On Dao
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Summary
In the book, he adopts rigorous logical deduction and uses such categories from traditional Chinese philosophy as dao, shi, and neng to construct his own ontology.
This work therefore actually integrates Chinese and Western philosophical thought and has a very unique value. From a methodological perspective, being able to do philosophy in a Western-style logical-analytical way and establish one's own ontology and epistemology is especially rare for a Chinese culture lacking a tradition of logical analysis, and it is of breakthrough significance.
Editor's review
The greatest value of reading “On Dao” lies in experiencing a kind of “philosophical architecture.” The book is tightly structured: starting from the basic proposition “dao is shi-neng,” it gradually derives categories such as time, space, individual, universal, and change, ultimately pointing to the cosmic realm of “the ultimate and the supreme ultimate.” This attempt to build a world picture with logic has both the clarity of Western analytic philosophy and the sense of realm in Chinese philosophy. The book's discussion of “possible worlds,” “necessity,” and “contingency,” and its dialectic that “principle has its grounds, but circumstance does not necessarily arrive,” still possess profound speculative suggestiveness today.
It should be noted that this is a work requiring patient chewing. Jin Yuelin created his own terminological system, and a first reading may feel obscure, but it is precisely this originality that embodies the ambition of a Chinese philosopher to rebuild metaphysics in a modern context. Readers are advised first to understand the author's “Logic” and “Epistemology” before entering the world of “On Dao.” The Commercial Press edition preserves the original work's distinctive mode of expression, and the annotations and introduction help in understanding the text's historical context and philosophical implications.
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Researchers and students interested in the modernization of Chinese philosophy
- Readers who wish to understand how logical analysis can be applied to traditional philosophical concepts
- Philosophy enthusiasts eager to explore basic metaphysical questions such as existence, change, universals, and individuals
- Thinkers seeking perspectives for comparison and integration between Chinese and Western philosophy
Not a good fit for
- Casual readers expecting light reading or story-driven content
- Beginners lacking patience for or grounding in abstract concepts and logical deduction
Reading tips
- First read the appendices or introductory materials to understand the overall framework and historical background of Jin Yuelin's philosophical system.
- Focus on the first five chapters and grasp the definitions and relations of the core categories “dao-shi-neng,” which are the cornerstone of the whole book.
- It may be read in comparison with Feng Youlan's “New Neo-Confucianism” to appreciate how philosophers of the same era handled similar problems through different paths.
About the publisher
The Commercial Press is a publisher known for classic works and academic publishing, with titles spanning Eastern philosophy, foreign literature, world history, social culture, and applied psychology. Its list includes classical commentaries such as Zhu Xi's Collected Commentaries on the Analects and Wang Bi's Commentary on the Zhouyi, as well as modern annotated translations like Zhuangzi with Modern Notes and Translation. In foreign literature it offers War and Peace and Crime and Punishment, while in world history it carries Braudel's The Mediterranean and the Mediterranean World in the Age of Philip II. Applied psychology is represented by Irvin D. Yalom's Existential Psychotherapy, and ethical texts include a Greek-Chinese-English edition of the Nicomachean Ethics. Its authors and translators include Zhu Xi, Wang Bi, Yalom, Braudel, and translators such as Huang Zheng, Zhang Yiling, Shen Dongyu, and Tang Jialong, balancing the editing of original texts with academic translation.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 出版说明
- 凡例
- 序
- 绪论
- 第一章 道，式—能
- 第二章 可能底现实
- 第三章 现实底个体化
- 第四章 共相底关联
- 第五章 时—空与特殊
- 第六章 个体底变动
- 第七章 几与数
- 第八章 无极而太极
- 金岳霖先生学术年表
- 金岳霖先生的道形而上学和圣哲观
FAQ
What is the relationship between “On Dao” and Jin Yuelin's “Epistemology” and “Logic”?
How should the concepts of “shi” and “neng” in the book be understood?
What significance does this book have for contemporary philosophical thinking?
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About the author
Jin Yuelin (1895–1984), courtesy name Longsun, was a native of Changsha, Hunan, and a renowned modern Chinese philosopher and logician. He served as professor and chair of the Department of Philosophy at Tsinghua University, director of the Department of Philosophy at Peking University, and research fellow at the Institute of Philosophy of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He was one of the principal scholars who systematically introduced modern Western logic to China. His representative works include On Dao, which philosophically explores questions of substance and order; The Memoirs of Jin Yuelin, which records his personal experience and academic exchanges in a documentary style; and A General Course in Logic at Southwest Associated University, which explains the basics of logic to general readers. These works span philosophy, documentary literature, and social culture, combining scholarly depth with readability.
