NTU’s Institute for Advanced Research in Humanities and Social Sciences invite internationally renowned historian, and academician of Academia Sinica, Mr. Hsu Cho-yun to give a lecture as the first part in a series of talks on humane studies. This lecture, held on November 29th in the International Lecture Hall of the Institute of Applied Mechanics Building, was entitled “The Intelligentsia in History and the Intelligentsia of the Future”, in which Hsu expounded the meaning, aspiration, and mission of intellectuals from ancient times to the present.

Hsu maintains that the definition of an intellectual is tantamount to that of the so-called “scholar” in China. He quoted a passage written by Chang Tsai as befitting the descriptions of a good intellectual: “An intellectual is one who sets up kind-heartedness in the universe, establishes a livelihood for the common people carries on the sacred knowledge of past saints, and paves the road of peace and harmony for future generations.” Hsu uses Chang Tsai's passage to categorize intellectuals into four different types, saying that Chinese intellectuals basically conform to these four types, and these four types are mutually interchangable.