The essays collected in this volume, all originally written in English for a non-Chinese audience are taken from those writings of Fung Yu-lan that are relatively far-reaching and concise. As a whole, Fung's writings are the result of contact between Eastern and Western culture and of the modernization of Chinese philosophy. He investigates philosophy in the light of all of its cultural manifestations, taking the problem of life as his focus. Along such a trend and under the guidance of Professor John Dewey, he completed his doctoral dissertation, "A Comparative Study of Life Ideals," at Columbia University in 1923 (published in 1924). The work presents the young author's achievements in his endeavour to have a thorough knowledge of both Western and Chinese philosophy and their life ideals and to pursue the highest ideal of life as he saw it.