Title: Theories of Reason in China and the West: From the Point of View of the Enlightenment
Abstract: AbstractA conception of enlightenment that is new in both origin and prototype yet rooted in Chinese tradition can be found in the works of Liang Shuming and Zhu Qianzhi, his follower in the historical field. Kant maintained that enlightenment implied that the power of reason would give man the courage to use his mind. Similarly, Zhu Qianzhi used enlightenment to define reason, putting the focus of enlightenment on religion. In doing so, on the one hand, he neglected the richness, complexity and inner evolution of the Western concept of reason; on the other hand, like Hegel, he dismissed the subtle but significant differences between Chinese and Western concepts of reason. In terms of thought, intuition, emotion, desire, practice, skill and the movements of nature, reason in the Western tradition inevitably tends toward the good. The word later used to translate “reason” into Chinese had already appeared in Confucian and Buddhist classics. Reason in Song and Ming Confucianism is an all- embracing absolute; its function involves intuition, thought and emotion, all directed toward the good. Liang Shuming accepted the differentiation between reason and understanding of Western philosophy, but proposed that understanding was the function and reason the essence of the heart-mind. Overall, this represents only the heart-mind approach. The non- religious character, didactic tendency and emphasis on intuition in the Confucian view of reason can all be found in the Confucian theory of emotion. Being essentially a response to good and evil, emotion may share some common ground with classical Western philosophy.在梁漱溟及其史学领域的追随者朱谦之身上,可以发现一个在起源和原型上均崭 新的、扎根于中国传统的启蒙观念。康德主张启蒙意味着人类应通过理性的力量唤起 运用理智的勇气。朱谦之同样既用理性去界定启蒙,也将启蒙重点放在宗教方面。这 一方面牺牲了西方理性概念的丰富、复杂与内在变化,另一方面和黑格尔一样,消除 了中西理性概念之间的微妙而重大的差别。西方传统中的理性在思维、直觉、情感、 欲望、实践、技艺、自然运动之中全都必定指向善。对译西方”理性”概念的中文字 眼,早就在儒家与佛家典籍中出现了。宋明儒学的理性观是至大无外之绝对,其用 兼具直觉、思虑和情感,且均指向善。梁漱溟吸取了西方哲学中理性与理智差别的思 想,但将理智断定为人心之用,将理性断定为人心之体,大体只能代表心学道路。儒 家理性观的非宗教品格、道德化倾向和直觉化倾向,都可以在儒家的情感学说中找到 根基。而情感的实质在于对善恶的指向与西方古代哲学或有相通之处。Keywords: enlightenmentConfucianreasonLiang Shuming关键词: 启蒙儒家理性梁漱溟 Notes* This research is funded by “The China Road, Chinese Civilization and the Sinicized Marxism” (Project No.: 2011SHKXZD018), as part of Fudan University’s Project 985 (III) for comprehensively facilitating social scientific research.1 See Vera Schwarcz, Chinese Enlightenment: Intellectuals and the May Fourth Heritage, pp. 3-11. Zhou Cezong expressed some doubts in this regard: see Zhou Cezong, The May Fourth Movement, p. 345.2 See Li Zehou, “The Duality of Enlightenment and Salvation,” in On Modern Chinese Thought, pp. 11-52; Wang Hui, “The May Fourth Enlightenment Movement in Modern Chinese History,” in On 20th Century Chinese Thought, pp. 31-67; Feng Youlan, The History of Modern Chinese Philosophy, pp. 78-91; Kozo and Kojima Tsuyoshi, China’s Intellectual World, pp. 618–639.3 See Zhu Qianzhi, The Influence of Chinese Philosophy on Europe, pp. 187–326.4 Some representative European works are Virgile Pinot, La Chine et la formation de l’esprit philosophique en France and René Étiemble, L’Europe Chinoise. A revised and complete translation (by Xu Jun et al.) of L’Europe Chinoise (two volumes) was published by Guangxi Normal University Press in 2008. This work examines the history of how China was first admired and then rejected in Europe from the Roman Empire to Leibniz, with a particular focus on the 17th and 18th centuries. The Foreword to the second volume (p. 11) observes that although it suffered to some extent from being partly misunderstood, Chinese thought strongly influenced Europe; this offers quite a good summary of the situation at the time. Unfortunately, when referring to the 