Beginnings of Mathematical Logic in China: Zhang Shenfu's Search for a Universal Model of Objectivity, 1919-1928
Abstract
Zhang Shenfu 张申府 (originally Zhang Songnian 张崧年), who counts as one of the most passionate proponents of western science among the May Fourth intellectual elite, was also one of the first philosophers or logicians to have introduced the notion of mathematical logic - especially B. Russell's work - to the Chinese readership.
In the years following the May Fourth event, the so called intellectual enlightenment was dominated by the search for a new kind of socially applicable scientific objectivity which would be able to transgress the formally hermetic "inner turf" of formal sciences and subsequently also serve as a tool for universal revolution in society. Based on the contemporary development in philosophy and structural formal sciences, the notion of mathematical logic was presented to the Chinese readership as a crown term representing the peak of Western scientific search for universal laws.
The period of its significance as an objectivist construct as well as a scientific discipline coincides partially with the first decade of the post May Fourth search for socio-scientific objectivity in which Zhang Shenfu served as an important contributor-actor, taking part in various different aspects of its formation and incorporation into the Chinese cultural framework. Set in this moment of Chinese intellectual history, the paper tries to shed some light on Zhang's significant role in introduction of the notion of mathematical logic in China.
It further describes how the above mentioned notion was perceived by Zhang and how it was further developed in his model of objectivity, encompassing Western science (mathematics, logic, physics and epistemology) on one hand and Chinese culture on the other.