A Memorable Visit to China: A Series of Invited Lectures and Presentations in China on Process Thought, Ecological Civilization, and Education
It is said that there is process studies craze along with ecological civilization craze in China. As a Bulgarian, I have been curious what happens and why it happens in that distant country. I also wonder what is ecological civilization and what is the connection between process philosophy and ecological civilization. Thanks for the careful arrangements by China Project, Center for Process Studies(CPS), and the Institute for Postmodern Development of China (IPDC) led by Dr. Zhihe Wang and Dr. Meijun Fan, I was able to make my dream come true. From the 7th of November to the 19th of November 2024, I took a trip to China. This two weeks China trip gives me some hints to answer the above questions.
Kindly invited by Professor Haipeng Guo—Dean of the School on Liberal Arts Education and Director of Center for Whitehead Studies of the United International College at the Beijing Normal University and Hong Kong Baptist University, which is one of the 30 process centers in China, which is located in the beautiful town of Zhuhai in the province Guangdong, I first gave two invited lectures devoted to important topics on ecological civilization and contemporary education for students and researchers at the United International College. My first lecture there “Constructive postmodern cosmocentric ethics and ecological civilization” was on the 8th of November. Its main focus was on the necessity to establish a new branch of environmental ethics—that of cosmocentric ethics which should treat problems of preserving the nature and ecology on the other planets and stars outside the Earth in the forthcoming future when we—humans—will begin our expansion in the cosmos. What has impressed me after the end of the two hours’ lecture was the great interest of the students and their activity to put questions most of which directed to practical application of the theses of my lecture and their willing to realize in practice what is necessary to be done in this regard. I had the same feeling after my second lecture “Process philosophical basis for education reform in Bulgaria: problems and challenges” delivered on the 11th of November for researches of the United International College. There was a round table discussion after the end of the two hours’ lecture with a focus on the opportunity to use some of the suggested reforms of the education in Bulgaria concerning the further improvement of process based education in China. Again I was impressed by the willing to use what is possible for the growth of the level of education in China. At the end of the lecture I was awarded as “Distinguished Research Fellow” of the Center for Whitehead Studies: that is a great honor for me and makes me morally obliged to continue my efforts to contribute to the success and fruitful research of the Center in the future.
In the days between the two lectures I had also the opportunity to see the beauty of Zhuhai: the nature, the people in the streets, the new and very quick process of building—a good mark for the enthusiasm of Chinese people to rebuild China as a leading country all over the world in economic, in ecological civilization, etc.
After the end of my stay in Zhuhai my visit in China was continued with a visit to Pu’er, Yunnan, province, a city near Laos, where I participated in the “First Jingmai Mountain International Summit on Green Development” held on the Jingmai Mountain from the 12th-14th of November. I can feel the sincere respect for Dr. John Cobb Jr., the great living process philosopher, from the welcome remarks by Mr. Guoyun Hu, former mayor of Pu’er City, now president of Pu’er University. They established a Working Station on Ecological Civilization named after John Cobb in Pu’er. Here at that high forum with participants from abroad I had a presentation on “The Future of Education and Ecological Civilization” where I stressed on the necessity to think about the future of education now and not to wait until the future events would come unexpectedly. The program of the forum included also a visit of the Jingmai Mountain which was certified as cultural landscape by the United Nations. This cultural landscape was developed over a thousand years by the Blang and Dai peoples following practices that began in the 10th century. The property is a tea production area comprised of traditional villages within old tea groves surrounded by forests and tea plantations. The traditional understorey cultivation of old tea trees is a method that responds to the specific conditions of the mountain’s ecosystem and subtropical monsoon climate, combined with a governance system maintained by the local Indigenous communities. Traditional ceremonies and festivities relate to the Tea Ancestor belief that spirits live in the tea plantations and in the local fauna and flora, a belief that is at the core of this cultural tradition.
Special attention deserves also the next visit to the Pu’er University, There was also a round table here with the participation of the students at the Library of Pu’er University where I—together with Professor Mary Evelyn Tucker and Prof. John Grim from Yale University in the USA, Prof. Jay Jones from University of La Verne,California, USA, and Dr. Zhihe Wang from China Project—had to discuss the problems of ecological civilization, but also to discuss with the students the need for contemporary philosophy to be directed to the real life problems and not only to give an inert knowledge about the past and present philosophical theories: in that sense philosophy should be an applied philosophy and it should also be directed to the future of mankind and not to the past. And again I was greatly impressed by the activity of Chinese students who have put many questions concerning some present problems in China and in our planet in general with a focus how present philosophy can help to solve these problems. Such activity makes me sure that the future of the country and of the world will be happy with the activity and the efforts of so many young people.
