Humanity in the 21st Century : Towards a New Vision
by
Chin, Kyo-Hun
(Professor, Seoul National University)
Introduction
I believe that philosophy is very important for restoring the humanity and for elevating the quality of humanity nowadays in the age of crisis of humanity. The dialogue between Asian philosophers seems to me to be mandatory for 21st Century prosperity of humanity.
I would like to propose rethinking the perennial philosophy together with Asian traditional thoughts in order to revitalize humanity. The foundation of perennial philosophy will be laid only when we have respect for our own traditional philosophy, especially when we rethink the significance of the rich tradition of humaneness in the Asian culture. In relation to this point, we can consider the encyclical letter of the Pope. Fides Et Ratio(Faith and Reason) : "Philosophy's powerful influence on the formation and development of the cultures of the West should not obscure the influence it has also had upon the ways of understanding existence found in the East. Every people has its own native and seminal wisdom which, as a true cultural treasure, tends to find voice and develop in forms which are genuinely philosophical."
I believe that we can hope for the realization of reconciling the Asian traditional thoughts with the Western traditional philosophy. In order to do it, we need to recontextualize the works of traditional philosophy of the Orient and West with a new vision toward a new millenium.
The crisis of modern society at the historical turning point
Today's world is full of contradictory signs. Never before has man been so affluent as today, but never before has he suffered so much from spiritual poverty as he is today. On the contrary to the expectations of the enlightenment that science and technology would assure happiness, we find ourselves increasingly alienated. We live in an age where mammonism, technological efficiency, and the large institutions have taken the place of man. People, like brutes, quarrel, fight and kill each other to gain more material possessions and to enjoy more carnal pleasures. Humanity has become increasingly attenuated. Undoubtedly, we live in an age of crisis of humanity which has little continuity with the tradition. The time-honored moral codes that had guided the conducts of human beings have become seriously eroded everywhere. In which direction is this gigantic transition going to make a turn? Toward a new vision or toward the end-time of the earth?
One cardinal cause of crisis of humanity has become abundantly clear : The pursuit of material goods that has been the goal of every nation has come to its own dead end. The limitless pursuit of material gains has practically destroyed the humanity and morality. Conscience that had long shed light in the inner hearts of men and women has been blown off by the wind of mammonism, relativism, scepticism and nihilism. Mutual distrust has become a norm of the day. In brief, the basic causal factor of illness of modern society is the lack of philosophy and the loss of self-reflection on humanity.
We live in time of unprecedented crisis. However, it is inspiring to remember that the word 'crisis'(êËѦ) in Chinese is composite of two words - 'danger' and 'opportunity'. Soaring above the dark cloud of despair, we should see signs of hope. We must channel them in the missions in order to realize a new vision. We must find ways to avoid a possible catastrophe. I am sure that is the restoration of philosophy and we can become more thoughtful and humane again. Here I would like to emphasize that to defend the universality entails defending the humanities especially philosophy. The creative spirit that the idea of university is built upon is one and the same as the imagination of humanity. But the university now tends to be governed more and more by so-called the principles of market, and the institutions that do not seem to produce immediately useful knowledge receive less and less support from the society. This is the hard reality in which the university is situated around the world. But when the university is reduced to responding only to external financial demands and the out-and-out commodification of technology and science subjugates university, it will then lose its most vital role in society that of charting the way toward a more humane society. Therefore the university should still have to keep alive the philosophy and the vision that it exists for all of humanity, and not merely for the narrow interests of the nation and its people.
The missions of philosophy for the restoration of humanity
Philosophy is the prototype of knowledge, because philosophy grants the participation incomparably higher than all the other types of knowledges. It aims at a participation in being which is deeper and more intimately related to eternity. The philosophical eros, namely amor sapientiae, which is incorporated in the Platonic Dialogues and, uniquely, in the works of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, aims at a becoming accepted into the kingdom of truth as such. This is at the base of the solemnity and the ardor characteristic of the striving for true philosophy.
