Philosopher
Hu Shih
Overview
Hu Shih (Chinese: 胡適; 17 December 1891 – 24 February 1962) was a Chinese academic, writer, diplomat, and politician. Hu contributed to Chinese liberalism and language reform, and was a leading advocate for the use of written vernacular Chinese. He participated in the May Fourth Movement and China's New Culture Movement. He was a president of Peking University and Academia Sinica.
Hu was the editor of the Free China Journal, which was shut down for criticizing Chiang Kai-shek. In 1919, he also criticized Li Dazhao. Hu advocated that the world adopt Western-style democracy. Moreover, Hu criticized Sun Yat-sen's claim that people are incapable of self-rule. Hu criticized the Nationalist government for betraying the ideal of Constitutionalism in The Outline of National Reconstruction.
Hu wrote many essays questioning the political legitimacy of Mao Zedong and the Chinese Communist Party. Specifically, Hu said that the autocratic dictatorship system of the CCP was "un-Chinese" and against history. In the 1950s, Mao and the Chinese Communist Party launched a campaign criticizing Hu Shih's thoughts. After Mao's passing, Hu's reputation recovered. He is now known for his influential contributions to Chinese politics and academia.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Philosophers who discussed Hu Shih
Ideas Hu Shih discusses
- Bachelor of Arts
- John Dewey
- Kuomintang
- Mao Zedong
- Warring States period
- Mencius
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Mohism
- Autobiography
- Taiwan
- Thomas Kuhn
- Soviet Union
- American Philosophical Society
- Tao
- American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- New Culture Movement
- Xunzi (philosopher)
- Laozi
- Feng Youlan
- Chiang Kai-shek
- May Fourth Movement
- Chinese Communist Party
- Albert Einstein
- Cornell University
Place in the tradition
Part of Agnosticism.