Yu, Yih-hsien. "Creativity in the Book of Changes and Process Thought: With Special Reference to Whitehead." (Conference Paper- International Conference on Creativity and Process: East-West Dialogue 2007)

Abstract

"Ten Wings" attributed to Confucius are the philosophical expositions of the Book of Changes or I Ching. Among them, "Hsitz'u Ch'uan" (The Conspectus) has once pronounced that "What is metaphysical, supersensible, is Principle or Tao; whereas what is concrete, sensible, is  Material, Artifact, or Ch'i." Evidently what the authors of the Book of Changes concerned is the metaphysical principle-Tao. Contemporary Chinese philosophers Thome Fang (189-1977) and Shih-chuan Chen(1909-2005) following this archaic dictum are convinced that the Book of  Changes is the metaphysical fountain of Chinese philosophy and its fundamental notion is "creativity with unceasing generations." They consider A. N. Whitehead, one of the modern process philosophers, the most appealing to Chinese mind since he has made the concept of  "creativity" the major theme of his philosophy. As Whitehead says in his Process and Reality that "In the philosophy of organism this ultimate is termed 'Creativity'----In this general position the philosophy of organism seems to approximate more to some strains of Indian, or Chinese thought, than to western Asiatic, or European, thought." Following Fang and Chen, the present paper is an attempt to promote the cross-cultural dialogue between the Eastern and Western process thought on the issue of creativity. We believe this can be done by showing that Whitehead's concept of creativity and modern Western process thought,especially Whitehead, are in great help for our understanding the Book of Changes. On the other hand, the philosophy of creativity in the Book of Changes will also help Western process philosophers to see how the view of a creative universe and its organic relation with humankind can be developed from comprehensive synthesis of human experience,  untrammeled either by theistic or by materialistic frame of thought.