Philosophy is a fundamental component of humanity, and also the basic position of the human spiritual person, namely humane mind. It is grounded in the meaning and essence of man as such. Compared to philosophy, all the other sciences not only have a more specialized knowledge but also a knowledge which is not centrally grounded in the essence and meaning of man. As such, it is the highest fulfillment of knowledge in general. It is no accident that philosophical inquiry stands at the beginning of all systematic theoretical inquiry. The philosophical inquiry is the basic position of the awakened and cognizing human mind. The philosophical thirst is an elementary nature inasmuch as it is deeply grounded in the metaphysical situation of man in his being ordered toward Tao, the very Fountain of all being and all truth. The philosophical thirst is grounded in man's task to penetrate, by knowledge, reality as an image of Tao, which has itself been ordered to Tao. It is our mission to penetrate reality and then lovingly to embrace it.
The philosophical eros is at its very heart a basic form of man's natural longing for Tao, the absolute truth and the source of all truth. Philosophical inquiry is the most basic inquiry of the human mind. It is the primary component of the spirit's natural bond to Tao. Philosophic inquiry and knowledge are not only the most classical form of theoretical knowledge ; in the truest sense of the word, it is also "closer to life" than all the other scientific kinds of knowledge.
In truth, philosophy is in many respects much closer to life than any other sciences. In the first place, the questions of philosophy are of a deeper and much more universal importance for man and life than those of the other sciences. We need to think only of ethics, and philosophy of community, philosophy of law. But even in those cases where the content of the object in its universal character is not easily grasped as having a direct significance, philosophy yet deals in a way completely different from science with things related to man, treating his destiny, the position from which his real life as a spiritual person proceeds and the ground on which he is rooted. This difference between philosophical questions and those of the other sciences is still valid even when we consider that, within the sciences themselves, some are directly to man and his life and others are more distant. Philosophy, second, as a prototype of knowledge in general, is a much more linear continuation and fulfillment of the highest form of naive knowledge than are all the other kinds of scientific knowledge. To be sure, it requires a much more essential awakening, a much sharper eruption from the ordinary life than do all the other sciences.
Third, Philosophy is linked, too, in a manner completely different from that of science to classical "common sense", that is, to the aspect which the world offers in the organic living contact of the mind with reality. Philosophy aims at the intuitively graspable necessary essences of things and does not draw conclusions "from without," from a hidden essence.
We can know, therefore, that although philosophy proceeds from a position which is removed from all the whirl of actuality, philosophy is nevertheless a form of systematic theoretical knowledge which is closer to life than those of the other sciences.
Moreover, philosophy requires for its research no physical apparatuses and no complicated method. Yet it has the deepest effect on humanity. In a negative respect philosophy has the task of prohibiting and destroying all the transgressions of the undigested results of different sciences into the metaphysical sphere in amateurish chatter about them. Philosophy must sweep away sophisticated relativism, just as Socrates did in a unique manner in the field of ethics.
In a positive respect philosophy has a basic function for the building of humanities. Its basic truths must support the flesh of community life, art, poetry, and the whole culture. We see what kind of indispensable mission philosophy possesses for the life of mankind and the individual.
Philosophy fulfills its highest mission by leveling the way for religion by preparing for it and serving it. Philosophy has its climax in the knowledge of the existence of Tao and of His attributes as grasped by the natural light of reason. Its highest step is the understanding of the existence of the absolute personal being by whom every being is created, and toward whom all beings are ordered.
The religion implicitly presupposes basic philosophical truths. As we have already known, philosophy is a significant counterpart to the religious longing for Tao. Philosophy can lead the human mind into the depth of reality and finally Tao. It directs the glance of man away from the world of perishing things, of things accidental, and fixes it on the world of the eternal, on the meaning of things in themselves which they possess as images of Tao and as things ordered by him. In such a way does philosophy prepare the soul for the acceptance of the revelation of Tao. True philosophizing carries man into recollection and frees him from all alleged authority. In it we become the "man of longing," which St. Augustine expressed and said, "Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee." The true philosopher is the preparer of the way to Tao.
Let us now join together for the realization of a new vision for the restoring of humanity in the 21st century by the reconsidering of the perennial philosophy.
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