18th-century debates on China among French thinkers, the focus is only on Voltaire and Montesquieu, with no details of François Quesnay’s defense of China. To fill this gap, see François Quesnay, Le Despotisme de la Chine. Among recent Chinese research works, a comprehensive and detailed study is Zhang Guogang et al., Europe’s Image of China in the Age of Enlightenment.5 See Works of Zhu Qianzhi, vol. 1, pp. 125-126. A photograph of Liang Shuming and Zhu Qianzhi appeared in the first edition of Eastern and Western Cultures and Their Philosophies.6 Zhu Qianzhi, The Influence of Chinese Philosophy on Europe, pp. 188–195.7 Liang held that what is valued in Western culture is “understanding” rather than “reason.” This view is different from but still consistent with the self-definition of European enlightenment. To say that the latter was an “age of reason” is a generalization. The difference between reason and understanding can be illuminated only when the “reason” referred to in the “age of reason” is defined.8 Liang Shuming, China: A Nation of Reason, vol. 4, Collected Works of Liang Shuming, p. 335.9 Immanuel Kant, “An Answer to the Question: ‘What Is Enlightenment?’,” Essays on the Critique of Historical Reason. The pagination of the German edition (A and B) is provided when quoting The Critique of Pure Reason (Kritik der reinen Vernunft, K.R.V.); but for other works by Kant, the pages (and volumes) given are those of their Chinese translations, some of which are supplemented with pages (and volumes) in the German editions (BD). The Chinese translations are Immanuel Kant, Essays on the Critique of Historical Reason, translated by He Zhaowu, and Collected Works of Kant (vols. 6, 7). I have also made some revisions in line with the following two German texts: Immanuel Kant, Was ist Auflärung? Thesen und Definitionen; Immanuel Kant, Werke in sechs Bänden.10 James Schmidt, ed., What Is Enlightenment? Eighteenth-century Answers and Twentieth-century Questions.11 Immanuel Kant, Essays on the Critique of Historical Reason, p. 23. In the Chinese translations of major works by Kant, “Verstand” (understanding) is usually translated as “zhixing” (知性). The distinction between understanding and reason is one of the bases of Kant’s critical philosophy. This distinction is also important in his works on social and political thought, philosophy of rights, philosophy of history, education and anthropology.12 Immanuel Kant, Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View, in Collected Works of Kant, vol. 7, pp. 251–252.13 Immanuel Kant, Essays on the Critique of Historical Reason, pp. 24-25, 29.14 See the second proposition in Immanuel Kant, “Idea for a Universal History from a Cosmopolitan Point of View,” in Essays on the Critique of Historical Reason, p. 4.15 Immanuel Kant, The Metaphysics of Morals, in Collected Works of Kant, vol. 6, p. 490. “Guiding his reason” is italicized by the author of this paper.16 K.R.V., A133/B172.17 Immanuel Kant, The Metaphysics of Morals, in Collected Works of Kant, vol. 6, p. 487.18 Immanuel Kant, Essays on the Critique of Historical Reason, p. 4.19 See Zhu Qianzhi, The Influence of Chinese Philosophy on Europe, pp. 88–192; Immanuel Kant, Essays on the Critique of Historical Reason, p. 29.20 See Zhu Qianzhi, The Influence of Chinese Philosophy on Europe, p. 194; G.W.F. Hegel, Philosophy of History, p. 141.21 G.W.F. Hegel, Philosophy of History, pp. 453, 459.22 Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit, vol. 2, p. 96.23 Hegel, The Logic of Hegel, pp. 11-12.24 Hegel, Philosophy of History, pp. 11-12.25 Besides “reason,” Hegel also translates it as “soul” or “spirit,” see Hegel, The Logic of Hegel, p. 48. Elsewhere he translates it as “soul” and “thought,” see Hegel, The Science of Logic, vol. 1, p. 31.26 Aristotle, Metaphysics, 