On Nov.14, we went to Kunming—the capital of the Yunnan province, where I took part in the mini conference at the Yunnan University on Nov.15, where all of us—the above mentioned guests—had lectures. My own lecture was devoted to “The future of education and ecological civilization: The philosopher’s responsibility concerning education in the epoch of AI” Again the discussion after the lectures was interesting: most of the questions from the students and the researches at the University were directed to the future use of AI in the process of education: what is the difference between the strong and the weak AI and would it be possible for AI to teach to human pupils and students: wouldn’t it be dangerous for the mankind to leave the whole process of education “in the hands” so to say of AI only? It was pointed also as a problem for such teaching on the part of AI that (at least at present) AI has no emotions and it would constitute a problem for the successful contact between AI teacher and human pupils. Nevertheless, the benefit of that discussion was that it has urged the participants to think how to overcome these problems in the future, when such situation would appear.
In addition, I was happy to visit the Green Lake in the town and the park there, and to enjoy the beauty of the nature.
The next part of my visit in China was in one of the old capitals of China—Luoyang, Henan province on the 16th-17th of November. There I—together with the above mentioned professors from the USA and China—participated in the conference “Process philosophy and the basic education reform” with many Chinese process philosophers and educators from different Chinese universities, middle school, and elementary schools. My own talk here was devoted to “Some aspects of the process philosophical basis of education reform in Bulgaria” in which I shared my thoughts about the successful reform on the basis of process philosophical methodology of education and how it could be in help for education reform in China. Just before the beginning of the conference all participants have joined to the official ceremony of the opening of the Luoyang John Cobb Working Station on Ecological Civilization. It is an important step to organizing a serious education on ecological civilization in Luoyang. We all also have visited the Luoyang Museum of Natural Education Base, and in the afternoon, the participants visited the “Academic Achievements Exhibition of Dr. John Cobb”.
The last stage of my stay in China was the visit to Chongqing on the 18th-19th of November, where I had an invited one-hour lecture for students at the Chongqing University on “Ecological civilization and constructive postmodern ethics” together with Prof. Jay Jones and Prof. Zhihe Wang with their own lectures. Here again the students have heard very carefully our thoughts in the lectures. These young people are part of the future of China and I again realized that they understand very well their responsibility for that future. After the lectures, we all had the opportunity to have a look at the University itself and I was impressed with the conditions built for the students for their full-bodied stay there.
Next day I had the opportunity to have a look at the town itself, the great Yangtze River which crosses the town and the enormous crowd of people around it at the evening. The final stage before my departure was the organized visit at the agricultural farm near the town where people follow the principles of ecology in the cultivating of their production. These efforts have confirmed my impression that China has a firm intention to build up an ecological civilization as soon as possible though many difficulties have to be overcome inevitably.
Finally, on the 19th of November I had my flight back to my country Bulgaria. However, in my thoughts—about a month since my traveling to China—I have the feeling that I am still with my new friends in China. I will never forget their enthusiasm for process thought. For them, process philosophy as a process-organic thinking has provided a theoretical foundation for ecological civilization. I also will never forget their positive attitude toward the world as a whole, their generosity, hospitality and enthusiasm to rebuild a green China. A few days after the end of my visit to China I had a lecture in Bulgaria at my Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences about the multifaceted China (science, education, culture, philosophy, etc.). The two hours’ lecture was met with a great interest from my colleagues from the Institute. It’s a pity that we—Bulgarians and Chinese people—do not know enough about our countries and cultures.
So, in conclusion, I do hope that this deficiency will be overcome in a short future and that I myself will be able to contribute further to the fruitful development of that process of getting to know much better each other and our cultures. Also, I do hope that with the help of process philosophy, both Bulgarians and Chinese people as well as all of the other countries in the world can work together to create the new civilization—Ecological civilization.
