A Brief Study on He Lin’s Idea of “Popularization of Philosophy”

Abstract

Starting from the 1930s, the philosopher He Lin constructed his systematic thinking on the popularization of philosophy based on the theoretical standpoint of Neo-Hsin Hsueh (New Idealism of Mind), centering on the historical mission of national salvation and state-building. He authored a series of essays including National Salvation through the War of Resistance and Nation-Building via Scholarship, Propaganda and Education, and Methods of Reading and Modes of Thinking. He opposed confining philosophy to abstruse speculative studies within academic ivory towers, and advocated that philosophy should step out of scholarly seclusion, integrate academic research, civic education and the transformation of popular customs, and convert profound philosophical theories into spiritual strength for all citizens. For He Lin, the popularization of philosophy never equates to crude simplification of philosophical theories. Instead, it preserves the intellectual integrity of philosophy, cultivates the mental capacity of citizens through sound thinking methodologies, reshapes public mindsets and social customs via education and propaganda, bridges elite academia and ordinary social life, and serves the epochal goal of nation-building through scholarship. Though his idea of popularizing philosophy bears certain limitations-for instance, he overestimated the transformative power of spiritual ideas upon social reality and underestimated the constraints of material social conditions-it still offers valuable references for advancing the popular communication of philosophy and social sciences today.