Chapter 28 Chapter Twenty Eight

After talking about the entire evolution and development of Chinese philosophy, readers may want to ask the following question: What does contemporary Chinese philosophy, especially Chinese philosophy during the war period, look like?What contribution will Chinese philosophy make to the philosophy of the future world?In fact, I'm often asked these questions, and I'm a little embarrassed, because the person who asks the question is asking about a philosophy that's not familiar with the traditions that that philosophy stands for and against, and that's hard. Explain it clearly to him.Well now that the reader has some knowledge of the various traditions of Chinese philosophy, I intend to continue the story told in the previous chapter to answer these questions.

In doing so, I would like to confine myself to my own story, not at all because I think it is the only one worth telling, but because it is the one I know best, perhaps as an illustration.I think it is much better to do this than to just write a series of names and "theories" without any sufficient explanation, and end up going through the motions without any impression.To say nothing more than what a certain philosopher is an "argument" creates misunderstanding rather than understanding. My own big "History of Chinese Philosophy", the second volume was published in 1934, three years before the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War; the first volume was translated into English by Dr. Bude and published in Peking in October 1937. The war has been going on for three months; this book is an expression of the spirit I mentioned at the end of the previous chapter.In this work, I have used the results of Sinologists' research on the works of ancient philosophers, and at the same time applied logical analysis methods to clarify the concepts of these philosophers.From the historian's point of view, there are limits to the application of this method, since the ideas of ancient philosophers, in their original form, could not be as clearly expressed as they are by modern interpreters.The function of the history of philosophy is to tell us what the words of philosophers, the men themselves, actually meant in the past, not what we think they ought to mean now.In "History of Chinese Philosophy", I try to keep the application of logical analysis methods within appropriate limits.

But from a purely philosopher's point of view, it is indeed much more difficult to ascertain the ideas of past philosophers, and to push their theories to their logical conclusions, in order to see whether they are true or false, than merely to find out what they thought they were. What it means is much more interesting and important.In doing so there is a development from the old to the new, and this development is another stage of the aforementioned zeitgeist.But this kind of work is no longer the declarative work of a historian, but the creative work of a philosopher.I have the same feeling as Wang Guowei, that is to say, I don't want to be just a historian of philosophy.So after finishing my "History of Chinese Philosophy", I immediately prepared to do new work.But at this juncture, the war broke out in the summer of 1937.

Before the war, the Department of Philosophy of Peking University (where I graduated) and the Department of Philosophy of Tsinghua University (where I taught) were considered the strongest in China.They each have their own traditions and emphases.The tradition and focus of the Department of Philosophy at Peking University is historical research, and its philosophical tendency is idealism. In terms of Western philosophy, it is Kantian and Hegelian, and in Chinese philosophy, it is Lu Wang.On the contrary, the tradition and focus of Tsinghua’s Department of Philosophy is to use logical analysis to study philosophical issues. Its philosophical tendency is realism, which is Platonism in Western philosophy (because the new realism philosophy is Platonic), and Chinese philosophy. The noun is Cheng Zhu.

Both Peking University and Tsinghua University were located in Beiping (formerly known as Beijing). After the war broke out, they moved to the southwest, where they formed Southwest Associated University with a third university, Nankai University in Tianjin, and spent the entire war period.The lineup of the two philosophy departments combined is rare and amazing, with nine professors representing all important schools of Chinese and Western philosophy.Initially, the United Nations General Assembly was located in Changsha, Hunan Province, and our Department of Philosophy and other departments of the Faculty of Arts and Law were located in Hengshan, the famous Nanyue Mountain.

We only lived in Hengshan for about four months, and in the spring of 1938 we moved to Kunming, the most southwestern border.It was only a few months in Hengshan, but I was deeply inspired spiritually.At that time, we were in the period of the greatest national disaster in our history; the place was the place where Huairang polished bricks and made mirrors (see Chapter 22 of this book), where Zhu Xi met his friends and discussed learning.We are suffering a fate similar to that of Jin people and Song people.But we live in an amazing environment: so many philosophers, writers and scholars living in one building.Facing changes in the world, lodging in famous mountains, gathering gentlemen: such a combination of heaven, earth and people makes this period of life extraordinarily exciting and fascinating.

