Xie Yaoting | Comment on Mr. Gao Zhuancheng's "Biography of Xunzi"

Mr. Gao Zhuncheng's "Biography of Xunzi" (Beiyue Literature and Art Publishing House, 2017 edition) is a recent masterpiece of research on Xunzi. Mr. Gao is known for his research on the history of the thought of the pre-Qin and Han Dynasties and the culture of the Three Jin Dynasties, and has had the privilege of reading Mr. Confucius's "Confucius And Confucius Disciples", "Zixia and The Three Jins Confucianism", "Xunzi and the End of Pre-Qin Scholarship" and the translation of "Xun Yue and Medieval Confucianism" and other treatises, and has benefited a lot. Mr. Gao is not only familiar with the classics of pre-Qin Confucianism, but also contributes to the development and evolution of Confucianism in the Three Jin Dynasties. Mr. Gao's academic accumulation and academic accomplishment make "The Biography of Xunzi" a high-level work in Xunxue research.

On the whole, in terms of methodology and guiding research paradigm, there are the following four aspects worth learning and learning.

First, the research method of intellectual history on the world. The history of ideas has its own research methods that should be followed, and I have always believed that the history of ideas should be the condensation and elevation of history, which is divorced from the study of the history of ideas in history, and will appear rootless and floating, so it will not really explore the process of ideological development, let alone show the living scene of thought. "The Biography of Xunzi" closely follows the development process of history and explores the life and thought of Xunzi. Mr. Gao Zhuancheng said in the "Afterword": "This book also makes some new attempts to narrate Xunzi's life, the most obvious of which is to associate Xunzi's life deeds with his ideological achievements, especially in the narrative mode, and does not introduce and examine Xunzi's life deeds in a special chapter at the beginning of the book, but divides the life of Xunzi into four main stages, corresponding to the process of the development of Xunzi's thought. "This way of handling is undoubtedly appropriate. Mencius once said, "Praise his poems, read his books, and do not know his people. It is also about its world. "The ideas and understandings of characters and schools may change before and after, which is a real existence and has been generally recognized by scholars. Mr. Gao Zhuncheng's own understanding of Xunzi has also changed, and he said in the "Self-Introduction": "Thirty years ago, I wrote "Disciples of Confucius and Confucius", read through "Xunzi" for the first time, and also expressed my opinion that Xunzi was an overly mean person. In the past thirty years, because of the composition, I have often read "Xunzi", vaguely introspecting myself from time to time, and gradually feeling that there is always something wrong with the opinions of that year. This two years of writing a book, perusing the full text of "Xunzi" and various examination schools, and finally waking up suddenly, it turned out that our foothold was too low, the field of vision was too small, and we unjustifiably magnified a certain point of Xunzi's thought, which led to the ugly view of partial generalization. This is Mr. Gao's mental process of continuously improving his grasp of Xunzi Thought in the past thirty years, and it can also be seen as a testimony to the changes in Mr. Gao's thoughts before and after.

Second, the re-understanding of the status of Xunzi. As the temple army of pre-Qin Confucianism, Xunzi's thought is profound in reason and true knowledge in criticism. Mr. Gao Zhuncheng pointed out: "The distinction between the temperament of human nature and the nature of righteousness and rationality of Song Dynasty scholars is actually inspired and influenced by Xunzi's concept of human nature. From this, we can also see the influence of Xunzi thought in the field of practical thought. Pre-Qin Confucianism, as a primitive form of Confucianism, since the opening of Confucius, the Simeng School and Xunxue have their own directions of development and perfection. In recent years, I have studied the feelings of pre-Qin Confucianism: the Simeng school has demonstrated the spirit of Confucian moral idealism, and Xunxue has demonstrated the confucian spirit of rationalism, and they have all developed the connotation of Confucius spirit, making the Confucius spirit more abundant and more perfect, and also making primitive Confucianism eventually mature and enter the next stage of development. From this point of view, the status of Xunzi cannot be ignored, let alone underestimated, and Mr. Gao Zhuancheng, on the basis of his intensive study of Xunzi, believes that "from the perspective of intellectual history, Xunzi may not be the greatest thinker in ancient China, but from the perspective of influencing social reality and historical process, Xunzi must be the most contributing thinker in ancient China."

