7 Asian Studies and the History of Chinese Logic: A Long and Fruitful Journey Jana S. ROŠKER, Editor-in-Chief The history of logic in China is a topic of increasing relevance, not only because the subject is still far too neglected and little known in Western scholarship, but also because it can help us better understand modern China and its scientific and academic contributions to the contemporary world. Chinese logic has always been the focus of interest of this journal in the field of Chinese thought and philosophy. Even in the original version of this journal, which was titled Asian and African Studies until 2012, we published several essays (e.g., Cui 2005; Wu 2005; Rošker 2005a: 2010a: 2010b, etc.) and even a special issue (see Rošker 2005b) on the problems of Chinese logic and its history. In recent years, the journal has also published several other articles dealing with the broader topic of Chinese logic (see, e.g., Hashi 2016; Vrhovski 2021a; Cui 2021). This special issue outlines the process of the introduction of logic in 20th centu- ry China. It describes the institutional as well as the conceptual and theoretical dimensions of this process, and presents the work of numerous eminent intellec- tuals who devoted their lives to promoting and introducing a public discourse of logic during this period. It also presents the Chinese institutional background that enabled the development of logic in China, such as academies, university departments, journals, and academic societies. We are very honoured and pleased to have succeeded in attracting two more than competent scholars to edit this special issue. The first is the internationally re- nowned Professor Chen Bo from Wuhan University, the second Dr. Jan Vrhovski, a research fellow from the University of Ljubljana. Both guest editors have al- ready successfully collaborated last year when they published a special issue in the internationally renowned journal Contemporary Chinese Thought on the main implications of Bertrand Russell’s visit to China in 1920–1921 (see Chen 2021; Vrhovski 2021a). We are, of course, particularly pleased that Professor Chen Bo was willing to guest edit this issue, as he is one of the most influential, prolific, and knowledgeable contemporary Chinese scholars in this field of research. Professor Chen received his PhD from Renmin University of China in 1994, and is currently Professor of DOI: 10.4312/as.2022.10.2.7-10 Azijske_studije_2022_2_FINAL.indd 7 5. 05. 2022 15:46:30 8 Jana S. ROŠKER: Asian Studies and the History of Chinese Logic... Humanities and Social Sciences at the School of Philosophy, Wuhan University. Previously, he was a full professor at Department of Philosophy, Peking University from 1998 to 2021. He has a strong international reputation in his research areas and has been a visit- ing scholar at the University of Helsinki (1997–1998), CSCC Fellow at the Uni- versity of Miami, USA (2002–2003), Oxford University (2007–2008), and Nihon University (2014), among others. Professor Chen has received awards from the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Academy of Sciences, and the Social Science Research Council. In the past decade, he has organized several international conferences at Peking University on Frege, Quine, Kripke, William- son, Hintikka, paradoxes, truth, modality, philosophical education, contemporary society, and metaphilosophy and philosophical methodology. His major Chinese academic monographs include Studies on Quine’s Philosophy: From Logical and Linguistic Points of View (1998), Studies in Philosophy of Logic (2004, revised and improved 2013), Studies on Paradoxes (2014), Analytic Philos- ophy: Critique and Construction (2018), to name a few. He has published nearly 300 articles in Chinese or English. Due to space constraints, we mention only his major articles on the history of Chinese logic (see Chen 2018), comparative logic (see Chen 2012; 2014; 2019; 2021), and classical Chinese logic (see, e.g., Chen, 2006; 2009) in the bibliography of this brief preface. Jan Vrhovski, on the other hand, received his PhD from Charles University in Prague with a dissertation on Patterns of Thought and Numbers: A History of Math- ematical Logic in Late Republican and Early Socialist China (1930–1960). Despite his young age, he has already published a large number of original academic papers in international journals with high impact factor, including History and Philosophy of Logic (Vrhovski 2021d; 2021e), Journal of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies (Vrhovski 2020a), Review of Religion and Chinese Society (Vrhovski 2021f ), and others. For several years he has also been among the most prolific contributors to this journal (see Vrhovski 2019; 2021b; 2021c). We are particularly pleased and grateful to the two guest editors for their great help in selecting and collecting so many important and interesting articles on the history of Chinese logic written by some of the most brilliant contemporary Chinese scholars in this field of research. They all deserve the greatest credit for recording, systematizing, and interpreting the studies of logic in China and for bringing this fascinating subject to the attention of the wider Western academic world. Azijske_studije_2022_2_FINAL.indd 8 5. 