(SHI YANPING)

(Department of Philosophy, Huadong Normal University, Shanghai 200062, China)

(Translated from Chinese by ZHANG WENZHI)

((Center for Zhouyi & Ancient Chinese Philosophy, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China))

 

  

I. An Issue Which Ought to be Discussed Again

For the historical value and significance of times of Confucian philosophy is concerned, its internal humanistic consciousness and spirit are undoubtedly a striking content. Here the humanistic consciousness and spirit mainly refer to the ideological concepts and theories unfolded by Confucianism in philosophically thinking of humanistic issues. These concepts and theories collectively embodied the extremely unique humanistic spirit of Confucianism. This paper generalizes this as “Confucian humanistic philosophy”.

Since 1980s, along with the continuation of the “culture fever” and the deep unfolding of the “re-appraisement of traditional (Chinese) culture”, the researches on Confucianism and Confucian philosophy have aroused broad attention in the academic circle, esp. there come out many active achievements in the studies of Confucian humanism. It ought to be admitted that, at first on account of the constant efforts of a large number of modern new Confucian scholars, the studies of Confucian humanism in the circle of sinology across the (Taiwan) Straits, Hong Kong, Macao, and foreign sinology circle seems to have become a famous school and exerted extensive influences; secondly, the mainland scholars' active responses, discriminations, analysis, and discussions have made the studies improve with rapid progress and healthy development through completing the state's subjects, group co-operation and individual researches. These created favorable conditions and atmosphere for us to base ourselves on times, retrospect traditions, promote the cultural prosperity, and push the construction of modern spirit civilization forward.

Yet, generally speaking, the studies concerning Confucian humanism still have shortcomings and weak points, which in my opinion can be summarized in two aspects: at first, the discussions and discoveries of Confucian humanism were usually confirmed that Confucian humanism owns similarities to Western (esp. since the cultural renaissance the modern) humanism and was expressed completely by the western humanists' language system and expressive mode, such as they claimed that Confucianism also conceives the concepts of personality equality, individual independence, etc., which not only tend to cause the misplacement between Confucian humanism and western humanism, but also easily give rise to misunderstanding and ignorance of the national uniqueness and the spirit distinction of Confucian humanism. Secondly, most of the studies are limited to the examination of the humanistic spirit in the Confucian tradition originating from Confucius and Mencius but lack discussions on its cultural background and inherent genes, thus weakened the abundance of the contents, diversity in the development, and duality of values of Confucian humanism.

Qian Mu had raised a point of view worthy of contemplating: “It is better for us to say that Confucius and Confucianism stipulated the existent Chinese culture than to say that the tradition of the ancient Chinese culture would naturally give birth to Confucius and Confucian thought.” (1) As for Confucius and Confucian thought are concerned, the basic aspects in which the “tradition of the ancient culture” dwells are the Six Classics of history, poetry, rituals, music, change, and spring & autumn annals. For the philosophical tradition is concerned, the Yi jing 易经 the Book or Classic of Change was the most important one.

In view of this, I hope to depart from analyzing and exposing the philosophical implications conceived in Yi jing , and from the angle of inter-action and mutual permeation between the Yi studies and Confucian thoughts, to further discuss the formation organism of the Confucian humanism, deeply expose its ideological connotations, and reinterpret the spiritual uniqueness and value of Confucian humanistic philosophy by comparing it with western humanism.

 

II. Thinking from Cosmology: the Originality of Confucian Humanistic Philosophy

Philosophically original thinking is generally established in the forming and unfolding of a philosophical pattern. The original thinking embodies the soul and spiritual character of a philosophical pattern and is a peculiar prop and genetic element sustaining the philosophical vitality. So, to discuss and comprehend Confucian humanistic philosophy, it is necessary for us to first of all grasp its original spirit.

No matter in China or in the west, the constituting and unfolding of the humanistic philosophical current of thought was not uni-directionally realized in isolation, but in the structure of relationship between man and cosmos (God or Spirits). It was on account of this that the westerners held, “the more appropriate argument is: all the attitudes that stress the relationship between man and God, man's free will, as well as man's superiorities to the natural world are attributed to humanism.” (P. 761 in Chinese version) (2) But the generating organism and mode in thinking the relationship between man and cosmos, China , especially Confucianism is distinct from the west.

In the history of western ideology, in regarding the relationship between man and cosmos, there appeared theological (or transcendent), scientific (or natural), and humanistic modes. The humanistic mode resulted from the combination of the humanistic current of thought since the European Renaissance and religious reforms, attaching importance to examining and judging the relationship between man and nature, cosmos, and God by man's self-consciousness, independent personality, and the subject's value, to balance the belief in God and confirmation of man's value. What they called the humanities differ not only from the Middle Ages theological mode regarding man as the God's slaves, but also from the modern scientific mode affirming man's capability of mastering and conquering the nature.

While the westerners were preaching humanities against theology and pursuing the establishment and unfolding of humanism by “going out of the Middle Ages”, Confucianism were trying to return to the times when the “Five Classics” were completed to seek the origin and live fountain of humanistic philosophy and mould its original spirit by the inter-action between Zhouyi and Confucianism. Comparing to western humanities, Confucian humanistic philosophy commenced much earlier. Even before Confucius initiated the Confucian school, his precursors had shown their retrospection and discrimination from religious theology. The Duke of Zhou's 周公 advocating of jing de bao min 敬德保民 “venerating virtues and protecting the commoners” to match the Heaven and the proposition of “deducing the Dao 道 (Way, Principles) of the Heaven to illuminate the Dao of Human” in Zhouyi 周易 the Book of Changes just improved ancient China's “religious reforms” through which the humanistic consciousness was awakened, urging Confucian philosophers to ponder over humanistic and humanitarian issues rationally and probe how to “discriminate man's duties from the Heaven's”. Finally, they got the conclusion of that “we look at the principles of heaven, and thereby ascertain the changes of the seasons; we look at the humanities in the society, and understand how the processes of transformations are accomplished all under heaven.” (Yi · Tuan · Bi 易·彖·贲 , the Change: Judgment for Hexagram Bi, the 22 nd hexagram in the current version of Zhouyi ). Here what the “humanities” referred to was in contrast to the principles of heaven to emphasize the function of “edifying all people under the heaven”, implicating unique cultural concepts and spiritual contents.

