“Cultivation of Personality” and University as the Community of Scientific Discourse

This chapter explores Cai Yuanpei&s;s efforts to build Peking University (PKU) into a scientific discourse community by integrating “personality cultivation” with academic development (1917–1923). He adjusted Humboldt&s;s concept of “ Bildung durch Wissenschaft, ” focusing on empirical science, simplifying the role of philosophy, and replacing religion with aesthetic education to address the moral gap science couldn&s;t cover. To address the limitations of professional education, Cai Yuanpei implemented an elective system to break disciplinary boundaries, and restructured sections into departments, though this inadvertently strengthened disciplinary boundaries due to the teachers&s; professional interests. Ultimately, Cai aimed to achieve China&s;s academic autonomy with universal scientific discourse. Though PKU had limited enduring academic achievements then, Cai&s;s cultural, systemic, and conceptual groundwork laid the foundation for later academic prosperity and influenced diverse intellectual factions.