"China's * * * Production Movement and the Rise of Mao Zedong" is a revised version of Dr. Schwartz's thesis, and its theme is to study the relationship between the ideological debate in the China Revolution in the 1920s and 1930s and Mao Zedong Thought. This is a typical historical topic about the political situation, but Schwartz combined it with the study of the history of thought, and discussed the most important issues in the China revolution through the study of the history of thought. It is a classic research case to explain politics with thought and explain the role of thought in history with politics.
In his book, Schwartz refutes the assumption that the proletarian movement in China is controlled by the Soviet Union. He expounded Mao Zedong's point of view, that is, he refused the orders of the Soviets, deviated from their guidance, and gained China's own power through struggle. He also pointed out that capitalism decentralized power through expansion. Schwartz established an academic orientation, that is, to explore the spiritual career and personality of sports leaders in a specific historical situation and historical contingency by using text materials in sports, so as to understand how consciousness and action are related.
In order to provide a translated text for others to discuss the relationship between ideology and action practice, Schwartz and two other scholars compiled The Documentary History of China Communism in China (Harvard, 1952), and also compiled his paper on * * * productism into a book. This is communism and China: Changing Ideology (Harvard, 1968).
Schwartz's second monograph, Seeking Wealth and Power: Yan Fu and the West (Harvard, 1964), puts forward the problem of ideas more directly. By analyzing several major European philosophical works translated by Yan Fu, he showed people how intellectuals in the late Qing Dynasty explored and sought the secret of maintaining social and political cohesion and cultural and economic vitality in Europe. In Yan Fu's view, the prosperity of Europe stems from the freedom of personal interests granted by European countries and the release of energy during free competition and struggle within society. Comparatively speaking, in recent centuries, China has become poorer and poorer. The reason lies in the fact that Taisha and her rulers intentionally guide culture away from struggle and competition in the name of maintaining social harmony. Yan Fu did a lot of important work for China people to pay attention to anti-idol, struggle and social Darwinism in the 20th century. In his explanation of Yan Fu, Schwartz pointed out that Spencer sometimes could not understand the internal logic of his thoughts as strictly as his translator in China. Yan Fu realized that Spencer's philosophy of biological evolution gave the state priority over his famous individualistic freedom. After further summarizing how westerners take it for granted that the social and political concept of freedom and the power of capitalist socio-economic system contributed to the factors of liberalism, Schwartz pointed out that the integration of the two became obvious only in the early19th century. At the same time, he also elaborated how reading China's text showed fundamental tension under the premise of liberalism. In the hands of intellectuals who are keen on politics, the value of freedom advocated by Yan Fu has become a tool to serve the goal of China's prosperity. Therefore, the free thought of a free idealist is valuable only if it becomes a means to serve the goal of national prosperity to a certain extent.
In order to continue to explore the relationship between eastern and western thoughts, Schwartz organized a seminar and edited the discussion results into Reflections on the May 4th Movement (Harvard, 1972). During 1976, Schwartz and Henry Rosemont organized a two-week seminar on China's ancient thoughts at Harvard, which was attended by 45 scholars from all over the world. Subsequently, Scholars Publishing House published two volumes of research papers: the first volume "Study on China's Classical Chinese Thought" was co-edited by them (1979), and the second volume "Exploration of Early Cosmology in China" was compiled by Luo (1984).
China's Ancient Thought World (Harvard University Press, 1985) is the pinnacle of Schwartz's work. It is the crystallization of Schwartz's decades of teaching and thinking about China Thought and its relationship with contemporary western society and disciplines. In writing this book, Schwartz not only wants to explain the connection between China's ancient thoughts and contemporary interdisciplinary issues, but also wants to show the diversity and tension within China culture. Different from the formulaic and holistic paradigm of China's cultural studies, he debated with some outstanding experts. In his view, these experts' explanations and paradigms of China culture either cover up the internal tension of China culture or simplify the complexity of comparative study between China and the West. However, he never regarded his remarks as a total denial of the persistent * * * similarity tendency within China culture, and included two public speeches about these persistent cultural orientations in his short book "China's Cultural Values" (Asian Studies Center of Arizona State University, 1985). Although he often talks about his thought hypothesis in his works, he reveals more the interactive relationship between himself and the subject, his reflection and the subject in China's ancient thought world. In addition, he works very hard and takes language seriously in order to convey narrative and translation to readers accurately and meticulously. For this book, his readers are mainly educated people, not just experts in East Asian studies. In addition, although his readers will be challenged intellectually and morally when they try to read his works, they still have a warm response.
China's ancient ideological world won the Ralph Waldo Emerson Prize of Pierre Beta Kappa and the henry james Blix Prize of the American Historical Society. Among Schwartz's early awards, there were 1953- 1954 Guggenheim Scholarship and 1974- 1975 Professor O. Eastman of Oxford University.
There is a view that Schwartz is very concerned about the philosophy of language. However, there is another view that Schwartz's main thoughts focus on the historical essence of political operation and power view. Schwartz's works are not easy to fall into a simple theme.
Perhaps the core of Schwartz's thought can be summarized by one axis: system-culture. In Schwartz's eyes, the system is not only a political system, but also a system that includes all human laws and regulations. Among them, the political system is undoubtedly what Schwartz is most interested in, followed by the economic system.
Schwartz's last book is "China and Other Matters" (Harvard, 1996), in which there is a preface, in which he reflects on his thinking about China and his understanding of China's ideological course. This preface provides a broader background for the article he wrote in this issue before his death (this article was published in English in Philosophy of East and West). This book also includes some republished papers, which shows that Schwartz, as a humanist, pays close attention to China. For example, in 1978, he published Rousseau's Response in the Contemporary World about Daedalus, and discussed how Rousseau's modern moral concept influenced the more radical argument of the "new left" about art and politics, and how the patriotic concept of the polis was transformed into nationalist belief. Unfortunately, although his preface to Daedalus's issue 1975 in the first millennium BC is included in this collection, his own paper on China's early transcendence is not included.
Some of Schwartz's thoughtful papers sometimes appear in Daedalus and other periodicals, as well as in some conference collections, where he has the opportunity to do special research on world religions, morality, culture and other issues besides China studies as a humanist.