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Philosophical Contributions

Pragmatism

During his time at Columbia, Hu studied with John Dewey and became a staunch supporter of the Pragmatism school. After returning to China, Hu first coined the word in simplified Chinese: 实验主义; traditional Chinese: 實驗主義; pinyin: shíyànzhǔyì, experimentalism in literal translation. Today, the word Pragmatism is more commonly translated as simplified Chinese: 实用主义; traditional Chinese: 實用主義; pinyin: shíyòngzhǔyì.

Hu shih's adoption of Pragmatism is, in fact, a reflection of his own philosophical appeals. Before he encounters Dewey's works, he wrote in his diary that he is in a search of "practical philosophy," instead of deep and obscure philosophies for the survival of the Chinese people. Instead of abstract theories, he is more interested in methodologies (术, shù). Hu views Pragmatism as a scientific methodology to the study of philosophy. He adores the universality of such a scientific approach because he believes such a methodology transcends the boundary of culture and therefore can be applied anywhere, including China during his time. Hu Shih is not so interested in the content of Dewey's philosophy. All he cared about was the method, the attitude, and the scientific spirit.

In fact, Hu Shih sees all ideologies and abstract theories as only a hypothesis waiting to be tested. The content of ideologies, Hu believe, is shaped by the background, political environment, and even the personality of the theorist. Thus these theories are confined within its temporality. Only the attitude and the spirit of an ideology can be universally applied. Therefore, Hu criticises any dogmatic application of ideologies. After Hu took over as the Chief Editor at Weekly Commentary (每周评论) in1919, he and Li Dazhao engaged in a heated debate between ideology and problem (问题与主义论战) that was influential among Chinese intellectuals at that time. Hu writes in "A Third Discussion of Problems and Isms" (三论问题与主义):

"Every isms and every theories should be studied, but they can only be viewed as hypothesis, not dogmatic credo; they can only be viewed as a source of reference, not as rules of religion; they can only be viewed as inspiring tools, not as absolute truth that halts any further critical thinkings. Only in this way can people cultivate creative intelligence, become able to solve specific problems, and emancipate from the superstition of abstract words."

Throughout the literary works and other scholarships of Hu Shih, the presence of Pragmatism as a method is prevalent. In fact, Hu saw his life work as a consistent project of practicing the scientific spirit of Pragmatism since science is an attitude, a lifestyle that must be lived.

Skepticism

For Hu Shih, Skepticism and Pragmatism are inseparable. In his essay "Introducing My Thoughts" (介绍我自己的思想), he claims Thomas H. Huxley is the person, other than Dewey, who also heavily influenced his thoughts. Huxley's Agnosticism is the negative precondition to the practical, active problem-solving of Dewey's Pragmatism. Huxley's "genetic method" in Hu's writing becomes a "historical attitude," an attitude that ensures one's intellectual independence which also leads to individual emancipation and political freedom.

Chinese Intellectual History

Hu Shih brings the scientific method and the spirit of Skepticism into the traditional Chinese textual study (Kaozheng), laying groundworks for contemporary studies on Chinese intellectual history.

In 1919, Hu Shih published the first volume of An Outline History of Chinese Philosophy, whose later half was never finished. Later scholars of Chinese intellectual history including Feng Youlan and Yu Yingshi agrees that Hu's work is revolutionary. Cai Yuanpei, president of Peking University, where Hu was teaching at that time wrote the preface for Outline and pointed out four key features that make Hu's work distinct:

  1. Method of proving for dates, validity, and perspectives of methodology
  2. "Cutting off the many schools" (截断众流), meaning that remove all schools before the time of the Warring States and starting with Laozi and Confucius
  3. Equal treatment for Confucianism, Mohism, Mencius, and Xunzi
  4. Systematic studies with chronological orders and juxtaposition that present the evolution of theories

Without a doubt, Hu's organisation of classical Chinese philosophy is imitating the Western philosophical history, but the influence of textual study since Qing dynasty is still present. Especially for the second point, "cutting off the many schools" is a result of the continuous effort of Qing scholarship around ancient textual studies. Since the validity of the ancient texts is questionable and the content of them obscure, Hu decided to leave them out. In fact, before the publication of Outline, Hu was appointed to be the lecturer of History of Classical Chinese Philosophy. His decision of leaving out pre-Warring States philosophy almost caused a riot among students.

