Modern China 2014, Vol. 40(1) 40–73 © The Author(s) 2013 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0097700413477528 mcx.sagepub.com 77528MCX 40 1 10.1177/0 7528Modern ChinaLin s) 2013 ermissions: ournalsPermissions.nav 1 Indiana University Northwest, Gary, IN, USA Corresponding Author: Xiaoqing Diana Lin, Department of History, Indiana University Northwest, 3400 Broadway, Gary, IN 46408, USA. Email: dchenlin@iun.edu Creating Modern Chinese Metaphysics: Feng Youlan and New Realism Xiaoqing Diana Lin 1 Abstract Feng Youlan (1895–1990), a preeminent philosopher of twentieth-century China, tried to build a modern Chinese metaphysics that was at once uni- versal and based on a structure of traditional Chinese concepts such as li/principles and qi/vital energy. His intellectual borrowings included New Realism, an early twentieth-century school of philosophy that attempted to provide a scientific basis for metaphysics. New Realism’s affirmation of the objectivity of a priori logical relationships in the universe enabled Feng to construct a metaphysical structure of philosophy in China without becoming bogged down in the debate of the priority of practice over principle in Chi- nese history.While most published work has treated Feng’s famous “negative method” as the “more Chinese” part of his work in contrast to his writings influenced by New Realism, this article argues that Feng’s logical/metaphysical construct of philosophy in China sought to build a metaphysical discourse of experience by employing both a logical/analytical and a “negative” nonverbal method resembling Chan Buddhist practices. Keywords Feng Youlan, Chinese metaphysics, consciousness, experience, New Realism Article by guest on January 20, 2016 mcx.sagepub.com Downloaded from