As a matter of fact, the humanistic thinking of Confucian philosophy at the very beginning was unfolded in the heaven-human structure. Yet, this thinking unfolded in the heaven-human structure did not generate division of so many types (such as theology, humanism, science) as occurred in the west, dissolved the establishment of theology or science by taking them into the humanistic system, constituting the character of inclusiveness and comprehensiveness of Confucian scholars' thinking over the relationship between heaven and human. The reason for this is that Confucian scholars favor to develop their humanistic thinking by seeking the “boundary” between heaven and human. “Boundary” was mentioned in the context of the relationship between heaven and human and denotes communication, unity, merging, and so on. Guodian Chu jian · Yu chong 郭店楚简·语丛 The Bamboo Slips Manuscripts Excavated at Guodian: Collected Remarks set forth: “ Yi is what communicates the Dao of heaven and the Dao of human.” This proposition was regarded as the earliest existent example indicating the communication between heaven and human. Later, Sima Qian's 司以迁 famous dictum of jiu tian ren zhi ji, cha gu jin zh bian 究天人之际，察古今之变 “thoroughly probing into the boundary between heaven and human to thoroughly understand the transformations from the ancient times to the present” could summarize the main purposes of the various schools (mainly Confucianism) of the pre-Qin period. Though DONG Zhong-shu's 董仲舒 (179-104BC) assertion of “thinking over the past things to observe the boundary between heaven and human” ( Dui che , Policies to be Employed in the Statecraft) revealed the Confucian way of thinking, the original thinking reflected in his “thoroughly comprehending (observing) the boundary between heaven and human” was still connected to the thinking of “ Yi is what communicates the Dao of heaven and the Dao of human” and it was originated from the cosmological structure of the san cai zhi dao 三才之道 Dao (Way) of the “Three Powers” (of heaven, earth, and human) explicated in Yi jing 易经 the Book of Changes.

With analogous diagrams and images and described by the remarks affiliated, Yi jing is at first made up of Yin ( ) and Yang ( ) lines, and then arranged in three positions of the upper, middle, and lower corresponding the “Three Powers” of heaven, earth, and human respectively, by which to constitute the eight trigrams and sixty-four hexagrams system. Yi Zhuan 易传 gave philosophical interpretations to this and emphasizes: “The Yi is a book of wide comprehension and great scope, embracing everything. There are in it the Dao of heaven, the Dao of man, and the Dao of earth. It then takes (the three lines representing) those Three Powers, and doubles them till they amount to six. What these six lines show is simply this, the Dao of the Three Powers.” ( Xi Ci , Section II). Here Xi Ci interprets the Three Powers by the three-line trigrams and six-line hexagrams, not only sketching out the spatial combination of heaven, earth, and human, but also exposing that the pairs of Yin and Yang , softness and hardness, benevolence and righteousness are respectively dispatched to heaven, earth, and human to complete the Dao of heaven, the Dao of earth, and the Dao of human. This collectively described the mutual participation of man into heaven & earth, and established the kernel idea of cosmology. The mutual partnership not only manifested that the Three of heaven, earth, and human makes up the basic components of the cosmos, but also revealed the actual process in which man participated the changes and producing of heaven and earth and promoted the cosmic evolution and circulation. In contrast to and different from western mechanic and materialistic cosmology, the cosmology conceived in Zhouyi is an organic and humanistic cosmology.

It was the idea of “mutual partnership” among heaven, earth, and human that inspired and influenced the basic route of the cosmological thinking in Confucian humanistic philosophy. Xun zi 荀子 , a great Confucianist in the Warring States period established the proposition of “perceiving and understanding the different duties between heaven and man” and raised that “heaven governs time, earth owns matters, and man implement governance, this is called being able to participate”. This point of view is also an unfolding of the Dao of the Three Powers. Based on the idea of “mutual participation between heaven and man”, Zhong yong 中庸 the Doctrine of the Mean states: “One who is able to accomplish his (innate) nature is able to accomplish other's nature; one who is able to accomplish other's nature is able to accomplish matter's nature; one who is able to accomplish matter's nature is able to assist the changes and birth of heaven and earth is able to participate in (the actions of) heaven and earth.” In the Han Dynasty, few of the influential thinkers did not explicate their cosmology by the idea of “mutual participation between heaven and man”. Lu Jia 陆贾 had once quoted from the Commentaries and stated: “The heaven produces the myriad of things, the earth nourishes them, and the sages accomplish them; the virtues and conducts combine and hence the emergence of the Dao ” and held “the ancient sages looked up and contemplated the brilliant phenomena of the heaven, and looked down and examined the definite arrangements of the earth, drew the trigrams (or hexagrams) of Qian ( or , symbolizing heaven) and Kun ( or , symbolizing earth) to determine the Dao of human”. ( Xin yu · Dao Ji 新语·道基 , New Remarks: The Foundation of the Dao ) Wang Fu 王符 (a very famous scholar of the Eastern Han Dynasty, his courtesy name is called Qianfu 潜夫 ) wrote Qianfu Lun 潜夫论 Qianfu's Remarks, by which he combined Confucian and Daoist's thoughts. In this book, he expounded: “So heaven is based upon Yang , earth upon Yin , man upon middle and harmony. The Three Powers have different duties but form one entity. As long as they follow their Dao , the harmony will be attained. The Dao of heaven is characterized with giving forth, the Dao of earth transforming, and the Dao of man acting”, “man's activating the heaven and earth is just like man's harnessing a running horse in a chariot and sailing ship under the roofing.” ( Ben Xun 本训 Remarks on the Root) He obviously concentrated on man and established a humanistic cosmological frame by the Dao of the Three Powers.