In just a few months, myself and my colleagues, Professor Tang Yongtong and Professor Jin Yuelin, finished the works that I started before.Mr. Tang's book is the first part of "History of Chinese Buddhism".Mr. Jin's book is "Lun Dao".My book is "New Neo-Confucianism".Mr. Jin and I share many views, but my book is the development of Cheng Zhu Neo Confucianism, while his book is the result of independent research on metaphysical issues.Later in Kunming I wrote a series of other books: "Xin Shi Lun", also known as "China's Road to Freedom"; "Xin Yuan Man"; "Xin Yuan Dao", also known as "The Spirit of Chinese Philosophy" Translated into English by Mr. Hughes of Oxford University and published in London); "New Knowledge" (all books are published by Shanghai Commercial Press).In the following, I try to outline one or two main points of each book, as an example, to see a trend in contemporary Chinese philosophy; in doing so, it may be possible to reveal from the side what contribution Chinese philosophy will make to future philosophy.

Philosophical reasoning, and more precisely metaphysical reasoning, starts from the fact that there is something in experience.This something may be a feeling, an emotion, or something else.From the sentence "there is something", all the concepts or concepts of "New Neo-Confucianism" are deduced, which are either Cheng Zhu's or Taoist's.These ideas or concepts are all regarded in this way as only the logical implication of the sentence "there is something".It is not difficult to see how the concepts of "li" and "qi" are deduced from "there is a certain thing", and other concepts are also handled in this way.For example, I do not treat the idea of ​​"motion" as a cosmological idea, that is, some actual original idea of ​​motion in the universe; but as a metaphysical idea, implicit in the idea of ​​"being" itself. internal concept, to deal with.Existence is a movement, a movement.If we consider the quiet aspect of the universe, we will use the Taoist saying: before there are things, there must be "existence".If we consider the movement of the universe, we will use the Confucian saying: before things exist, there must be "movement", which is just another popular saying of existence.In what I call pictorial thinking, in fact, in the imagination, people imagine "being" and "moving" as "God, the "father" of all things. This kind of imaginative thinking makes people have religion and the universe. Formationism, not philosophy and metaphysics.

Following this line of deduction, I have been able to deduce all the metaphysical concepts of Chinese philosophy in "New Neo-Confucianism" and combine them into a clear and systematic whole.The book was received favorably, because reviews of it seemed to feel that the structure of Chinese philosophy had never been so clearly stated.Some believe it marks the revival of Chinese philosophy.The revival of Chinese philosophy is regarded as a symbol of the revival of the Chinese nation. In Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism, as we saw in the previous chapter, there are certain elements of authoritarianism and conservatism, but these are all avoided in "New Neo-Confucianism".According to my opinion, metaphysics can only know that there are "reasons", but not the content of each "reason".Discovering the content of each "reason" is a matter of science, and science must use scientific experimental methods. "Li" itself is absolute and eternal, but "Li" as we know it, as a scientific law and theory, is relative and changeable.

The realization of "reason" must have a material basis.Various types of societies are the realization of various "reasons" of social structure, and the material basis needed to realize each "reason" is the economic basis of a certain type of society.So in the field of history.I believe in economic explanations.In Xin Shi Lun, I apply this interpretation to Chinese culture and history.I also apply to the second chapter of this book. In my opinion, Wang Guowei's distress in philosophy is due to his failure to realize that each knowledge has its own scope of application.One doesn't need to believe in any metaphysical doctrine that says a lot about reality.If it makes such an affirmation, it is bad metaphysics, and equally bad science.This does not mean that good metaphysics cannot be trusted.It just means that good metaphysics is obvious, and there is no more need to be said to believe it than mathematics.The difference between metaphysics and mathematics and logic lies in that the latter two do not need to start from "something". "There is something" is an affirmation of reality, and the only affirmation metaphysics needs.

