The deep concerns of our day with the future of humankind compel us to a more comprehensive understanding of the human person in all its complexity. But how could we understand the human person in a scientific manner without falling into the trap of scientism, without limiting the infinite possibilities of human existence by the rigorism of methodological constraints? This is an urgent question which must be taken into serious consideration by all the human sciences. These began as human efforts to employ scientific means in order to grasp the full depth and complexity of human life. Now, however, they have come to be limited, quite paradoxically, in their capacity to understand the human person by their own more exigent concern with scientific rigor. Sadly enough, man no longer recognizes himself in the human sciences; it could be said even that man is being lost in the scientific research about man.

For example, psychology should be a science by which man could understand his own psychic activities, or, if you please, could understand the human mind. But all know that, from its establishment as a science till now, psychology has been occupied largely with empirical experimentation and mathematical formulation to the point that one attains hardly any self-understanding through scientific papers written by psychologists. The positivist way of doing psychology, in proclaiming itself to be scientific, gives the impression of being psychology without mind.

Thus, the human sciences are truly in need of a deeper philosophical reflection in order both to found themselves on solid ground and to be able to bring man to proper self-understanding. In this regard, two philosophical resources could be very helpful for integrating the sciences of man. In the tradition of Western philosophy, the development of phenomenology in the twentieth century offers new research orientations and conceptual frameworks through which the human sciences can bring man to self-understanding in a yet more radically scientific manner. Such philosophical concepts as intentionality, constitution, lifeworld, Dasein, existence, Being-in-the-world, and such methodological approaches as phenomenological reduction, intentional analysis, existential analysis and especially hermeneutics have provided the sciences of man with a new philosophical foundation. This rich potentiality is yet to be explored by scholars.

Of course, one might question the need for such a philosophical foundation for the sciences of man, especially after the nihilistic impact of post modernism on these sciences. But because man is free and full of infinite possibilities we should not take any theory concerning the philosophical foundation of the human sciences as the foundation itself. This does not mean that human beings are not well established. We human beings are free and in process; our search for philosophical foundations should enhance this self-understanding.

On the other hand, the Chinese philosophical tradition, begun in the sixth century B.C., has long developed ultimate concern for the self-understanding of man and his destiny. Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism, the three main currents of Chinese philosophy, in one sense or another are all philosophical discourses on man. Confucianism emphasizes the innerconnectedness between man, nature and other men, as well as the ethical order which should be established upon this in order to lead an harmonious life. Taoism emphasizes the freedom of man, his critical distance regarding dominative social power, and the inexhaustible resources upon which man could draw by tracing back to his origin in Tao, the ontological foundation of both man and nature. Buddhism emphasizes the spiritual enlightenment of man through a radical analysis of the metaphysical condition of human existence and the constitution of human consciousness. The rich philosophical import of these three currents of the Chinese philosophical tradition remains to be explored and articulated in modern philosophical language.

This book is an attempt to bring new light to the sciences of man by appealing to the philosophical reflections of both phenomenology and Chinese philosophy. It is an outcome of a colloquium sponsored jointly by the Department of Philosophy of National Cheng Chi University, whose research is focused upon the philosophy of the social sciences and the modern interpretation of Chinese philosophy, and the Department of Psychology of Duquesne University, which specializes in phenomenological psychology.

I wish to thank all the authors who have contributed to this volume. It is their highly valued thought and research which forms the soul of this book. I would thank especially Professor Richard Knowles, Chair of the Department of Psychology, Duquesne University, whose cooperation made our joint colloquium possible, and Professor George McLean, Secretary General of the Council of Research in Value and Philosophy, whose vision and enthusiasm encouraged us to organize this colloquium. I want also to thank the Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation for its generous financial support of the publication of this volume.

Many others people who cooperated either in the organization of the colloquium or in the publication of this book are also to be thanked, especially my colleagues and students at the National Cheng Chi University's Department of Philosophy. Their generosity and efficiency exemplify the best creative interpretation of Chinese traditional values.

This book itself illustrates the truth that action is always a co-action and every knowledge a co-knowledge. It is my every hope that the result of this co-effort will be to bring together phenomenology and Chinese philosophy in deepening and developing the human sciences and eventually shedding new light on the nature and the future of the human person and all humankind.

Vincent Shen

Department of Philosophy

National Cheng Chi University

Taipei, Taiwan