In spite of the fact that the neo-Confucianism of the Song and Ming dynasties identified the “unity of heaven and man”, such as: Cheng's brothers 程氏兄弟 set forth the proposition of “heaven and man constitutes one entity and are not separable.” (P.20) (3) and Zhagn Zai 张载 (whose courtesy name is Hengqu) directly uttered: “the heaven and man are united into one. By studying one could become a sage; and man is the indispensable element in attaining the heaven.” (P. 183, Heng-qu Yi Shuo · Xi Ci 横渠易说 Hengqu's Commentaries on Yi : Xi Ci , Section I) (4) , we ought not to summarize the neo-Confucian scholars' thinking on heaven and man as the “unity of heaven and man”. Just on the contrary, the neo-Confucianism expounds more about the “participation” between heaven and man. The reason for this is that the neo-Confucianists were used to adhere to Yi and attribute the origin of humanistic thinking to the cosmology derived from the “ Dao of the Three Powers”. Zhou Dunyi, the founder of the neo-Confucianism, composed Tai ji tu shuo 太极图说 An Explanation of the Tai ji Diagram and raised the proposition of “What called Yi is that by which the Dao of the Three Terminuses (Powers) was established”. Basing upon this proposition, he unfolded the neo-Confucianism into a cosmology from Tai ji 太极 (Grand Pole) to Yin-yang 阴阳 , to four seasons, to the five elements, affirming that the Dao of man “resides in it” (5) , by the means of which he reestablished the cosmological thinking mode by taking humanities into the neo-Confucianism. As for Cheng's brothers' thought was concerned, Zhu Xi 朱熹 pointed out that what they said about the “(human) nature and the Dao of heaven” was most actually derived from Zhou Dunyi's Tai ji tu shuo . Zhang Zai also asserted: “Perhaps (we should first of all) accomplish the Dao of man, let the Dao of man, the Dao of heaven, and the Dao of earth stand side by side, forming the Dao of the Three Powers, and hence the man's participation into the heaven and earth.” ( Hengqu yi shuo · Xi Ci ) Zhu Xi composed Taj ji tu shuo fu jie 太极图说附解 An Interpretation of the Explanation of Tai ji Diagram and pointed out: “Between the heaven and earth, the moral principles and the natural transformations have been occurring from the ancient times to present day. The miracle of them is beyond the speech”, and asserted: “ Yin and Yang constitute images by which the Dao of heaven is established; softness and harness constitute the quality of matter by which the Dao of earth is established; benevolence and righteousness constitute the virtues by which the Dao of man is established.” (5) Focusing on the constitution of images, qualities of matter, and virtues, and abiding by the framework of the Dao of the Three Powers, Zhu Xi explicated his humanistic philosophical system of the neo-Confucianism of the Song Dynasty.

The facts prove that the original thinking of Confucian humanistic philosophy originated from Zhouyi and was based upon the cosmology of the “ Dao of the Three Powers” and was unfolded through the inter-action between Yi and Confucianism. To this, the great thinker at the turn of the Ming and Qing dynasties Wang Chuanshan 王船山 (WANG Fu-zhi's 王夫之 courtesy name) had a summary and extended explanation.

At first, he pointed out: “What ‘between the heaven and earth' refers to any space where exists man. Both celestial paradise and hell are not taken into consideration by the superior man.” He once stressed: “as long as a space is related to man, the changes and transformations of the heaven and earth will be attributed to man but not completely to the heaven and earth.” (P. 928, Du Si shu Da quan Shuo 读四书大全说 Reading the All-inclusive Four Books) (6) This extension aims at exposing that the space “between the heaven and earth” concerned and investigated by Chinese superior men was only limited to the “cosmos” within which man live, participate in the changes, and can consciously sense. As for the celestial paradise and the nether world are concerned, they are not within “the superior man's domain” and ought to be deleted from the vision. This humanistic thinking which gets rid of religious and theological elements, and the Dao of benevolence stressed by Confucius who does not teach wield, violent, chaotic, and spirit-like things, and what the Da Xue 大学 the Great Learning advocated “self-cultivation, family-regulation, state-governance, and pacifying the world under the heaven” are in the same strain, collectively revealing the original spirit and national character of Confucian humanistic philosophy.

Secondly, he interpreted the man's “participation” into the heaven and earth by the concept of “mutual containing and receiving” and exposed the dialectical relationship between heaven and man. In his opinion, “ Yi is used by both heaven and man. By Yi , the heaven accomplishes heaven, earth accomplishes earth, and man accomplishes man. This is called unchangeableness. ( Yi is the basis by which) the heaven is heaven, the earth is earth, and man is man. This exhibits inseparableness between them. If they are changeable, the noumenon will not exist; if they are separable, the function will not be realized.” It indicates that what the heaven, earth, and man had accomplished are not replaceable and what by which they accomplish themselves are inseparable and can be integrated. This is called “there exist only this ( Dao ) completely in the heaven, earth, and man.” (P. 157, Zhou yi wai zhuan · Xi Ci Zhuan Shang 周易外传·系辞传上 Exterior Commentaries on Zhouyi: Xi Ci, Section I) (7) He also extended this point through interpreting the “ Dao of Yi ”: “Once the Dao has been accomplished, the Three Powers were included; once a hexagram has been accomplished, the six positions are provided. With the six positions, a hexagram is completed; with the Three Powers, the Dao is constituted. The heaven and earth come while man goes. Through the coming and going, the interaction between heaven and earth occurs in the middle (space) where man enjoys the Dao and govern the heaven and earth.” “Therefore the heaven and earth are very closely related and the Dao of man is incorporated into the relation. They are mutually contained and received while man will never lose himself. They are three in distinction while they are united in man in respect to identity.” ( P. 239, Zhou yi wai zhuan · X Ci Zhuan Xia 周易外传·系辞传下 Exterior Commentaries on Zhouyi: On Xi Ci, Section II) (7) He stressed that only if man participates in the interaction of heaven and earth can he imitate the Dao of the heaven and earth and at last dominate the heaven and earth. So, though the cosmos is divided into three parts, they are finally attributed to man. In this way the “all-inclusive and broad” Dao of Yi is constituted.

