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38 J. Liu and X. Tong

scholarship, however, does not mean the classical studies of the Han Dynasty, or of
the Song Dynasty. There should be a new form of classics scholarship for the new
age.

3 Reason and Tradition

3.1 What Does Reason (理性) Mean?

Discussion of classics scholarship inevitably raises topics of Western philosophy,
which speaks a lot about reason. The English word “reason,” in its metaphysical
sense, is “pure reason” as used by Immanuel Kant in his “Critique of Pure
Reason.” Pure reason remains unchangeable forever, demonstrated by all con-
cepts being defined.
Rationalism in Western philosophy, originating in ancient Greece, regards
reason as logically sound and historically transcendental. Western concepts of
reason rest on the rigorous knowledge of logic and geometry, demonstrated by
using axioms. An axiom is a rule or a statement that is accepted as a truth without
proof, one that is taken for granted and self-evident. For example, “The shortest
distance between two points is a straight line” is a definitional axiom. Again, a
theorem can be derived from an axiom: If A > B > C, then A > C. These universally
accepted truths are not only applicable in ancient Greece but also in modern China.
They remain true even if the world came to an end. Truths remain true, regardless
of time or history.
During the Medieval period, there were also truths that were supposed to be
eternal and invariable in Christianity. God was eternal; and the word of God was
the truth, religious truth.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, Europe encountered a series of social and
religious problems: conflicts between religions and in land ownership, issues in
government financing, etc., which were regarded as part of “tradition” by the
French. Then the thinkers of the Enlightenment came on the stage of history. The
most typical rationalism in the West began with 18th century Enlightenment. It
relies on rationality to connect reason directly with truth. Early Enlightenment
figures like Voltaire (1694–1778), Montesquieu (1689–1755), and later Rousseau
(1712–1778), among others, all regarded tradition as the enemy of reason. They
refused to view tradition historically, deemed whatever existed in contemporary
time as reasonable, and called on reason to overcome tradition.