In Outline, other philosophical schools of the Warring States were first treated as equal. Hu did not hold Confucianism as the paradigm while treating other schools as heresy. Rather, Hu saw philosophical values within other schools, even those considered to be anti-Confucian, like Mohism. In 1919, it was considered a significant revolutionary act among intellectuals. Yu Yingshi, a prominent Taiwanese historian on intellectual history even praises Hu for setting up a new paradigm according to Thomas Kuhn's Enlightenment theory.

Despite recognising the revolutionary nature of Hu's work. Feng Youlan, the author of A History of Chinese Philosophy, criticises Hu for adopting a pragmatist framework in Outline. Instead of simply laying out the history of Chinese philosophy, Hu criticises these schools from a pragmatist perspective which makes the reader feel as if "the whole Chinese civilisation is entirely on the wrong track." Feng also disagrees with Hu's extensive effort on researching the validity of the resource text. Feng believes that so long as the work itself is philosophically valuable, its validity is not as significant.

Political views

Individualism, Liberalism, and Democracy

Unlike many of his contemporaries who later joined the Socialist camp, Liberalism, and Democracy has been Hu's political belief throughout his life. He firmly believes democracy is where is world history is heading, despite the changing political landscape. Hu defines democracy as a lifestyle in which everyone's value is recognised and everyone has the freedom to develop, a lifestyle of individualism. For Hu, Individual achievement does not contradict societal good. In fact, individual achievement contributes to the overall social progress, different from the so-called "selfish individualism." In his essay, "Immortality–My Religion," Hu stresses that though individuals will eventually perish physically, one's soul and the effect one has to the society are immortal. Therefore, Hu's individualism is a lifestyle in which people are independent and yet social.

Hu see individual contribution crucial and beneficial to the system of democracy. In "A Second Discussion on Nation-Building and Autocracy" (再谈建国与专治), Hu comments that an autocratic system needs professionals to manage while democracy relies on the wisdom of people. When different people's lived experience come together, no elite politician is needed for coordination, and therefore democracy is, in fact, easy to practice with people lacks political experience. He calls democracy "naive politics" (幼稚政治), a political system that can help cultivate those who participate in it.

Hu also equates democracy with freedom, a freedom that is made possible by tolerance. In a democratic system, people should be free from any political persecution as well as any public pressure. In 1959 essay "Tolerance and Freedom," Hu Shih stressed the importance of tolerance and claims that "tolerance is the basis of freedom." In a democratic society, the existence of opposition must be tolerated. Minority right is respected and protected. People must not destroy or silence the opposition.

The Chinese Root of Democracy

A large portion of Hu Shih's scholarship in his later years is dedicated to finding a Chinese root for democracy and Liberalism. Many writings, including Historic "Tradition for a Democratic China," "The Right to Doubt in Ancient Chinese Thought," "Authority and Freedom in the Ancient Asian World" make a similar claim that the democratic spirit is always present within the Chinese tradition. Some of his claims include:

  1. A thoroughly democratised social structure by an equal inheritance system among sons and the right to rebel under oppressive regimes.
  2. Wide-spread accessibility of political participation through civil service exams.
  3. Intra-governmental criticism and censorial control formalised by governmental institutions and the Confucian tradition of political criticism.

Constitutionalism and Human Rights Movement

In 1928, Hu along with Xu Zhimo, Wen Yiduo, Chen Yuan and Liang Shiqiu founded the monthly journal Crescent Moon, named after Tagore's prose verse. In March 1929, Shanghai Special Representatives of National Party Chen De proposed to punish any "anti-revolutionary" without due process. Hu Shih fiercely responded with an article on Crescent Moon titled "Human Rights and Law" (人权与约法). In the article, Hu called for the establishment of a written constitution that protects the rights of citizens, especially from the ruling government. The government must be held accountable in front of the constitution. Later in "When Can We Have Constitution–A Question forThe Outline of National Reconstruction" (我们什么时候才可有宪法? —— 对于《建国大纲》的疑问), Hu criticised the Nationalist government for betraying the ideal of Constitutionalism in The Outline of National Reconstruction. Rejecting Sun Yat-sen's claim that people are incapable of self-rule, Hu considered democracy itself as a form of political education. The legitimacy and the competency of people participating in the political process come from their lived experience.

Criticism of the Chinese Communist Party after 1949

In the early 1950s, the Chinese Communist Party launched a years-long campaign criticising Hu Shih's thoughts. In response, Hu published many essays, written in English, attacking the political legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party.