Thirdly, Wang Chuanshan also extended the remarks in Yi Zhuan of that “(The interaction of) one Yin and one Yang is called the Dao . What succeeds it is goodness and what accomplishes it is (human) nature” and pointed out: “succeeding designates the boundary connecting heaven and man”, and held that heaven and man “differ in forms and matter, so they could not be forced to be united. For an alike and worthy son, should he completely follow his father's steps? Father and son differ in shapes and qualities, so what the son succeeds from the father is only the father's will. Heaven and man differ in forms and qualities, so what man succeeds from the heaven is merely the Dao .” (P. 34, volume one, Gaoyao Mo 皋陶谟 the Counsels of Gaoyao) (8) Here he took the son's succession of his father's will as an example to stress that the humanistic thinking is based on the imitation of the heaven and earth. Yet this imitation does not refer to imitating the forms and qualities of the heaven and earth but to succeeding the Dao . Obviously, though Wang Fuzhi had found the differences between man and the heaven & earth, he was not interested in the differences while he paid more attention to the succession of the Dao of heaven, regarding it as the premise and key for man to tend to goodness and accomplish nature. He stated: “Only if there was the Dao , could the goodness be attained. Dao is that from which the goodness originates. It is by the Dao that the goodness can be attained to through succession, while goodness is what nature depends on” and further asserted: “The accomplishment of human nature is only based upon the succession (of goodness).” (181-82, Zhou yi wai zhuan · Xi Ci Zhuan Shang ) (7) He attempts to further expose the basis on which humanities and personalities are formed from the cosmological angle by explicating the theory of “succeeding the goodness to accomplish nature” in Yi Zhuan .

It is necessary to point out that, Wang Chuanshan's summary and interpretation considerably succeeded and developed the thinking route of the Yi -ology and Confucian ideas and could reflect some original thinking of ancient Chinese orthodoxy humanistic philosophy. It is thought-provoking that this original thinking which appears with the pattern of cosmology seldom pursues the real existence and metaphysical form of the cosmos and lacks epistemological and scientifically rational investigation. The “will” of the heaven and earth Chinese humanistic philosophy requires man to succeed and the Dao it demands man to follow mainly refer to a cosmological spiritual realm. For example, in Yi Zhuan , it at first raised that the attribute of heaven is ceaseless moving and the attribute of earth is obedience to urge man to imitate and succeed these attributes by ceaseless self-nerving and broadening his virtue and capacity of sustaining things. In this point, it seems we could find an important reason for why China could not develop such systematic astrology and astrophysics and lacks such scientific and utilitarian rationality as the western counties did despite that it owns the developed cosmological tradition with so long a history under the condition when Confucianism was the orthodoxy.

 

III. An Investigation with Comparison: the Spiritual Distinction of Confucian Humanistic Philosophy

Distinctions are always shown and expanded in comparison.

Confucian humanistic philosophy based on cosmologically original thinking certainly has its particular contents. But if we compare it with the humanistic trend of the western philosophy, we first of all have to face the issue of correspondence and level of the two sides. After all, Confucian humanistic philosophy emerged and developed in the ancient times and belongs to ancient tradition, so its counterpart to be compared with ought to be the humanism of the ancient Greece and Rome . The problem is that when the westerners went out of the Middle Ages and developed modern humanism, Confucian philosophy still halted in the nest of traditional humanistic mode. Therefore, when we compare Confucian traditional humanism with modern western philosophy, it seems corresponsive in time but different in the developmental levels. In respect to this, through a comparative investigation, we indeed can expose the distinctions of Confucian humanistic philosophy, and more importantly, in the investigation we can grasp the unique essentials of Confucian humanistic philosophy in the comparison, interpretation, and comprehension. For this reason, this paper particularly raises the four concepts of organic humanism, collectivism of clan, subjective initiative, and virtuous rationalism to explicate the distinctions of Confucian humanistic philosophy.

a. The Establishment of Organic Humanism

By the clue of mutual inter-action and development between Zhouyi and Confucianism, it can be seen that the humanistic consciousness based on cosmology and unfolded in the Three Powers of the heaven, earth, and human first of all is reflected as that it speaks of humanities in contrast to the attributes of heaven (inclusive of earth) and reflected in the arguments on the proposition of “man establishes the heart for the heaven and earth”. It integrated the cosmos and human life into one entity and established humanistic basic concepts by adopting organic thinking.

Different from the occidental philosophy which speaks of humanism in contrast to theology and stresses individual personality and independence in contrast to the God's supremacy, Confucianism affirms man's honor, dignity, and independence before the heaven and earth, to expose man's subjective and rightful consciousness and establish the principles based on man's innate nature. Confucius had set forth the humanistic thinking of that “if one had not known man well, could he know the ghosts?” and asserted “man is honorable in the nature of heaven and earth.” (See Han shu · Dong Zhongshu Zhuan 汉书董仲舒传 History of the Western Han Dynasty: Bibliography of Dong Zhongshu) It says in Li Ji · Li Yun 礼记·礼运 Records of Rituals: Mandate: “Man is the heart of the heaven and earth and the essence of the five elements.” Xun zi 荀子 holds, “man owns Qi (vital force), life, consciousness, and righteousness”, “so man is the most honorable under the heaven”. Dong Zhongshu 董仲舒 affirms: “Man could both grow the myriad of things and participate in the (action of) the heaven and earth”, “and be engaged in the cause within the four seas.” ( Chun qiu Fan lu · Tian di Yin yang 春秋繁露·天地阴阳 Extension of the Spring and Autumn Annals: Heaven-earth and Yin-yang ). The neo-Confucian scholars of the Song and Ming dynasties rather adopted the Yin-yang thinking of Zhouyi and argue: “the two ( Yin and Yang ) Qi interact and produce the myriad of things in changes and transformation. The myriad of things proliferate with endless changes and transformations while only man obtains the quintessence and is the most intelligent.” (Zhou Dunyi 周敦颐 : Tai ji tu shuo 太极图说 an Explanation of Tai ji tu ) Some scholar holds, “all things obtain their correct nature and mandate while only man get their completely correct nature and mandate, the extreme nature.” (Hu Wufeng 胡五峰 : Zhi Yan 知言 , Wise Remarks) Some scholar asserts, “man could probe into and completely understand the Idea and accomplish the (innate) nature and thus could participate into the action of the heaven and earth”, “then he could encompass the changes and transformations of the heaven and earth.” ( Zhang zi zheng meng · san shi 张子正蒙·三十 , ZHANG Zai's Rectification of the Ignorant: Chapter 30) By this view, he advocates “establishing the pole of man” and “founding the heart for the heaven and earth”. Obviously they take man into the organic system of the heaven and earth to stress man's nobility and subjectivity, forming a humanistic concept different from western humanism. This may be called organic humanism.

