The Introduction of Hans Driesch’s Vitalist Biology and Philosophy to Post-WWI China

The Harvard Yenching Institute presents a discussion with Professor Kevin Chang and Professor William Kirby who will speak on the work of Hans Driesch and its impact on 20th century Chinese science thought.

A talk by Prof. Kevin Chang (History, Academia Sinica; HYI Visiting Scholar 2011-12)

Discussant:
Prof. William C. Kirby (T. M. Chang Professor of China Studies, Harvard University and Spangler Family Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School)

Infected by the pessimism about Western Civilization and the value of science and technology that resulted from the destructive First World War, leading Chinese intellectuals started a debate about the limit and validity of science. One side of the debate asserted that there were subjective realms in human life that were not subject to scientific rule. The other side charged that the skepticism about science and the Western civilization would further delay China from embracing modernization. Both sides consisted of reform-minded intellectuals, and both resorted to Western authorities in science, philosophy and political institutions, including the model recently introduced by the Bolshevik Revolution.

Hans Driesch was noted in Europe and the US for his discovery in embryology and his vitalist philosophy that asserted the fundamental difference between the living organism and inorganic substances or machines. His stature in experimental biology lent him particular credibility in his assertions about science and life. His vitalism was used by his Chinese advocates to maintain that mechanical science could govern everything, not least human life. His Western origin served as a credential against the domestic proponents for the unlimited validity of Western science. He was among the international intellectual heavyweights--Bertrand Russell, John Dewey, and Tagore included--who were invited to and indeed visited China in the early 1920s.