The method I used in "New Neo-Confucianism" is completely analytical.But after writing this book, I began to realize that the negative method is also important, which has already been discussed in Chapter 21 of this book.Now, if someone asked me to define philosophy, I would reply in a paradoxical way: Philosophy, and metaphysics in particular, is that kind of knowledge which, in its development, ends up as "knowing not knowing".If this is the case, the negative method must be used.The purpose of philosophy, especially metaphysics, is not to increase practical knowledge, but to improve spiritual realm.Although these points are just my personal opinions, as we have seen before, they represent some aspects of the Chinese philosophical tradition.It is in these aspects that I think it is possible to contribute to the philosophy of the future world.Next, I will play a little bit on these aspects. Philosophy, like every other branch of knowledge, must start from experience.But philosophy, especially metaphysics, differs from other branches of knowledge in that it develops so that it finally reaches "something" beyond experience.In this "something" there is something that cannot be felt but thought logically.For example, a square table is perceptible, but "square" is not.This is not because our senses are not fully developed, but because "fang" is a "reason". Logically speaking, "reason" can only be thought of but not felt. In this "something" there is also something that is neither sensible nor, strictly speaking, thinkable.In the first chapter, I said that philosophy is the thought of systematic reflection on life.Because of its reflective nature, it ultimately has to think "something" that cannot logically be the object of thought.For example, the universe, since it is the totality of all that exists, cannot logically be an object of thought.As we have seen in Chapter Nineteen, the word "heaven" is sometimes used in this sense of the whole, as Guo Xiang said: "Heaven is the general name of all things." When man thinks about the universe, he is thinking reflectively, because both the thinking and the thinking person must be included in the whole.But when he thinks about the whole, the whole is in his thinking and does not include the thinking itself.Because it is the object of thinking, it stands opposite to thinking.So the totality he has in mind is not actually the totality of all that exists.But he still has to think of the whole in order to realize that the whole is unthinkable.One needs thinking to know the unthinkable; just as sometimes one needs sound to know silence.One has to think about the unthinkable, but as soon as one tries to do so, it slips away.This is both the most fascinating and the most annoying thing about philosophy. Logically speaking, what cannot be sensed is beyond experience; what is neither sensible nor thoughtable is beyond reason.One cannot say much about beings beyond experience and reason.So philosophy, or at least metaphysics, must be simple in its nature.Otherwise it becomes simply bad science again.Although it has only some simple concepts, it is enough to complete its task. What is the task of philosophy?I pointed out in the first chapter that according to the tradition of Chinese philosophy, its task is not to increase practical and positive knowledge, but to improve people's spiritual realm.It seems appropriate here to explain more clearly the meaning of the words. I once said in the book "New Original Man" that the difference between man and other animals is that when a man does something, he understands what he is doing and feels that he is doing it.It is this awareness that makes what he is doing meaningful to him.He does all kinds of things with various meanings, and all kinds of meanings are integrated into a whole to form his realm of life.This constitutes the realm of each person's life, this is my view.Different people may do the same thing, but with different levels of awareness, what they do has different meanings to them.Everyone has their own realm of life, which is not exactly the same as any other individual.Regardless of these individual differences, we can divide the various states of life into four general grades.Starting from the lowest, they are: the realm of nature, the realm of utilitarianism, the realm of morality, and the realm of heaven and earth. When a person does things, he may just follow his instinct or the customs of his society.Like a child and a primitive man, he does what he does without understanding, or very little understanding.Thus, what he does has little or no meaning to him.His realm of life is what I call the realm of nature. A man may be conscious of himself and do various things for himself.That doesn't mean he's necessarily an immoral person.He can do things whose consequences are beneficial to others and whose motives are self-interested.So all the things he does have utilitarian meanings to him.The realm of his life.This is what I call the realm of utilitarianism. Others may understand the existence of society, and he is a member of society.This society is a whole, and he is a part of this whole.With this understanding, he does all kinds of things for the benefit of the society, or as Confucianism says, he does things for the sake of "righteousness and no profit".He is truly a moral person, and all he does are moral actions that conform to strict moral meanings.Everything he does has moral significance.So his realm of life is what I call the moral realm. Finally, a person may realize that beyond the whole of society, there is a greater whole, the universe.He is not only a member of society, but also a member of the universe.He is a citizen of the social organization and at the same time, what Mencius called a "citizen of heaven".With this awareness, he does all kinds of things for the benefit of the universe.He understands the meaning of what he is doing and feels that he is doing what he is doing.This understanding constitutes the highest realm of life for him, which is what I call the realm of heaven and earth. Among the four realms of life, people in the realm of nature and utility are what people are now; people in the realm of morality and heaven and earth are what people should be.The former two are the products of nature, and the latter two are the creations of the spirit.The natural realm is the lowest, followed by the utilitarian realm, then the moral realm, and finally the heaven and earth realm.The reason why they are so is that the realm of nature requires little awareness; the realm of utilitarianism and morality requires more awareness; the realm of heaven and earth requires the most awareness.The realm of morality has moral value, and the realm of heaven and earth has super-moral value. According to the tradition of Chinese philosophy, the task of philosophy is to help people reach the realm of morality and the realm of heaven and earth, especially the realm of heaven and earth.The realm of heaven and earth