A Study Of The Relationship Between Hu Shin's Experimentalism & His Idea Togerther With Practice Of Constitutional Politics

As we know, Hu Shih describes himself to be s strict Pragmatism, thus the Pragmatism principle was always practiced in his thoughts and practices. Hu Shih believes Mohism has much in common with Utilitarianism and Pragmatism, and Song-Ming Neo-Confucianism taught him what is the "knowledge and purpose", and the hermeneutic in Qing dynasty asks him to pay attention to the pragmatic Studies, which values the scientific evidence. At the same time, Thomas Henry Huxley and John Dewey influenced him on the spirit of suspicion and the pragmatic approach. Thus, the pragmatism is the result of synthesis of traditional Chinese thoughts and the western thoughts. Hu Shih's Pragmatism is substantially the combination of Utilitarianism and the instrumental technology. In the historical background of the expansion of nationalism, as well as under the influence of Progressive of the evolutionism, the Pragmatism tends to be the easy measure for achieving the goal of nationalism, but not the constructive and thoughtful method to settle the practical problem.What Hu Shih desired to bring about was to achieve his dream of constitutionalism under the power of Nanking National Government. However, the Nanjing KMT Government established after 1927 was a revolutionary government with some ideology, which followed the instruction of "only one political party, and one doctrine and one leader" of sun yat-sen. Under this regime, the home politic was military-led, and the government led the civics to live the political life, which refers to military administration and political tutelage. So, what Hu Shih had to face was despotism. And the goal of Hu Shih was to carry out his constitutionalism, by his Pragmatism, in that political and social environment.However, what always kept in Hu Shih's mind and tended to be absolute was nationalism. Facing these ambitious targets, Hu Shih, from his Pragmatism standpoint, insisted the gradual and controllable social reform. He tries to be a responsible critic in this despotic power, and preceded his constitutionalism by teaching the power. In Hu Shih's constitutionalism, the individualism of the liberalism was not stable, and the position of Hu Shih between the nationalism and the liberalism, which advocates protecting the right and freedom of personal, was pendulousness. In Hu Shih's, the individuals are destroyed by the "immortal" society ultimately. As the embodiment of his proposition that implementing his Pragmatism to achieved the goal of nationalism, the instrumentalism and utilitarianism was extremely strong.Hu Shih insisted that should realize the constitutionalism by gradual reform, but what he ignored was that the process to preceded his constitutionalism in such a despotic country is to construct a separation and restriction of power system and the judicial review system, in order to balance the power, and the process usually subversive and transformational. When he thought the democratic constitutional was "kindergarten" politics, he did not aware the fact that in a society that the thought of despotism rootedness, the process to carry out the democratic constitutional are facing enormous odds. In fact, to carry out the democratic constitutional in such a society and regime is the blind optimism and the utopianism of elite. Though he is famous as a liberalist, the individualism in Hu Shih'constitutionalism is not so firm, and he does not embraced the liberalism without any reservations. In fact, his constitutionalism just is the implement of resolving the social issues and realizing the nationalism goals. For these reasons, the standpoint of Hu Shih between the enlightened despotism and the democratic constitutional was no cut-and-dried as it manifest on the surface. In the historical background that needs the authoritarian rule to achieve the nationalism goals, the Pragmatism derived Hu Shih give tacit consent to the arbitrary rule of the the Nanjing KMT Government. Thus, what Hu Shih wants just is the compromises between the enlightened despotism and the democratic constitutional, if these compromises are helpful to achieve his "great" nationalism goals from his Pragmatism standpoint.