School of Philosophy, Renmin University of China

Dr. Meimao Lin is an associate Professor, now teaching Foreign Philosophy in the School of Philosophy at Renmin University of China. He is also a visiting researcher in the Research Center of International Affairs at Aichi University in Japan. Mr. Lin graduated in 1983 majoring in Chinese Literature in Fujian, China, and went to Japan for further study in 1989. During his 14-years stay in Japan, he obtained his degree of Bachelor of Arts, and the Master’s degree majoring in Euro-American Literature, and Ph.D. in Western Philosophy at Aichi University in Japan. Dr. Lin came back to his China and started teaching at Renmin University of China in the autumn of 2002.

Before going to Japan, Mr. Lin was a well-known prose poet in Fujian region where he was brought up. He turned his research attention to Western Philosophy while studying in Japan. His doctorate study was focused on the following question: Based in our modern era, how should one master the methods and patterns of human understanding and expression of itself in both Eastern and Western thoughts from the past. This question is arguably one of the most significant for the study of Western Philosophy.

For Dr. Lin, one must use critical reasoning following solid approach, by his unwavering commitment to truth, and through the vivid example of modern people’s life experiences, to promote and develop the appraising standard of Eastern and Western philosophy, to think of the puzzled fate of human being in the new era. In his view, we must follow the great Socrates, abandoning the illusion that we already comprehend the world perfectly, thus honestly accepting the fact of our own ignorance. These are the vital steps toward an acquisition of genuine knowledge, namely by discovering and mastering universal definitions of the key concepts governing human life.

Currenty, at Renmin University of China, Dr. Lin’s major research fields are Greek Philosophy before Socrates and the philosophical thinking of Plato. A monograph on Plato’s Philosophy called “Limitations and Possibilities – Plato’s Concept of Human Nature” has been completed. Meanwhile, he has started studying “The Developing Course of Modernizing Japanese Thoughts.” The above two projects are sponsored by the Section of Scientific Research at Renmin University of China and by “Overseas Graduated Scholar Funds” of the Ministry of Education respectively.

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