can also be called the realm of philosophy, because only by gaining some understanding of the universe through philosophy can one reach the realm of heaven and earth.But the moral realm is also a product of philosophy.Morality is not simply an act of following the moral law; a moral person is not simply a person who develops certain moral habits.He must act and live with an awareness of the moral principles involved, and it is the task of philosophy to give him this awareness. Those who live in the realm of morality are sages, and those who live in the realm of heaven and earth are saints.Philosophy teaches how to become a saint.I pointed out in Chapter 1 that to be a saint is to attain the highest achievement of being human.This is the noble task of philosophy. In, Plato says that the philosopher must ascend from the "cave" of the world of sense to the world of reason.When a philosopher reaches the rational world, that is to say, he has reached the realm of heaven and earth.But the highest achievement of a person in the realm of heaven and earth is that he is one with the universe, and in this oneness, he transcends reason. As we have been told in previous chapters, Chinese philosophy has always tended to emphasize that in order to become a sage, one does not need to do anything unusual.He cannot perform miracles, nor does he need to.What he does is just what ordinary people do, but because of his high awareness, what he does has different meanings to him.In other words, he is doing what he is doing in the state of awareness, and others are doing what they are doing in the state of ignorance.Some people in Zen say that the word Jue is the source of all wonders.The meaning generated by consciousness constitutes his highest state of life. Therefore, Chinese sages are both worldly and worldly, and Chinese philosophy is both worldly and worldly.With the progress of science in the future, I believe that religion, with its dogmas and superstitions, will give way to science; but man's desire to transcend the world will be satisfied by future philosophy.It is likely that the philosophy of the future will be both in-the-world and out-of-the-world.In this regard, Chinese philosophy may contribute. In "Xinzhiyan", I believe that there are two methods of metaphysics; the positive method and the negative method.The essence of the positive method is to say what the metaphysical object is; the essence of the negative method is not to say it.In doing so, the negative method also reveals its nature and certain aspects that cannot be said by positive description and analysis. In Chapter 2 above, I agree with what Professor Northrop said: Western philosophy takes his so-called "hypothetical concept" as the starting point, and Chinese philosophy takes his so-called "intuitive concept" as the starting point.As a result, the positive approach naturally dominates Western philosophy, and the negative approach naturally dominates Chinese philosophy.This is especially true of Taoism, which begins and ends with the whole of chaos.In "Laozi", it does not say what "Tao" actually is, but only what it is not.But if you know what it is not, you also understand some of what it is. We have seen that Buddhism has strengthened the negative method of Taoism.The combination of Taoism and Buddhism produced Zen. I would rather call the philosophy of Zen the philosophy of silence.Whoever understands and understands the meaning of silence will gain something from the object of metaphysics. In the West, Kant can be said to have applied the negative method of metaphysics.In his, he found the Unknowable, the Being.In the eyes of Kant and other Western philosophers, the unknowable is the unknowable, so nothing can be said about it, so it is better to abandon metaphysics altogether and just talk about epistemology.But in the eyes of people who are accustomed to the negative method, just because the unknowable is unknowable, it should be taken for granted that nothing should be said about it.The task of metaphysics is not to say something about the unknowable; it is merely to say something about the fact that the unknowable is unknowable.Whoever knows that the unknowable is the unknowable knows it at last.On this point, Kant has done a lot of work. All the great metaphysical systems in philosophy, no matter whether they are positive or negative in terms of methodology, all put themselves under the big hat of "mysticism".The negative method is essentially the method of mysticism.But even in Plato, Aristotle, and Spinoza, the positive method is used to perfection, but the apexes of their systems are also of a mystical nature.The philosopher sees the "idea" of "goodness" in "Metaphysics" and identifies himself with it; Seeing themselves "seeing all things from the perspective of eternity" and enjoying the "understanding love of God," what can they do but be silent at such times?Wouldn't it be better to describe their state with words like "not one", "not many", "not not one", "not not many"? From this point of view, the positive method and the negative method are not contradictory, but complementary.A complete metaphysical system should begin with the positive method and end with the negative method.It cannot reach the final apex of philosophy if it does not end in a negative way.But if it does not start with the right method, it lacks the clear thought that is the essence of philosophy.Mysticism is not the opposite of, nor is it subordinate to, clear thinking.Rather it is outside of clear thought.It is not against reason; it is beyond reason. In the history of Chinese philosophy, the positive method has never been fully developed; in fact, it has been too neglected.Therefore, Chinese philosophy has always lacked clear thinking, which is one of the reasons why Chinese philosophy is characterized by simplicity.Its simplicity is also very austere because of the lack of clear thought.Simplicity in itself is admirable; but its simplicity must be overcome by the work of clear thought.Clarity of thought is not the end of philosophy, but it is an indispensable discipline every philosopher needs.It is indeed what Chinese philosophers need.On the other hand, the negative method has never been fully developed in the history of Western philosophy.Only the combination of the two can produce the philosophy of the future. There is a story in Zen that says: "Monk Juzhi, when he asked questions, he only raised one finger. Then there was a boy, because an outsider asked, "What method does the monk say?" Pointing, the boy cried and left. Called again, the boy turned his head, but raised his finger, and the boy suddenly understood." ("Cao Shan Quotations") Whether the story is true or not, it implies this truth: before using the negative method.The philosopher or the student of philosophy has to go through the right method; he has to go through the complexity of philosophy before he reaches the simplicity of philosophy. One has to talk a lot and then keep silent.