1072b18-30, in Complete Works (Aristotle), ed. Jonathan Barnes.27 Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 1140b35-1141a7, 1142a25-30, in Complete Works (Aristotle).28 Plato, Plato’s Phaedo, 99A-D.29 Plato, The Republic of Plato, 507D-509E.30 The Republic of Plato, Book II-IV.31 Aristotle, Metaphysics, 1074b1-14.32 For the source of historical consciousness in the Bible, see Karl Lowith, Weltgeschichte und Heilsgeschte.33 Plato’s Cosmology: The Timaeus of Plato; Reprinted by Hackett Publishing Company, 1977, 27C-31B, pp. 21-23, 33-34, 40–42.34 Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, 1102b1-1103a10.35 Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi, Surviving Works of the Cheng Brothers from Henan, vol. 18, in Collected Works of Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi, I, p. 204.36 Liang Shuming, “The Substance of Chinese Culture,” in Collected Works of Liang Shuming, vol. 3, p. 135.37 Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi, Surviving Works of the Cheng Brothers from Henan, vol. 18, in Collected Works of Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi, I, pp. 182, 184.38 Zhang Zai, “A Supplement to Neo-Confucianism,” in Collected Works of Zhang Zai, p. 374.39 Zhang Zai, “The Great Harmony” (I). Correcting the Unenlightened, Collected Works of Zhang Zai, p. 9.40 Li Jingde, ed., Recorded Sayings of Master Zhu Xi, vol. 1, p. 118.41 Huang Zongxi, “Chapter of Yaojiang,” in Survey of Ming Confucians, in Collected Works of Huang Zongxi, vol. 7, p. 202.42 Feng Youlan defined two schools of modern Neo-Confucianism: the new philosophy of the heart-mind and the new Neo-Confucianism, based on the differentiation between intuition and thought (analytical concepts). See Feng Youlan, The History of Modern Chinese Philosophy, pp. 244-245. In modern philosophy, it was Liang Shuming who first took intuition as the basis of the philosophy of the heart-mind. The theory of intuition is the basic framework of Liang’s early philosophy of culture. See Liang Shuming, Eastern and Western Cultures and Their Philosophies, pp. 399, 453, 485. He Lin long ago noted the significance of Liang’s theory of intuition for Song and Ming Neo-Confucianism, and debated this theory with Feng Youlan. See He Lin, “The Intellectual Methodology of the Song Confucians,” in A Brief Interpretation of Modern Idealism, pp. 78-82, 94. Nevertheless, in his later years Liang adjusted the concept of intuition and integrated it into the concept of reason, something of which Feng and He knew nothing.43 Zhang Zai, “Enlarging the Heart-mind” (VII). Correcting the Unenlightened, in Collected Works of Zhang Zai, p. 24.44 Based on Liang’s theory. See He Lin’s comments on Liang. He Lin, “The Intellectual Methodology of the Song Confucians,” in A Brief Interpretation of Modern Idealism, p. 80.45 He Lin, “The Intellectual Methodology of the Song Confucians,” in A Brief Interpretation of Modern Idealism, p. 61.46 For the reasons why Liang adopted and adjusted the two concepts, see Liang Shuming, Human Mind and Human Life, in Collected Works of Liang Shuming, vol. 3, pp. 610–611.47 Ibid., p. 614.48 Ibid., p. 611.49 Liang Shuming, “The Substance of Chinese Culture,” vol. 3, p. 109.50 Liang Shuming, Theory of Rural Reconstruction, in Collected Works of Liang Shuming, vol. 2, p. 196.51 “Tan Gong, I,” in Commentaries on Book of Rites, vol. 8, The Thirteen Classics with Notes and Commentaries, punctuated edition, p. 227.52 Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics. For a direct grasp of the preconditions for perception, see 1140b35-1141a7; for intuition in morality, see 1142a25–30.
Publication Year: 2014
Publication Date: 2014-10-02
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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