Words: A Route for the Chinese History of Ideas

As a special history of philosophy, the History of Ideas focuses on studying the generation and evolution of “unit-ideas”, rather than changes and differences in philosophies in history, as is the case for general history of philosophy. “Words” are a direct vessel for ideas and, as they were interpreted differently over time, they have their own history of generation and evolution. The words studied by the History of Ideas not only come from the classical world but also everyday life. To explore the History of Ideas using “words” from the classical world and everyday life requires not only reasonably establishing the relationship among linguistics, history and philosophy, but also acknowledging that the revolution and changes of “words” in the historical context of “Ancient vs. Modern and Chinese vs. Western” have manifested the evolution of ideas (especially the ideas regarding value) of in contemporary China. Therefore, it is necessary to switch to the methodology of the History of Ideas to understand the dialectical relationship between the two.