Bulletin Number Two 1985

happy surprise of the day was that Professor Yi-jie Tang of Beijing University unexpectedly turned up at Cho Yiu Hall in the afternoon. On the third day we shifted back to consider some of the Western approaches to the problem. We were disappointed to learn that Professor Dieter Henrich (Munich/Harvard) suddenly fell ill and could not attend the conference. But he sent in his paper on 'Philosophy and the Conflict between Tendencies of Life' by telex. Mr. Yung-wei Lao read the paper for him which was original and rich in implications, and would certainly need more time to digest. During the longer break in the morning, scholars paid a visit to the Art Gallery of the Institute of Chinese Studies and took a look at the mini-exhibition of a hundred items of works by the participants on the ground floor of the University library. After coffee break, Professor Robert C. Neville of Stony Brook presented his paper on ‘Between Chaos and Totalization'. His discussant happened to be Mr. Mark Fisher of the University of Hong Kong, our counterpart across the harbour. He is an Irishman educated under the analytic tradition of Oxford University. He made a scathing attack on the kind of axiomatic metaphysics proposed by Professor Neville. However, he was confronted by an equally hard-headed Missourian who was difficult to be persuaded. Professor Neville's calm manner in his rebuttal was truly a disarming performance. The fire kindled by hot debates between scholars continued at the lunch table; it gave us the best illustration of a statement by Karl Popper cited by Professor Apel on the very first day in his presentation that 'Let theories die, not us!' The ice between scholars had long since been broken; the time to eat at noon was also time to carry on creative interchange, as scholars were busy engaging in argumentative discourse which the philosophers mostly enjoyed. In the afternoon, there was a much needed break. The scholars would need to do some shopping and to see the bustling life in the city, and they would also need some rest to prepare for the programmes in the next few days. On Thursday we reverted to discuss the Eastern perspectives. Professor Kalupahana started the programmes by presenting his viewpoint; he intended to build a bridge between Buddhism, William James and Confucius. He was followed by Dr. Allinson, who provided an analysis of the concept of harmony in Chuang Tzu. He argued that only by taking into consideration the development of the Taoist sage that the apparently conflicting views of harmony in Chuang Tzu could be resolved. In the afternoon, it was originally scheduled that the two scholars from Beijing's Chinese Academy of Social Sciences would present their papers. Unfortunately, however, they could not get their visas in time to attend the conference. We therefore arranged for Dr. H.H. Yuan, the chairman of the session, to give a synopsis of Professor Xiu-shan Ye's paper: 'Measure, Reality, Philosophy', and Dr. Gregor Paul, a German scholar now doing research in Japan, to read his paper: 'The Idea of Measure and Its Relation to the Furthering of Knowledge and Humaneness'. Both papers happened to be comparative studies of ancient Chinese and Greek philosophies. Finally, Dr. Ying-hsiung Chou gave a synopsis of as well as his own comments on Professor You-zheng Li's paper: 'The Necessity of a Metatheoretical Approach to Cultural Understanding'. After coffee break, the lone representative from the Chinese Mainland, Professor Yi-jie Tang of Beijing University, presented his paper on 'The Problems of Harmonius Communities in Ancient China'. The paper was originally written in Chinese, Dr. Yuk Wong was asked to translate and read the article for Professor Tang. The discussions were also conducted through translations. Professor Tang is a very dynamic scholar, as he has established research centres on Chinese philosophy in both Beijing and Shenzhen, and he has helped to found the first private College of Chinese Studies in Beijing. On Friday, the venue of the conference was changed to the lecture theatre of the Institute of Chinese Studies because of a conflict of schedule with the Graduate Council. In the morning, Professor Thaddeus Tui-chieh Hang from Taipei presented his paper on 'Unity of Yin and Yang, a Philosophical Assessment'. He was followed by Professor Chung-ying Cheng's paper: 'On Harmony as Transformation: Paradigms from the I Ching'. Professor Cheng's paper is eighty pages long, it is a chapter in his new book. Surely the insights of the paper could not be readily absorbed by the audience. Dr. Lawrence Goldstein did a remarkable job of commenting on the paper within the time limit, only there was no time left for general discussion. The last paper session was devoted to the analytic perspectives. Dr. Yuan-kang Shih presented his paper on 'Conflict, Contract, and the Principles of Justice'. He used John Rawls' theory as a point of departure and criticized the contractual theory as failing to provide a foundation for morality. His paper was commented on by Professor Marilyn Smith of Hartford. The very last paper was Professor F.C.T. Moore's paper on 'Do Higher-Order Desires Resolve Conflicts?' which was commented on by Dr. Tien-ming Lee. This session drew a large number of audience and also the most laughs from the participants. It is really amazing that scholars with such NEWS 3