Yu, Yih-hsien. Organic Thinking and the Philosophy of Organism-A Key to Thome Fang and Shih-chuan Chen's philosophy. Tunghai University. Unpublished work

俞懿嫻. “园融与机体-论方陈两先生的核心思想." 东海大学。 未出版作.

Abstract

The greatest challenge that contemporary Chinese philosophy has been facing was arising from the predominance of Western civilization, not only due to its highly developed science and technology, its capitalist social and economic system, but also due to its philosophical and cultural intrusions. In response to this challenge, as early as in the beginning of the twentieth century, two Chinese philosophers Thome Fang and Shih-chuan Chen with their piercing insight and novel intuition already found a passage to communicate the Eastern and Western thought at a high level. They maintained that the eminence of Chinese philosophy, including Primitive Confucianism, Primitive Daoism, and Hua-yen Buddhism is in its organic mode of thinking that has never committed the mistakes resulting from dualism of all kind as the Western philosophy did. And it is under the influence of Yi Jing that the Primitive Confucianism and Daoism are characterized by an organic view of man and nature which is very close to the outlook of the philosophy of organism proposed by A.N. Whitehead Fang and Chen also observed that after Buddhism was "sinologized" and then transformed into various forms of Chinese Mahayana Buddhism, it also took on this organic mode of thinking. Among all schools of Mahayana Buddhism, Hua-yen Buddhism is the best representative for a Chinese philosophy of organism.

哲學思想乃民族文化精神之所繫，哲學的功能不祇在統合人類經驗的各個層面，以追求永恆的、普遍的價值及其與現世的關係，且在揭露人和自然的真相。而正因中國和西方思想家均以探索人的真實性(human reality)與自然真實性(natural reality)為目的，才提供了豐富的比較哲學研究的材料。什麼是人？什麼是宇宙自然？什麼是人與宇宙自然之間的關係？這些問題不僅出於人之好奇驚疑的本性，也出於哲學家形而上的探索衝動(metaphysical impulse)。 時至今日，中西哲學均受到現代科技物質文明嚴厲的挑戰，不僅在中國哲學研究一蹶不振，即使在西方哲學也趨於沒落。如何因應強勢的科技經濟文化，力挽人文研 究的式微，有賴中西人文學者共同努力。通過對哲學的重大課題：如宇宙論、本體論、價值論、知識論等等，進行比較研究，為中西哲學尋求「創造綜合」(creative synthesis)的可能，實為迫切且必要的工作。在當代中國哲學家中，方東美和程石泉兩先生在這方面有獨到的貢獻，他們認為中國哲學的基本特質在於思想的「圓融」，而這項特質正與當代西方懷德海(Alfred North Whitehead, 1861-1947)的機體哲學(philosophy of organism)若合符節，值得吾人重視。