Confucian humanism also has an idea that between system and man, man is the fundamental element. Zhong yong 中庸 the Doctrine of the Mean quoted what Confucius had said, “The political and martial governance is embodied in local policies” and further pointed out: “If the certain man lives, his policy can be carried on, and with his death, his policy will be ceased” and thus asserted “the governance is determined by man”, which he further interpreted as “taking man by his body, cultivating the body by the Dao , and cultivating the Dao by benevolence.” To establish the humanistic principle on the correlation between external governance system and the internal moral cultivation still embodies the organic character.

In the background of the upsurge of the pre-enlightenment trend at the turn of the Ming and Qing dynasties , this concept of organic humanism was further conspicuous. Wang Chuanshan had declared: “The heaven and earth are but the nature while it is man who governs them. Man is the heart of the heaven and earth.” ( Zhouyi wai zhuan · Fu Gua 周易外传·复卦 Exterior Commentaries on Zhouyi : Hexagram Fu) Upon this view, he asserted: “Among the things produced by the heaven and earth, man is the most distinguished” ( Zhou yi wai zhuan · Wu Wang 周易外传·无妄 , Exterior Commentaries on Zhouyi : Hexagram Wu Wang) and held: “The intelligence of the heaven and earth is for the sake of the intelligence of man”, “out of the desolate wildness, there also exist the heaven and earth. But man does not arrive and settle down there and thus the rituals are not carried on, how could we know the heaven and earth over there?” ( Chuanshan jing yi 船山经义 the Implications of the Classics Interpreted by Changshan) He stressed more about the interdependency and interaction between man and the heaven & earth to expose man's honor, intelligence and sponsorship before the heaven and earth and expanded and deepened the connotations of the organic humanism mainly from the axiological angle.

b. Advocating of the Collectivistic Clan System

In the tradition of the Confucian humanistic philosophy, seldom could we see the humanistic concepts based upon utilitarianism and individualism prevalent in European Renaissance, and it is difficult for us to see that kind of humanism in 18 th century's France, which investigated man from the biological angle and regarded man as “man”, as a “machine” or “rational living things”, while Confucian humanistic philosophy attaches importance on the distinction between man and beasts, and affirms man's sociality and morality unfolded by the relationship between the group and self and that between self and others on the basis of tending to goodness to accomplish one's innate nature, emphasizing the character of collectivism on humanistic principles. Here we could expound it by the concept of “sage” in Confucianism.

It is well known that, the original Confucianism's requirement for “man” is “intelligent and wise”. If the “intelligent and wise” is moralized and deified, man will become sage. But the “sage” in Confucianism is not a beautification and stipulation to the real individual personality, but an idealized figure designed and exampled through an idealized call to mind of the tribal chiefs of Yao 尧 , Shun 舜 , and Yu 禹 as the representatives, to sustain Confucian pursuit of the idealized personality. In discussing learning, Confucius asserted that “man learns to accomplish self”, but this was based on “returning to self and rituals by which the benevolence will be attained”. He requires the learner to learn to deal with daily affairs by which to perceive the Dao of heaven, and upholds realizing the experience of the Dao and sage through the accumulation of knowledge and cultivation of virtue. The process of becoming a sage is not to develop one's individual character but ask man to consciously adapt himself to the human relations under the system of rituals and benevolence. This just reduces individual character and makes one's personality in line with collective human relations. So, when Mencius 孟子 set forth “(even) all the passers can become (the sages like) Yao and Shun”, he directly spoke of sage by human relations and said: “The sage is the acme of human relations.” ( Mencius: Li Lou , Section I 孟子·离娄上 ) He stressed: “the sage felt great concern about man's moral degeneration, and appointed Qie 契 to be Minster of Education so that the people might be taught the human relationships, namely, affection between father and son, righteousness between ruler and subject, distinction between husband and wife, orderly sequence between old and young, and fidelity between friends. ( Mencius: Duke Wen of Teng , Section I 孟子·滕文公上 ). By this it could be seen that Confucius and Mencius expounded humanistic principles by the concept of sage and laid particular emphasis on human relations, which is different from the individualistic personal independence upheld by modern western humanists. They were inclined more to identifying the collective personality and inter-human harmony.

