Review of Hu Shi's Opinios on Song and Ming Neo-Confucianism

With the lack of the documents,the academic circle seldom remarked on the relation between Hu Shi and Song and Ming Neo-Confucianism.However,with the comparative analysis of Hu's works both in Chinese and English,it is not difficult to find that some scholars' opinions of Hu's remarks on Song and Ming Neo-Confucianism are worth discussion.He not only named Song and Ming Neo-Confucianism new Confucian Schoolor new Confucianismprior to Feng Youlan,but also translated it into English as Neo-Confucianism prior to Bodde,translator of Feng's work History of Chinese Philosophy.In the light of science and democracy,Mr.Hu Shi's remarks on Neo-Confucianism were mainly negative.He thought textology in the Qing Dynasty could be traced back to Neo-Confucianism but returned to scholasticism and its main defects were its deviating from pragmatism in its development.Meanwhile,He also clarified the historical relation between Neo-Confucianism and Buddhism and Taoism together with its ultimate objects.All these are worthy ideas,which will complement the lack of research on Hu Shi to a certain degree.