中国哲学简史-各章精华总结

The spirit of Chinese philosophyPhilosophy is systematic, reflective thinking on life. Reflecting thinking is the thinking on thinking. Before we start to think about life, we must first “think our thinking”. What the philosophers call the Universe is the totality of all that is. Taoism as a philosophy teaches the doctrine of following nature; while Taoism as a religion teaches the doctrine of working against nature.It is ethics (especially Confucian ethics) and not religion (at least not religion of a formal, organized type) that provided the spiritual basis in Chinese civilization.God is a personality in Christianity, and consequently the love of God by man is comparable to the love of a father by his son.In the tradition of Chinese philosophy, there is a distinction between working on learning and working on Tao. The purpose of the former is the increase of positive knowledge; that of the latter is the elevation of the mind. (为学日盛，为道日损) philosophy belongs to the latter category.The highest achievement of a sage is the identification of the individual with the Universe.Chinese philosophy is both of this world (入世) and of the other world (出世). This-worldly philosophy: emphasizing what is in society, speaking only about moral values not super-moral ones, for practical use and realistic and superficial.Other-worldly philosophy: If a sage wants to realize the highest achievement, he has to abandon society and even life itself, idealistic.This-worldliness and other-worldliness stand in contrast to each other as do idealism and realism. The task of Chinese philosophy is to accomplish a synthesis out of these antitheses.Chinese sage: sageliness within and kingliness without (内圣外王). In his inner sageliness, he accomplishes spiritual cultivation. In his kingliness without, he functions in society.Philosophy is not simply something to be known, but is also something to be experiment. Philosophy is a system of precepts internal to the conduct of the philosopher.Suggestiveness is the ideal of all Chinese art, whether it be poetry, painting, or anything else.The background of Chinese philosophyIn thinking, the thinker is usually conditioned by the surroundings in which he lives. The ancient China is a continental country, making their living by agriculture. In Chinese philosophy, the farmers outlook not only conditioned its content, but also its methodology.In the sphere of nature and in that of man, when the development of anything brings it to one extreme, a reversal to the other extreme takes place. Reversal is the movement of the Tao. (反着道之动，居安思危)Taoism and Confucianism differ because they are the rationalization or theoretical expression of different aspects of life of the farmers. The Taoists idealized the simplicity of primitive society and condemned civilization. They also idealized the innocence of children and despised knowledge. Confucianism is the philosophy of social organization, and is also the philosophy of daily life. Confucianism emphasizes the social responsibilities of man, while Taoism emphasizes whats natural and spontaneous in him.One must make a logical analysis in order to distinguish between what is permanent and what is changeable in the history of philosophy.New Chinese philosophy wont confine itself to “concept by intuitions”.The origin of the SchoolsIf names be incorrect, speech will not follow its natural sequence. If speech doesnt follow its natural sequence, nothing can be established. (名不正则言不顺，言不顺则事不成)Members of the Ju School had their origin in the literati.Members of the Mohist School had their origin in the knights.Members of the Taoist School had their origin in the hermits.Members of the School of Names had their origin in the debaters.Members of the Yin-Yang School had their origin in the practioners of occult arts.Members of the Legalist School had their origin in the men of methods.Confucius: the first teacherSix classes: Book of Change (Yi), Book of Odes (Poetry), Book of History, Rituals, Music, Spring and Autumn Annals. 易，诗，书，礼，乐，春秋。The six classes had existed before the time of Confucius, and they constituted the cultural legacy of the past. While transmitting the traditional institutions and ideas, Confucius gave them interpretations derived from his own moral concept.Society: the rectification of names. Let the ruler be ruler, the minister minister, the father father, the son son. Every name in the social relationships implies certain responsibilities and duties.Human-heartedness and righteousness (仁，义). 忠恕之道是孔子实现仁义的途径。The superior man comprehends Yi, the small man comprehends Li. 君子喻于义，小人喻于利。The Taoist taught the theory of “doing nothing (无为)”, whereas the Confucianists taught that of “doing for nothing （为而无所求）”. The wise are from doubts; the virtuous from anxiety; the brave from fear. 知者不惑，仁者不忧，勇者不惧。Mo Tzu, the first opponent of ConfuciusConfucius was the rationalizer and justifier of the ancient civilization, while the Mo Tzu was its critic. A major aim of his preaching was to oppose both the traditional institutions and practices, and the theories of Confucius and the Confucianists.The central core of the Mohist philosophy: criticism on the traditional institutions and their rationalizer Confucius and the Confucianists; and the elaboration and rationalization of the professional ethics of themselves.All-embracing love is a central one in Mo Tzus philosophy, while Confucius emphasizes the graded love.Besides religious sanctions, political ones are also needed if people are to practice all-embracing love. There can be only one standard of right and wrong. Right is the practice of “mutual all-embracing love”, and wrong is the practice of “mutual discrimination”.The first phase of Taoism: Yang chu全性保真，不以物累形：杨子之所立也。Preserving life and maintaining what is genuine in it, not allowing things to entangle ones person.Yangzhus two fundamental ideas were: each one for himself (人人为我); the despising of things and valuing of life (轻物重生). To be useless is the way to preserve ones life.The starting point of Taoist philosophy is the preservation of life and avoiding of injury.