Dr. Vesselin Petrov holds an MA in mathematics (1977), a PhD in philosophy (1989) and a DSc in philosophy (2011). He is Professor and Head of the Department of “Models, Methodologies, and Heuristics” of the Institute for the Study of Societies and Knowledge at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. His fields of research interest include process philosophy, metaphysics, ontology, applied ontology, philosophy of science and philosophy of mathematics. He is author of four books in Bulgarian and of more than 120 papers in Bulgarian, English, Russian and Chinese. He is also editor of twenty books in Bulgarian and English, among them Ontological Landscapes: Recent Thought on Conceptual Interfaces Between Science and Philosophy (Frankfurt: Ontos Verlag, 2011), Dynamic Being: Essays in Process-Relational Ontology (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015) and Mathematics in Philosophy (Les Éditions Chromatika, 2017). Professor Petrov was Executive Director (2015 – 2017) of the International Process Network. He is Editor-in-chief of the international periodical Balkan Journal of Philosophy.
Chinese and Foreign Process Educators Gathered in Luoyang to Discuss New Ideas for Reforming Basic Education
In today’s era of rapid globalization and information technology, educational reform has become the core driving force behind social progress. As the “Basic Education Curriculum and Teaching Reform Deepening Action Plan” gradually progresses, more and more people have come to deeply understand that the mission of basic education lies not only in imparting knowledge, but also in cultivating students’ thinking skills, especially their ability to integrate knowledge and develop in a well-rounded manner. The core of basic education is the transformation from knowledge education to quality education. The introduction of process philosophy provides us with a new perspective to promote the reform of basic education. This philosophical thinking emphasizes the interconnection, interdependence and intercommunication of all things, which prompts us to pay attention to every aspect of education, so as to comprehensively improve the overall quality of students through the organic combination of school education and off-campus research.
In this context, on November 16-17, 2024, Chinese and foreign process educators gathered in Luoyang, the ancient capital of 13 dynasties, to participate in the International Symposium on “Process Philosophy and Basic Education Reform” to discuss new ideas for the reform of basic education. The conference was hosted by Taikoo Education Group, Songshan Global Geology Research Museum, Longmen Aquarium and the Institute for Postmodern Development of China (IPDC), and the Center for Process Studies (CPS). The conference was conducted through a combination of research and study. On the morning of the 16th, a field trip was organized to the Luoyang Museum of Natural Education Base, and in the afternoon, the participants visited the “Academic Achievements of Academician Cobb Exhibition” and Longmen Aquarium. On the morning of the 17th, the unveiling ceremony of the John Cobb Workstation on Ecological Civilization was successfully held. The Luoyang Cobb Workstation on Ecological Civilization will rely on the Songshan Global Geology Research Museum to promote the concept and practice of ecological civilization education. The workstation will also use the Longmen Aquarium in Luoyang as an educational and practical base to carry out ecological protection, nature education and marine science activities, as well as hosting international academic seminars and domestic academic exchanges to promote the popularization and deepening of the concept of ecological civilization. Through this conference, experts and scholars in the field of education from home and abroad, as well as educators, gathered to discuss and share cutting-edge concepts and practical experiences in the development of basic education. Many researchers shared their academic achievements.
Dr. Mary Evelyn Tucker, a famous American process thinker, ecologist and Confucian scholar, and professor at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies; John Grim, senior lecturer and research scholar at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies; Vesselin Petrov, a renowned Bulgarian process philosopher, professor emeritus and former director of the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, and former Executive Director of the International Process Network; Jay Jones, Professor of the Environment at the University of La Verne in the United States; Dr. Wang Zhihe, Co-Director of China Project, Center for Process Studies, as well as director of the Institute for Postmodern Development of China; Professor Liu Xiaoting, School of Philosophy, Beijing Normal University; Professor Yang Fubin, Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University United International College (UIC); Professor Guo Haipeng, Executive Director of the Whitehead Research Center at UIC; Professor Yang Li, Harbin Normal University; Professor Pang Yonghong, Chongqing University; Professor Zhang Xin, former Director of the Luolong District Education Bureau, former Principal of Luoyang No. 1 High School, and Distinguished Professor of Luoyang Normal University; and Ding Hongwei, Chairman of Taikoo Education Group, were among the experts who attended the symposium.
Professor John Grim from Yale University spoke at the conference about the inspiration that the cosmology and ecological wisdom of the indigenous peoples of North America can provide for educational reform. He pointed out that the ecological wisdom of the indigenous peoples is closely linked to education, and that this wisdom is integrated into the way of life of a particular ethnic group. This is not a romanticized portrayal of the ethnic group, but an attempt to elucidate the core insight of its diverse philosophies, namely the relational nature of the universe. Therefore, education takes place in the context of the “relational self”. The transmission of knowledge and experience is constantly intertwined in education, as subjectivities interact, communicate and pass on to one another. Cosmologies play a special role in these educational exchanges, as these living oral narratives express the values, orientation and deep emotional possibilities of education.
