic significant, but unlike most of the literature available on this period in Chinese history, this author is able to write from an internal perspective, providing the reader with an importantly different point of view."The author uses a combination of statistics and case studies to frame his interpretation of the relationship between scientism and humanism in contemporary China, and to bring the role of the intellectual into clearer focus. It is very well done." — Roger T. Ames, University of Hawaii"This study is the first of its kind using the scientism and humanism framework to examine Chinese intellectual thought in the late twentieth century. It formulates the highly original concepts of Marxist, technological, and empirical scientism as well as Marxist, Confucian, and critical humanism." — Alvin Y. So, University of Hawaii"I was deeply impressed by the author's knowledge of the field and his profound understanding of the research subject. His analyses are insightful and occassionally witty, his command of the English language, presumably his second language, just superb. He seems well read and well informed. Reading the book was a pleasure." — Yanan Ju, Central Connecticut State University