As a matter of fact, this kind of concept of “humanistic group” obtained cosmological support from Yi Zhuan later. Yi Zhuan holds that man and human relation are the products of the cosmos and nature. Yet, it does not teach how man was created as the Christian Bible does, but argues by “the heaven and earth intercourse and hence the transformation and emergence of the myriad of things; men and woman intercourse and hence the birth and succession of human.” ( Xi Ci , section II 系辞下 ). So the description of both the origin of human and the formation of human relations in Yi Zhuan was embodied as a natural historical course, as was described: “Heaven and earth existing, all (material) things then got their existence. All (material) things having existence, afterwards there came male and female. From the existence of male and female there came afterwards husband and wife. From husband and wife there came father and son. From father and son there came ruler and minister. From ruler and minister there came high and low. When (the distinction of) high and low had existence, afterwards came the arrangements of propriety and righteousness.” ( Xu Gua Zhuan 序卦传 The Orderly Sequence of the Hexagrams) Therefore, this kind of description shows that Yi Zhuan attempts to take a rational and historical thinking mode and expressive system to demonstrate the inevitability and objectivity of the origin for human and confirm that man is always in the configuration of human relations, probing into (moral) principles and accomplishing immanent nature, as well as perceiving the Dao and becoming a sage be his purpose, not taking an individualized existence pattern and utilitarian pursuit. This, to some extent, expounded from the philosophical angle that the value orientation of humanism and human relations should be socialized and collectivistic.

In the sense of ideological history, Yi Zhuan was certainly not solely attributed to Confucianism, but characterized with summarizing all thoughts of schools, especially Confucianism, Daoism, and the Yin-yang School . So, the explication to humanities and human relations in Yi Zhuan may be regarded as an important content of the humanism of the pre-Qin philosophy. In fact, the Mo School 墨家 had based on the proposition that “righteousness gives rise to benefits” and adhered to “mutual love and benefits”, holding “the ancient sages govern with virtuous talents.” ( Mo zi · Shang Xian Zhong 墨子·尚贤中 Mo zi: Venerating the Virtuous Talents, section II) Mo zi further asserted that the crucial for the governance of the world under heaven is “identifying the opinions under the heaven.” ( Mo zi · Shang Tong Shang 墨子·尚同上 Mo zi: Advocating of Identity, section I) This kind of identity thinking of ethical norms and social and political governance are mutually supplemental with the certain contents in Yi Zhuan . This manifests that the clan collectivism in Confucian humanistic philosophy has achieved pluralistic and universal influences and was efficaciously in line with the social structure and order. Similarly, Xun zi 荀子 raised a famous theory of “governing the groups by their duties” and held that the “governance of human needs proprieties to determine one's duties and differentiate them by status, age, wisdom, and ability, to make all have their suitable business and attain appropriateness matching their salaries. This is a way to unite the members of a group”. By this idea, he also asserted: “hence ‘evenness in uneven status, straightness in the crooked, unification of the differences' are characteristic of human relations.” ( Xun zi · Rong ru 荀子·荣辱 Xun zi: Honor and Disgrace) Therefore this kind of concept for human relations explicated by the collective union under the restriction of proprieties is easily to combine with traditional Chinese clan culture and the idea of centralization and develop to a humanism simultaneously including theories of human innate nature, ethics, political science, and social administration, having exerted deep and far-reaching influences upon the evolution of Chinese humanism. But if we seek the origin, these deep and far-reaching influences were actually a generalization and extension of Confucian concept of clan and humanistic philosophy.

This demonstrates that the collectivism in the value orientation of Confucian humanistic philosophy is of clan and ethics. Certainly, though this collectivism was based on blood relationship, yet it broke through the blood relationship in its development and supplemented regional and social colors in the transformations from self-cultivation to family management, to the statecrafts, to pacifying the world under heaven. By these transformations, it can be seen that the collectivism of clan was not fixed, but in the motion of change and development. Generally speaking, it not only differs from modern western community theory but also could not be compared to the collectivism under the condition of socialism.

c. Explication and Advocating of Subjective Initiative

The admission and affirmation of man's action and ability in the heaven and earth is inherently implicated in humanistic philosophy, no mater in China or West. The issue is how to see and comprehend this kind of action and ability.

It is necessary to point out that, though modern West splits science from humanities, Western humanistic tradition itself contains scientific attitude and consciousness of cognition, and concerns scientific rationalism and utilitarianism, by which the initiative spirit of “governing the heaven (nature)” and “conquering the heaven” was expedited. It was the impelling and guidance of this spirit that urged man to be conscious of that man's action and ability are not based upon subjective exaggeration but on objective and scientific grounds. We should say that this is an advantage of Western humanism.

As for Confucianism is concerned, it indeed mentioned man's initiative ability on objective and scientific grounds like the West's. For instance, Xun zi had pointed out: “the heaven has its regular motions, which does not exist for (sagacious) Emperor Yao 尧 , nor perish on account of (the tyrant) Emperor Jie 桀 ”, affirming the objectivity and existentiality of the heaven and earth (nature). He further pointed out: “(those who) know the different duties between heaven and man could be called supreme men” and held “heaven has its normal way (principles), earth has its normal laws, while superior man has his normal moralities” and man should “know what he ought and oughtn't to do” through which “heaven is administrated and earth governed.” ( Xun zi · Tian lun 荀子·天论 Xun zi: On the Heaven) (9) This clearly manifested the combination of humanism and ancient scientific spirit in Confucian philosophy.

Regretfully, the initiative thought like Xun zi's was not extended and developed well later. This may be another important reason for why it is difficult to find that long and far-reaching scientific spirit and rationalism in Confucian humanism. Then, could we by this conclude that Confucianism lacks reasonable initiative spirit? Obviously should we not.

