Obituary of Lik‐Kuen Tong

Chung-ying Cheng
Published 1 September 2012
Philosophy
Journal of Chinese Philosophy

Lik-kuen Tong (Liquan Tang) 唐力權 (1935–2012) was an important Chinese scholar–philosopher rooted in Whitehead and the Chinese philosophy of the Yijing《易經》with innovative ideas.

Lik-kuen graduated from New School of Social Research with a Ph.D. specializing on Whitehead in early 1970s. He was also one of a few who took an early interest in the Yijing and saw the common and mutual sharing of concepts of time and reality between Whitehead and the Yijing. Later he published a Chinese book titled Zhouyi yu Huaidehai zhijian 《周易與懷德海之間》. It is an abstruse book full of new terms that takes a while to be understood. He wrote many articles that were published in the Journal of Chinese Philosophy (JCP). His first article was published in JCP, which dealt with the concept of time in Whitehead and the Yijing as early as 1974. His second article was on transcendence of language in Chinese philosophy, which was also published in JCP, and it led to his talk of philosophical silence. I recall his third article was comparing Whitehead and Chinese philosophy at a conference in Colorado in 1979, for which JCP published together with other articles from the same conference.

Lik-kuen often spoke of his idea of gan-tong 感通 (kang-tung in his spelling) in explaining Zhu Xi’s view on human mind and its relation to human nature. Since 1990, he explicitly had applied the term gantong in his explanation on the significance of how a gua卦 came from appropriation in a process of feeling and response. I believe that it was his concern with the process of gan-tong that eventually developed his idea of field-being (changyou場有). He founded a society to promote the idea and philosophy of field-being, and it no doubt has made an invaluable contribution to contemporary Chinese philosophy.

Lik-kuen joined the International Society for Chinese Philosophy (ISCP) as early as immediately after the society was formed by me. He suggested that we should use the term “international” as an epithet. Besides, it was him who organized the first international conference of ISCP in his home university, Fairfield University. He functioned hence as the Secretary of the ISCP, and a few years later, Lik-kuen had served as Chair of the Executive Committee and con- tinued to serve the position until 2001. It is during the last eight years as Chair of the Executive Committee of ISCP that Lik-kuen founded his society for the field-being with an institute.

Under the name of Society for Field Being, Lik-kuen sponsored many meetings and conferences on field-being in China, notably in Xian at Shanxi Normal University. He published several volumes of studies in Chinese philosophy with reference to his philosophy of field being. He also founded a branch of his Institute in Hong Kong where he last dwelled before he passed away.

Lik-kuen had been a supportive colleague as well as a special friend of mine for decades, and I shall remember him warmly and deeply.

場有（field being) ，是否可以視為，negativity vs vitality 的匯合？

不妥，

因為唐力權，主要沿用中哲為易經和道家 (？)，未及佛學，

意思是說，唯比丘比丘尼，有膽面對空無，面對毀滅，

意思是說，唯不動明王，方可面對邪惡，

儒家道家，一昧瞎話，生生不息，大化流行，無法面對否定，

意思是說，場有理論，無法面對否定，

意思是說，所謂「感通」，就是，力動 (Vitality) 之所以「動」，

比如說，面對共匪治下，九萬八千座水壩，視而不見，遂與大地江河感通起來，

然後，毫無疑問，遂居然感通出，習近平「鳥」思想，

然後，他媽的，鳶飛魚躍起來，

- x

Thursday, December 7, 2023

唐力權（1935-2012) （negativity vs vitality)

Obituary of Lik‐Kuen Tong

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Thursday, December 7, 2023

唐力權 （1935-2012) （negativity vs vitality)

Obituary of Lik‐Kuen Tong

唐力權（1935-2012) （negativity vs vitality)