Third, a solid foundation for historical research. The study of the history of ideas and the history of philosophy cannot be ignored in the study of historiography, and has basically become the consensus of scholars. Mr. Feng Youlan's continuous revision of the New Edition of the History of Chinese Philosophy also shows that the study of the history of ideas and the history of philosophy is closely related to the study of historiography. In the study of Xunzi, there are many issues that have been controversial, such as the age of Xunzi Youqi, and the historical dispute between "year fifty" and "year fifteen", which not only involves the age of Xunzi when youqi, but also affects the life expectancy of Xunzi, as well as the source of Xunzi's academic thought. This issue was hotly debated by scholars during the "Ancient History Discernment" movement in the first half of the 20th century, and has been discussed by scholars since then. Those who favor the "50th year of you qi" are Yan Zhitui, Wang Zhong, Hu Shi, and other scholars; those who are in favor of the "15th year of you qi" are Liu Xiang, Liang Qichao, Qian Mu, and other scholars. "Xunzi Biography" naturally can not avoid this problem, Mr. Gao Zhucheng from the grammatical point of view, the transmission of false accusations in addition to the argument, but also from the three aspects of the distance of study, travel qualifications, Confucian learning to make a reasonable analysis, that is, "year fifty" instead of "year fifteen", I deeply agree with, agree with Xunzi "year fifty" began to study in Qi view. In addition, in terms of Xunzi's name and honorific title, the year of birth and death, the place of birth, the academic teacher Cheng, Mr. Minoru, etc., Mr. Gao has all studied and analyzed, reflecting a solid historical research effort. Solid and reliable historical research is a necessary condition for the writing of celebrity biographies, which not only affects the understanding of the thinker's life, but also affects the analysis of the thinker's ideological process.

Fourth, the combing of the clues of the Confucianism of the Three Jin Dynasties. Mr. Gao Zhuncheng's years of research on The Confucianism of the Three Jins have made academic contributions to people's understanding and understanding of the Confucianism of the Three Jins. The relationship between Xunzi and The Confucianism of the Three Jins is specifically discussed in the Biography of Xunzi, which is rare in similar works and is one of the highlights of the book. In his early years, Mr. Gao Zhuncheng studied the disciples of Confucius, and worked diligently on Zixia, constantly excavating the connotation of Zixia's thought and its contribution to the Confucianism of the Three Jins, and was often praised by the academic community. After The death of Confucius, Zixia returned to the State of Wei to set up an apprenticeship, and Confucianism began to spread in the land of the Three Jins, and Zixia was the founder of Confucianism in the Three Jins. Mr. Liang Qichao once concluded: "When Confucius was alive, his learning was not more important than that of Shi Junye, and The Marquis of Wei wen was inspired by The Book of Xia, followed by Duan Ganmu and Tian Zifang, so Confucianism began to be greater than xihe." Wen Hou's initial appointment as a doctoral officer was actually the beginning of the implementation of Confucius Studies with national strength. Confucianism is the first great achievement, and the Shesi people are not subordinate. From Zixia to Wei Wenhou, Confucianism was taught by the people to the state, and the establishment of Zixia not only created the Confucianism of the Three Jins, but also made a significant contribution to the development of Confucianism in the Warring States. In the history of the development of Confucianism in the Three Jins, Zixia lived in the early Warring States period, Xunzi lived in the late Warring States period, and the development of Confucianism in the Three Jins in the middle of the Warring States period was trapped in a difficult place due to insufficient literature, Mr. Gao Zhuancheng analyzed: "The ideological characteristics of Xunzi with Confucianism as the mainstay and Confucianism as the equal emphasis are quite obvious in the thoughts of Zixia and Li Wu. In this way, from the perspective of ideological inheritance and development, the source of Xunzi thought is none other than Zixia thought and Li Wu thought. This kind of in-depth analysis of the internal thinking is deeply enlightening, providing a space for further reflection for further in-depth exploration of the development and flow of The Three Jins Confucianism.

(This article is excerpted from Xie Yaoting, 2018 issue 11 of the first issue of "Appreciation of Masterpieces", "Xunzi: Three JinXiongcai, Kuangshi Daru - And Comments on Mr. Gao Zhuancheng")