From Spirit Writing to Spiritualism:Knowledge and Rationality in the Contemporary Debate between Science and Metaphysics

doi:10.13438/j.cnki.jdxb.2020.04.015

Abstract

Abstract: While accepting the formal science,some modern intellectual elites were stimulated and inspired by the western popular spiritualism and pushed the traditional spiritual belief to a new dimension of the study of spiritualism.They tried to use rationality and science to understand spiritual knowledge beyond scientific knowledge,so as to revere the unknown world to promote the transformation of the known world at the spiritual and moral level thereby saving the nation by spiritualism.While the opponents of spiritualism,represented by the New Youth,insisted on thorough scientism and rational attitude,regarding spiritualism as a backward superstition that hindered the development of science.These two opposite positions revealed the intellectual elites' common reflection on modern western knowledge and the traditional Chinese scholarship under the impact of western culture.They brought in beneficial discussions on the concepts of science,religion and superstition and modern enlightenment spirit,which became theoretical materials for the later debate between science and metaphysics.Under the guidance of the Enlightenment culture,Chinese society has gradually become dominated by rationalization and secularization,and spiritualism can no longer meet the requirements of the development of the society.From the debate of spiritualism to the debate of science and metaphysics,it not only reflects the complexity and tortuousness of the modernization and secularization of China,but also constitutes the historical basis for the scientific study of religious phenomena.

Key words: spirit writing, spiritualism, knowledge, rationality, debate between science and metaphysics

ZHANG Jia. From Spirit Writing to Spiritualism:Knowledge and Rationality in the Contemporary Debate between Science and Metaphysics[J]. Journal of Jishou University(Social Sciences Edition), DOI: 10.13438/j.cnki.jdxb.2020.04.015.

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