The Institute was founded in 1988, based on the following ideas: One is the modernization of Chinese Philosophy in the last century; the other is the development of the West since the Enlightenment. By assimilating the Western philosophy, the former tires to rearrange the traditional philosophy of China and to propose important and creative interpretation. The latter refers to the linguistic turn of Anglo-American philosophy in the 20th century, the prosperity of Continent phenomenology, and the new reflections and developments caused by modernization after the Second World War, such as post-modernism. These philosophical currents, criticizing and clearing up the philosophical tradition originating from modernization of the West in diverse and multi-faceted ways, could not be ignored by any researcher in philosophy. On the other hand, some new moral issues of the world induced by the speedy expansion of modern society, lead to the rise of applied philosophy and applied ethics. Therefore, the institute has these three axes of philosophical movements, namely, the modern interpretation of Chinese philosophy, the development of the Western contemporary philosophy, and the investigation of applied philosophy and applied ethics, in order to make contribution to internalization and diversification of Chinese philosophy.