In her keynote speech entitled “Ecological Civilization and Traditional Chinese Thought,” Mary Evelyn Tucker first reviewed the modernization process in China over the past 75 years and discussed how some important concepts in ecological civilization originated in traditional Chinese thought and what their basic meaning is. Among these concepts, mutual benefit refers to working for the common good. In the Confucian context, mutual benefit means personal self-cultivation and collective efforts to achieve social prosperity. Reconnection refers to the integration of knowledge and practice for the betterment of society as a whole. In the Confucian context, this means mastering both the practice of science and technology and the principles of humanistic values. Renewable-ability refers to the need for renewable energy to enable humanity and the planet to transition towards ecological civilization and achieve net-zero carbon emissions. In the Confucian context, this means that both the environment and individuals need to shift towards a process of energy regeneration. Finally, the report points out that in order to achieve the transition, we already have the corresponding scientific, policy, legal, technological, and economic knowledge. We also need ecological cultural values to provide ideological support for ecological civilization, and education and enlightenment are crucial.
Jay Jones shared his views on how we can educate for ecological civilization. In the United States, science education is becoming increasingly narrow and divorced from nature. This is reflected in the fact that people spend very little time in nature, are unfamiliar with it, know little about the biota and other aspects of the environment, have less emotional attachment to it, and are ageing. He pointed out that this is a complex phenomenon. Cultural changes, technology, declining teacher self-esteem, inflated grades, and other factors are directly related. He called on us to get out of our physical and online cocoons: reconnect with each other and nature, and use the physical, technological, and experiential aspects as entry points to point out effective ways to reconnect with each other and nature. Specifically, these include the Internet of Everything, reducing the ecological footprint, maintaining a balanced curriculum, STEM courses, and travel as an important component. The report provides in-depth thinking on ecological civilization education.
Vesselin Petrov shared the philosophical basis of the process of educational reform in Bulgaria: problems and challenges. He pointed out that in the past 30 years, globalization and advances in digital technology have continuously brought new challenges to the next generation. However, the results of Bulgaria’s student competency assessment show that our education system first focuses on theoretical knowledge and ignores practical skills—a fact that contradicts the actual needs of students and the goal of schools to prepare young people for life. He offers an in-depth philosophical reflection on this phenomenon. According to the contemporary process and dynamic ontologies, the whole world is a living organism, and education is one of the most important functions of this organism. The purpose of process philosophy of education is, first, to integrate the efforts of different communities in the Bulgarian education process, carry out various activities to improve the teaching of philosophy and civic education; second, to establish a professional community composed of scientists, scholars and teachers; third, to create and distribute teaching resources that help teachers to widely apply a competency-based teaching method and encourage students to actively participate in school courses; and fourth, to carefully design and carry out applied and basic scientific investigations based on the Whiteheadian learning cycle and the learning objectives and principles derived from it.
Professor Wang Zhihe’s speech was entitled “The ‘Super Individual’ in the Context of Ecological Civilization: On the Necessity of Tongren Education”. He pointed out that process philosophy emphasizes that the individual is the concrescence of the universe. In this sense, every individual is a potential “super individual”. In contrast to industrial civilization, which needs screws, ecological civilization is a kind of civilization that affirms life, and this kind of civilization needs “postmodern super individuals”. The so-called “postmodern super individual” is a person who deeply understands that the interconnectedness and interdependence of all things is the reality of the universe. The cultivation of such “super individuals” urgently requires a kind of “humanistic education”. Mainstream Western modern education is, to a large extent, a kind of specialist education that adapts to and serves industrial civilization. With the decline of industrial civilization and the rise of ecological civilization, the anachronism of this specialist education has become inevitable. Ecological civilization calls for a postmodern “holistic education”. This kind of education focuses on cultivating students’ ability to integrate knowledge, transform things, and integrate learning with life. In this sense, holistic education is a kind of in-depth education. It cultivates people who can integrate knowledge, people who are reasonable and sensible, people who have the ability to empathize, and “sensitive people”, that is, “postmodern super individuals”.