庄子：齐万物，一死生。the equalization of life with death, and the identity of self with others.The ideas expressed in the greater part of the Lao tzu represent an attempt to reveal the laws underlying the changes of things in the Universe. 宇宙万物的变化规则。If a man cannot see things from a higher point of view, none of these methods can absolutely guarantee him from danger and harm. To see things from a higher point of view means to abolish the self. 早期道家的思想是从有我出发的 （杨朱的人人为我思想），在后来的发展中“私”被否定了（庄子的无我思想）。The idealistic wing of Confucianism: MenciusHsuen Tzu represents the realistic wing of Confucianism.Though Confucius held that doctrine of human heartedness and righteousness(仁义), he failed to explain why it is that a man should act in this way. Mencius attempted to give an answer to this question, and in so doing developed the theory for which he is most famed: that of the original goodness of human nature.The feeling of commiseration is the beginning of human-heartedness. The feeling of shame and dislike is the beginning of righteousness. The feeling of modesty and yielding is the beginning of propriety. The sense of right and wrong is the beginning of wisdom.恻隐之心，仁之端也；羞恶之心，义之端也；辞让之心，礼之端也；是非之心，智之端也。“Extending ones scope of activity to include others” is an extension based on the principle of graded love. 善推其所为，爱有等级。The differences:1. The Confucianist and the Mohist theory of love: graded love and all-embracing love.2. Another more fundamental nature: the confucianists considered human-heartedness as a quality that develops naturally from within the human nature, whereas the Mohists considered all-embracing love as something artificially added to man from without.3. Political philosophy: the state and society have their origin in the existence of these human relationships. Therefore, according to the Mohists, the state exists because it is useful. But according to the confuciansts, it exists because it ought to exist.The existence of the human relationships and the moral principles based on them is what differentiates man from birds and beats.The people are the most important element; the spirits of the land and the grain are secondary and the sovereign is the least. 民为贵，社稷次之，君为轻。For Confucius, “extending ones scope of activity to include others” was a principle only for “sageliness within”. But by Mencius it was expanded to become also a principle for “kingliness without”.The school of Names 名家The spirit of the school of Names: direct to “names” instead of “actualities”.Two tendencies in the school of Names: one emphasizing the relativity of actual things(现实的相对性), Huishih emphasized the fact that actual things are changeable and relative; the one emphasizing the absoluteness of names（名的绝对性）, Kung-sun Lung emphasized the fact that names are permanent and absolute.沧海一粟 a single grain within a great warehouse.Huishih spoke of “loving all things equally” and Kung-sun Lung also “wished to extend his argument in order to correct the relations between names and actualities, so as thus to transform the whole world”. 泛爱万物 欲推是辩，以正名实，而化天下焉Both men thus apparently considered their philosophy as comprising the “Tao of sageliness within and kingliness without”. But it was left to the Taoists fully to apply the discovery made by the school of names of what lies beyond shapes and features. The Taoists were the opponents of this school but they were also its true inheritors.The second phase of Taoism: Lao TzuArrogance is the sign that ones advancement had reached its extreme limit. It is the first thing that one should avoid.According to the theory of “having-no-activity”, a man should restrict his activities to what is necessary and what is natural. “Necessary” means necessary to the achievement of a certain purpose, and never overdoing. “Natural” means following ones Te with no arbitrary effort.Lao-tzu despised Confucian virtues as human-heartedness and righteousness, for according to him, these virtues represent degeneration from Tao and Te.Lao Tzu emphasizes that people should have little knowledge. Knowledge is itself an object of desires. When knowledge and intelligence appeared, Gross Artifice began.According to the confucianists, when a sage becomes the rulers, he should do many things for the people, whereas according to the Taoists, the duty of the sage ruler is not to do things, but rather to undo.The third phase of Taoism: Chuang TzuChuang Tzu maintains that following what is of nature is the source of all happiness and goodness. While following what is of man is the source of all pain and evil.There is no absolute uniformity in the natures of things, nor is there is any need for such uniformityChuang Tzu violently opposes the idea of governing through the formal machinery of government, and maintains that the best way of governing is through non-government.The political and social philosophy of Chuang Tzu aims at achieving precisely such relative happiness for every man.The four human miseries: being life, old age, diseases, death.The mental torture inflicted upon man by his emotions is sometimes just as any physical punishment. Sages are not persons who remain in a state of original ignorance. They at one time possessed ordinary knowledge and made the usual distinctions, but they since forgot them.Philosophy gives no information about matters of fact, and so cannot solve any problems in a concrete and physical way. It cannot, for example, help man either to gain longevity or defy death, nor can it help him to gain riches and avoid poverty. What it can do, however, is to give man a point of view.The later MohistsIn criticizing the Taoists, the later Mohists pointed out certain logical paradoxes that have also appeared in western philosophy. More than any other school of ancient China, the later Taohists attempted to create a pure system of epistemology and logic.The Yin-Yang school and early Chinese cosmogony(宇宙论)Yin-Yang school represents a scientific tendency in the sense that it tried to give a positive interpretation to natural events in terms solely of natural forces.The Yin-Yang sc