It was just Zhouyi and Confucianism that had had concentrated elucidation on man's initiative consciousness compared with the heaven and earth. Yi Zhuan expounds: “The Yi was made on a principle of accordance with heaven and earth, and shows us therefore, without rent or confusion, the course (of things) in heaven and earth”, “(The Yi ) encloses transformations of heaven and earth without any error, and by an ever-varying adaptation it completes (the nature of) all things without exception”, and asserts: “The (operations forming the) Yi are the method by which the sages searched out exhaustively what was deep, and investigated the minutest springs (of things). Searching out the deep, they could penetrate to the views of all under the heaven; investigating the minutest, they could bring to a completion all undertakings under the heaven.” ( Xi Ci Zhuan 系辞传 ) This process embodies man's active action in the presence of the heaven and earth (nature). Mencius 孟子 claims: “Those who can fully develop the kindness of the heart can understand human innate nature. He who understands human innate nature understands (the mandate of) heaven. To preserve one's heart-mind is to serve the heaven”, ( Mencius · Jin Xin Shang 孟子·尽心上 Mencius: To Fully Develop One's Heart-mind, section I) confirming man's task of understanding and serving the heaven. But Mencius did not introduce how can man “understand the (mandate of) heaven” and “serve the heaven” from the cognitive and scientific route, but based himself on the proposition that “all things are in the possession of me” and sticks fast to “returning to sincerity” and realizes them through unselfishly “nourishing the vast omnipresent Qi (vital energy)”. ( Mencius · Gongsu Chou , section I 孟子·公孙丑上 ) Different from Xun zi's “mastering the mandate of heaven and taking use of it”, this was certainly from a subjective and transcendental angle to put up the subject's initiative spirit, having exerted great influences on the neo-Confucianism, especially the Lu (Jiu-yuan) 陆 ( 九渊 ) and Wang (Yang-ming) 王 ( 阳明 ) school of the Song 宋 and Ming 明 dynasties. Wang Yang-ming had extended Mencius' “intuitive knowledge” and claims “the intuitive knowledge of my heart is what is called the principle of heaven”, and advocates “applying the principle of heaven in the intuitive knowledge of my heart to all things, all things will obtain the principle”, in this way, he holds that, it is this “application of the intuitive knowledge” that urges “my spirit-like intelligence to become the governor of the heaven & earth, ghosts and spirits.” ( Chuan xi lu · Da Gu Qiaodong Shu 传习录·答顾东桥书 Records of Transmission: An Answer to Gu Dongqiao's Questions) (10) Obviously, the “application of the intuitive knowledge”, “spirit-like intelligence”, and “governor” are nothing but an exaggerated initiative spirit. By epistemology, this thought and concept is a biased view and easy to lead to solipsism. Yet, in the sense of axiology, it should be viewed differently. What we call the “subjective initiative theory” refers to this sense.

To make a new retrospect from a comparative angle, we should not simply deny its rationality of value. It is worthy of being pondered on that at the turn of the Ming and Qing dynasties the famous thinker Wang Chuanshan had interpreted the connotations and conception of the initiative spirit transmitted from the pre-Qin period to the Song and Ming dynasties by concepts of “expansion”, “undertaking”, “governing”, and so on. He pointed out: “What Mencius mentioned ‘possession of all' refers to the Dao of heaven, ‘expansion' refers to the Dao .” (P. 996, Du Si shu Da quan Shuo 读四书大全说 On the All-inclusive Four Books) (6) and he further extended: “What he said ‘filling the space between heaven and earth' just refers to accomplishing all men, all things, and all affairs under the heaven. Undertake what ought to be undertaken and govern what ought to be governed, to turn peril into security, obstacle into fluency, without any timid.” (P.928) (6) He mainly wants to indicate humanistic spirit requires man to develop the initiative to accomplish things and affairs, train the consciousness of undertaking and governing ability, conquer timidity and passive feelings, actively “expand” the Dao of heaven, and urge man to take the initiative before the heaven and earth.

Though Wang Chuan-shan was conscious of that man's initiative was partly endowed by the heaven, he laid more emphasis on man's postnatal self-effort, and called this initiative right a “self-taken and self-used” right. He said: “Before one's birth, he has no right, and could not take and use it by himself. Only the right endowed by the heaven is a pure and essential one. The heaven exerts its transformations on man, called the mandate and destiny. After one's birth, he has right which could be taken and used by himself.” ( Shang shu Yin yi · Tai jia Er 尚书引义·太甲二 Implications of the Book of History: Tai jia , section II) (8) By this he affirmed man's activities for life and the process of life. Through self-weighing and self-choice, one obtains the needs for life and develops self in transforming the objective world. On the basis of this, Wang Chuanshan extended Xun zi's thought of “governing the mandate of heaven and taking use of it” and asserted “man is destined to conquer the heaven, this is also a principle” (P. 587, Xu Chun qiu Zuo si Zhuan Bo yi , jian xia 续春秋左氏传博议 Succession of the Broad Implications of Zuo's Spring and Autumn Annals, vol. 2) (11) , exhibiting his na?ve dialectical thinking on man's initiative.

d. Establishment of Virtuous Rationalism

The view that there is implicated rationalism in traditional Chinese philosophy actually was not a new idea. In 17 th century when Jesuit missionaries translated Chinese classic the Doctrine of the Mean into Latin, they interpreted the sentence of “the mandate of heaven is called nature” by the “rationalism endowed by the heaven”, adopting western concept of rationalism to analogy the “nature” in Confucianism. Modern Japanese philosopher Nishi Amane 西周茂树 claimed: “Though the views of the neo-Confucianism of the Song differs from rationalism, they are exactly alike.” (12) Liang Shuming 梁漱溟 asserted: “Suppose Confucianism has some –ism, I think it should be the ‘rationalism'.” He maintains rationalism is “a social custom or national spirit led by Confucianism” for over two thousand years. (Chapter 7) (13)

The issue is that, it is not easy to reasonably analyze the connotative character and essence of the rationalism in Confucian tradition, for rationalism is a thought trend in modern western philosophy. As a compound concept, the rational in western philosophy is classified into the metaphysical rational, instrumental rational, intentional rational, cognitive rational, and value rational, while this trend and concepts are difficult to be directly found in Chinese tradition. Yet, it should not be neglected that it has been a long time since Chinese people began to use the term of 理性 “rational” and formed the concept of rationalism. When interpreting Confucius' proposition of “nature is similar while the practice differs”, the scholars of the Han Dynasty said: “sedulously limited, one cannot act freely; if attention is drawn by outer things, one cannot keep his will steadfast. So, the sages guide people's li xing 理性 rational, press their arrogance and raise them from humble, are cautious of their undue desire and modify their biases. By this means, though there are millions of different temperaments and characters, the way to make them moderate is only one.” ( Hou han Shu · Dang guo Zhuan Xu 后汉书·党锢传序 History of the Eastern Han Dynasty: Preface to the Biographies for the Decreed Prohibition) This is to say, the rational is manifested in “being cautious of their undue desire and modifying their biases”, to moderately balance man's internal needs and external proprieties, and make man's thought and conducts based upon the principle.