Hu's opposition to the Chinese Communist Party is essentially an ideological conflict. As a supporter of Pragmatism, Hu believes social changes can only happen gradually. Revolution or any ideologies that claim to solve the problems once and for all is not possible. Such a perspective was present in his early writing like problem versus isms debate. He often quotes from John Dewey: "progress is not a wholesale matter, but a retail job, to be contracted for and executed in section." Another ideological conflict is with his individualism. Hu affirms the right of the individual as independent from the collective. The individual has the right to develop freely and diversely without the political suppression in the name of uniformity. He writes in "The Conflict of Ideologies":

"The desire for uniformity leads to suppression of individual initiative, to the dwarfing of personality and creative effort, to intolerance, oppression, and slavery, and, worst of all, to intellectual dishonesty and moral hypocrisy."

Different from Marxist conception of history, Hu's conception of history is pluralistic and particular. In his talk with American economist Charles A. Beard, recorded in his diary, Hu believe the making of history is only coincidental. Therefore, as a proponent of Reformism, Pluralism, Individualism, and Skepticism, Hu's philosophy is irreconcilable with Communist ideologies. Hu's later scholarship around the Chinese root of Liberalism and democracy is very much a consistent project with his anti-CCP writings. In a later manuscript titled "Communism, Democracy, and Cultural Pattern," Hu constructs three arguments from Chinese intellectual history, especially from Confucian and Daoist tradition, to combat the authoritative rule of Chinese Communist Party:

1. An almost anarchistic aversion of all governmental interference.

2. A long tradition of love for freedom and fight for freedom–especially for intellectual freedom and religious freedom, but also for the freedom of political criticism.

3. A traditional exaltation of the individual's right to doubt and question things–even the most sacred things.

Therefore Hu claims the dictatorship of the Chinese Communist Party as not only "unhistorical," but also "un-Chinese."


  1. Hu, Shi (1959). 胡适留学日记. Taipei: Commercial Press. pp. 167–168.
  2. Hu Shih, 杜威先生与中国 (Mr. Dewey and China), dated July 11,1921; 胡适文存 (Collected Essays of Hu Shih), ii, 533-537.
  3. Hu Shih, 三论问题与主义 (A Thrid Discussion of Problems and Isms), 每周评论 no. 36, (Aug. 24, 1919); 胡适文存 (Collected Essays of Hu Shih), ii, 373.
  4. Hu, Shih (1935). 胡适论学近著 (Hu Shih's Recent Writings on Scholarship). Shanghai: Commercial Press. pp. 630–646.
  5. Yu, Ying-shih (2014). Collected Writings of Yu Ying-shih. Guilin: Guangxi Normal University Press. p. 348.
  6. Yu, Ying-shih (2014). Collected Writings of Yu Ying-shih. Guilin: Guangxi Normal University Press. p. 355.
  7. Yu, Ying-shih (2014). Collected Writings of Yu Ying-shih. Guilin: Guangxi Normal University Press. p. 357.
  8. Yu-lan Fung, "Philosophy in Contemporary China" paper presented in the eighth International Philosophy Conference, Prague, 1934.
  9. Zhou, Zhiping (2012). 光焰不熄：胡适思想与现代中国. Beijing: Jiuzhou Press. p. 36.
  10. Zhou, Zhiping (2012). 光焰不熄：胡适思想与现代中国. Beijing: Jiuzhou Press. p. 288.
  11. Hu, Shih (1947), 我们必须选择我们的方向 (We Must Choose Our Own Direction).
  12. Hu, Shih (1955), 四十年来中国文艺复兴运动留下的抗暴消毒力量——中国共产党清算胡适思想的历史意义.
  13. Hu, Shih (1918). 易卜生主义 (Ibsenisim).
  14. Hu, Shih (1919). Immortality–My Religion, New Youth 6.2.
  15. Zhou, Zhiping (2012). 光焰不熄：胡适思想与现代中国. Beijing: Jiuzhou Press. p. 290.
  16. "从一党到无党的政治 - 维基文库，自由的图书馆". zh.wikisource.org. Retrieved 2019-04-15.
  17. Zhou, Zhiping (2012). 光焰不熄：胡适思想与现代中国. Beijing: Jiuzhou Press. p. 290-292.
  18. Shih, Hu (2013). "English Writings of Hu Shih". China Academic Library. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-31181-9. ISSN 2195-1853.
  19. Zhou, Zhiping (2012). 光焰不熄：胡适思想与现代中国. Beijing: Jiuzhou Press. p. 202.
  20. ^ Hu, Shih (November 1941). "The Conflicts of Ideologies," in The Annuals of American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 28, p. 32-34.
  21. Zhou, Zhiping (2012). 光焰不熄：胡适思想与现代中国. Beijing: Jiuzhou Press. p. 206.
  22. Hu Shih, "Communism, Democracy, and Cultural Pattern."