Professor Liu Xiaoting pointed out that Whitehead’s thinking is extremely profound, but its depth also affects its dissemination. He feels that the popularization of process thinking is very necessary, and this work has not been carried out very well so far. In addition, he pointed out profoundly that even though there is a lot of talk about process, and it is well said, we must also explain that this thinking is also a process of development. We talk about dialectics, but when we look at Whitehead, he himself is dialectics, because the process itself is dialectical philosophy. In Marx’s words, everything that is fixed has already vanished. Philosophers only interpret the world in different ways, but the problem lies in constructing the world. Whitehead is constructing the world and even trying to change it. He pointed out that today, based on the understanding of the past 100 years, we need to re-strengthen our understanding of the process.
Professor Yang Fubin shared “Whitehead on the Purpose and Nature of Education”. He believes that the process philosopher Whitehead offers unique insights into the purpose and nature of education in his works “The Aims of Education” and “Essays on Science and Philosophy”. “What we should aim at producing is men who possess both culture and expert knowledge in some special direction. Their expert knowledge will give them the ground to start from, and their culture will lead them as deep as philosophy and as high as art.” [The Aims of Education, p. 1] True and valuable intellectual development is the process of self-growth. Education is teaching students the art of applying knowledge. In modern living conditions, those nations that do not value intellectual training are doomed to failure. If our education stagnates, with the development of science, the verdict against the uneducated will no longer need to be appealed. The essence of education, however, lies in its religious nature. Religious education is a teaching that repeatedly emphasizes responsibility and awe. Responsibility stems from our potential control over the course of events, and where knowledge can change fate, ignorance becomes a sin. The basis of awe lies in the realization that the present not only carries the past, but also contains the future, and that it itself contains all existence. This entire scope of time constitutes eternity.
Professor Guo Haipeng shared Whitehead’s views on teaching and education. He pointed out that from 1910 to 1924, while Whitehead was in London, he delivered ten lectures and two articles on education. Most of them were written for mathematics teachers at the basic education stage, including “Mathematics and Liberal Education”, “The Mathematical Curriculum”, and “The Aims of Education and Other Essays”, etc. that represent a general introduction to Whitehead’s thoughts on mathematics education and curriculum reform in these speeches and essays.
Chairman Ding Hongwei shared “The Theory and Practice of Museum Education: A Process Education Perspective”, expounding the theory of museum education and combining it with the practice of the Luoyang Aquarium to show us a wealth of museum education concepts and practices from both theory and practice. His practice and actions are based on process philosophy, providing us with an intuitive and beautiful picture of the flowering of process philosophy in China.
Professor Yang Li shared the keynote report “Organic Education in China,” which pointed out that as museums enter the 21st century, the important role of education in the development of countries in the human civilization zone is becoming increasingly prominent, and the status of education is being valued as never before. It is necessary to understand Whitehead’s organic education in China in order to better “absorb the outside” and “move towards the future.” Here, organic education specifically refers to educational thought and practice based on Whitehead’s organic philosophy, which includes both Whitehead’s educational thought and practice, as well as the application of Whitehead’s organic philosophy in Chinese educational theory and practice.
Shang Fei, principal of the First Primary School on Shiji Road in Jiuyuan District, Baotou City, Inner Mongolia, and Wang Yongmin, secretary and principal of the First Experimental Primary School in Luolong District, Luoyang City, among many other primary school principals, spoke at the conference about the integration and application of process philosophy in basic education.
On this platform full of wisdom and exploration, Chinese and foreign process educators gathered together to discuss the application and development of process philosophy in the field of basic education, bringing new thinking, new insights and new opportunities for cooperation to the seminar. Process philosophy, as a profound philosophical idea, provides us with a brand new perspective and method to understand and grasp the world. In the field of basic education, the introduction and application of process philosophy not only helps us to gain a deeper understanding of the nature and laws of education, but also provides a strong theoretical support and practical guidance for the innovation and development of education. The theme of this seminar, process philosophy and the development of basic education, is a field full of challenges and opportunities. In the agenda, a number of well-known experts and scholars from home and abroad were arranged to give keynote speeches and academic exchanges. From different perspectives and levels, they analyzed in depth the intrinsic connection and mutual influence between process philosophy and the development of basic education, bringing us a feast of ideas and academic discussions. At the same time, the participants actively spoke, asked questions and discussed, sharing each other’s research results and practical experience. With everyone’s joint efforts, the seminar achieved fruitful results and made a positive contribution to promoting the application and development of process philosophy in the field of basic education.
Xiaoyu Wang is a PhD student from the School of Education Sciences at Harbin Normal University.