05. 2022 15:46:31 9Asian Studies X (XXVI), 2 (2022), pp. 7–10 Bibliography Chen, Bo. 2006. “The Debate on the Yan–Yi Relation in Chinese Philosophy: Re- construction and Comments.” Frontiers of Philosophy in China 1 (4): 539–60. ———. 2009. “Xunzi’s Politicized and Moralized Philosophy of Language.” Jour- nal of Chinese Philosophy 36 (1): 107–40. ———. 2012. “Justification of Induction: Russell and Jin Yuelin. A Comparative Study.” History and Philosophy of Logic 33 (4): 353–78. ———. 2014. “Six Groups of Paradoxes in Ancient China, From the Perspective of Comparative Philosophy.” Asian Philosophy 24 (4): 363–92. ———. 2018. “A Look Back at the Development of Chinese Logic since 1978.” Frontiers of Philosophy in China 13 (4): 662–82. ———. 2019. “Russell and Jin Yuelin on Fact: From the Perspective of Compar- ative Philosophy.” Philosophy East and West 69 (4): 929–50. ———. 2021 “Russell and Jin Yuelin on Truth: A Comparative Study.” Contem- porary Chinese Thought 52 (1-2): 43–76. Cui, Qingtian. 2005. “Processes and Methods in Researching the History of Chi- nese Logic.” Azijske in afriške študije 5 (2): 15–25. ———. 2021. “Researching the History of Chinese Logic: The Role of Wen Gongyi in the Establishment of New Methodologies.” Asian Studies 9 (2): 105–20. https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2021.9.2.105-120. Hashi, Hisaki. 2016. “The Logic of ‘Mutual Transmission’ in Huayan and Zen Buddhist Philosophy—Toward the Logic of Co-Existence in a Glo- balized World.” Asian Studies 4 (2): 95–108. https://doi.org/10.4312/ as.2016.4.2.95-108. Rošker, Jana S. 2005a. “New Bridges of Intercultural Understanding: Universality and Culturally Bounded Elements in Logic.” Azijske in afriške študije 5 (2): 5–13. ———, ed. 2005b. Chinese Logic and Chinese Culture: Research in Traditional Chi- nese Logic. Special issue of the journal Asian and African Studies 9 (2). ———. 2010a. “A Chinese View on the Cultural Conditionality of Logic and Epistemology: Zhang Dongsun’s Intercultural Methodology.” Asian and Af- rican Studies 14 (3): 43–60. https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2010.14.3.43-60. ———. 2010b. “Kitajska strukturna semantika: primer klasične analogije.” Asian and African Studies 14 (2): 1–20. https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2010.14.2.1-20. Vrhovski, Jan. 2019. “Žad iz gore Kun: o simboliki žada v dinastiji Han.” Asian Studies 7 (1): 293–311. https://revije.ff.uni-lj.si/as/issue/view/658/AS; doi: 10.4312/as.2019.7.1.293-311. ———. 2020a. “Between Universal Consciousness and Cultural Patterns of Thought: Perspectives on Yu Yu’s Notion of Logic in the 1930s.” Journal of Azijske_studije_2022_2_FINAL.indd 9 5. 05. 2022 15:46:31 10 Jana S. ROŠKER: Asian Studies and the History of Chinese Logic... the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies ISSN 2047-1076, 2020 (18): 151–79. http://www.jocbs.org/index.php/jocbs/issue/view/20/showToc. ———. 2020b. “Šest budističnih simbolov: analiza poetične podobe Budovega razsvetljenja iz dinastije Song.” Asian Studies 8 (1): 237–66. https://revije. ff.uni-lj.si/as/article/view/7767; doi: 10.4312/as.2020.8.1.237-266. ———. 2020c. “Qinghua School of Logic and the Origins of Taiwanese Studies in Modern Logic: A Note on the Early Thought of Mou Zongsan and Yin Haiguang.” Asian Studies 8 (3): 231–50. https://revije.ff.uni-lj.si/as/article/ view/9066; doi: 10.4312/as.2020.8.3.231-250. ———. 2021a. “One Hundred Years of Chinese Studies on Philosophy of Ber- trand Russell: Continuities, Retrospectives, and New Directions.” Contempo- rary Chinese Thought 52 (1/2): 1–8. 10.1080/10971467.2021.1917938. ———. 2021b. “A Few Important Landmarks in the Chinese Debates on Dialec- tical and Formal Logic from the 1930s.” Asian Studies 9 (2): 81–103. https:// doi.org/10.4312/as.2021.9.2.81-103. ———. 2021c. “Shadowlands of Objectivism and Comprehensiveness: An In- troduction to Key Concepts in Zhang Shenfu’s Philosophical Thought (1919–1948).” Asian Studies 9 (1): 227–62. https://revije.ff.uni-lj.si/as/arti- cle/view/9220/9318; doi: 10.4312/as.2021.9.1.227-262. ———. 2021d. “On Infinitesimals and Indefinitely Cut Wooden Sticks: A Chinese Debate on Mathematical Logic and Russell’s Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy from 1925.” History and Philosophy of Logic 2 (42): 1–19. https:// www.tandfonline.com/toc/thpl20/42/1?nav=tocList; doi: 10.1080/01445340. 2021.190 2073. ———. 2021e. “Qinghua School of Logic’: Mathematical Logic at Qing- hua University in Peking, 1926–1945.” History and Philosophy of Log- ic 42 (3): 247–61. https://doi.org/10.1080/01445340.2021.1904663; doi: 10.1080/01445340.2021.1904663. ———. 2021f. “Bertrand Russell, Fu Tong, and the Emergence of Scientific Secularism in Early 1920s China.” Review of Religion and Chinese Society 8 (1): 1–26. https:// brill.com/view/journals/rrcs/aop/article-10.1163-22143955-08010001/arti- cle-10.1163-22143955-08010001.xml; doi: 10.1163/22143955-08010001. 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