Certainly, the rational referred to by the scholars of the Han Dynasty was not expounded from the cognitive angle, and its significance was not in a general factual judgment over the relationship between subject and object but laid more emphasis on an axiological positioning of man's rational ability. It was not only a kind of summary of the pre-Qin Confucian concepts but also a summary of the thoughts of the Mo School and Yi Zhuan . It is by this consideration that we call this kind of rationalism virtuous rational (or value rational), which took the lead of the rationalism of Chinese humanistic tradition. The neo-Confucianists of the Song and Ming dynasties used to incorporate the principle, nature, and destiny into one to explicate the rational. For instance, when interpreting Confucius' thought concerning “nature and the Dao of heaven”, Zhu Xi pointed out: “(Human) nature is the principle endowed from the heaven; the Dao of heaven is the natural being-in-itself of the principle of heaven. As a matter of fact, they are one principle.” (P. 79, Lun yu Ji Zhu · Gongye Chang 论语集注·公冶长 Collective Annotations to the Analects of Confucius: Gongye Chang) (14) In the Xing Li Da quan 性理大全 Library of Human Nature and Principles complied in the Ming Dynasty under the imperial order, Cheng brothers stressed: “the three of principle, (human) nature, and mandate have no difference”. They followed the thinking route of “understanding completely the principles and accomplishing the nature, once the nature has been accomplished, the mandate of heaven is acknowledged” and proved the unity of nature and principle. We may say the contribution of the neo-Confucianism of the Cheng-Zhu 程朱 School is that it developed and perfected the concepts of virtue, principle, and nature. With their theories, the virtuous rationalism system with marks of nature-idea, heart-mind-nature was established.

In the above, in the form of outline, I just set forth a penetrating point and thinking route to re-discuss Confucian humanistic philosophy, and made a summary, commentary, and analysis of its uniqueness of thinking and value of spirit. In fact, Confucian humanistic philosophy is a profound traditional resource with abundant contents and can be a research program able to bring novelty at any time. We should not let it degenerate to an academic snack speculated in the “culture fever”. There are still a lot of researches to do in reinterpreting the value and significance of Confucian humanistic philosophy from the angle of the mutual permeation between Yi and Confucianism to grasp the development of Confucian humanistic philosophy, and by a comparative investigation to analyze its essence of spirit. This paper is only a new beginning. Let us encourage each other in our endeavors.

 

 

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(2) 简明不列颠百科全书：第六卷 A Concise Encyclopaedia Britannnica , vol. 6. Chinese Encyclopaedia Press, 1986.

(3) Er Cheng Ji 二程集 Collected Works of Brothers CHENG [M]. Beijing : Zhonghua Publishing House, 1981.

(4) Zhang Zai 张载 , Hengqu Yi shuo 横渠易说 Hengqu's Commentaries on Yi. Zhang Zai Ji 张载集 Collected Works of Zhang Zai. Beijing : Zhonghua Publishing House, 1978.

(5) Zhou Dunyi Ji 周敦颐集 Collective Works of Zhou Dunyi. Li xue Chong shu 理学丛书 Series of Neo-Confucian Books [Z]. Beijing : Zhonghua Publishing House, 1990.

(6) Wang Fuzhi 王夫之 : Chuanshan Quan shu 船山全书 Collected Works of Chuanshan, vol. Six [M]. Chang-sha: Yuelu Shu she Press, 1996.

(7) Wang Fuzhi: Zhou yi Wai zhuan 周易外传 Exterior Commentaries on Zhouyi. Beijing : Zhonghua Publishing House, 1977.

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(14) Zhu Xi 朱熹 : Si shu Zhang ju Ji zhu 四书章句集注 Collective Annotations for the Four Books. Beijing : Zhonghua Publishing House, 1983.

 

For this, Mr. Tang Yijie 汤一介 had published a paper of Shi “Yi, Suo yi Hui Tian Dao Ren Dao Ze Ye” 释“易，所以会天道人道者也” An interpretation of “Yi is what communicates the Dao of Heaven and the Dao of human” to explicate it in detail. Please see Zhouyi Yianjiu 周易研究 STUDIES OF ZHOUYI, 2003, (6).

Zhouyi 周易 is also called Yi 易 , which includes two components of Yi jing 易经 , the Ancient Text, and Yi Zhuan , Commentaries on Yi , usually attributed to Confucius and his later-generation disciples. Yi Zhuan includes seven sorts of commentaries divided into ten chapters, also called Shi Yi 十翼 Ten Wings: Tuan 彖上 (Judgment) (Section I), Tuan 彖下 (Section II), Xiang 象上 (Image) (Section I), Xiang 象下 (Section II), Xi Ci 系辞上 (the Great Treatise) (Section I), Xi Ci 系辞下 (Section II), Wen Yan 文言 (remarks on hexagram Qian and Kun), Shu Gua 说卦 (Treatise of Remarks on the Trigrams), Xu Gua 序卦 (The Orderly Sequence of the Hexagrams), and Za Gua 杂卦 (Treatise on the Hexagrams Taken Promiscuously). In the beginning Yi jing and Yi Zhuan were separated, they were combined since Fei Zhi 费直 , a famous scholar on Yi of the Western Han Dynasty.

At the turn of the Ming and Qing dynasties, the great thinkers such as Huang Zongxi, Gu Yanwu, Wang Fuzhi, through criticizing the consciousness of autocracy and retrospect and reexamination of traditional Confucianism, had set forth some enlightening concepts similar to the West's. But after all the genuine enlightenment of China was not realized, so I call it pre-enlightenment.

 

(Originally published in Chinese in the STUDIES OF ZHOUYI/No. 6, 2003)