What is the so-called communication between Chinese and Western scholarship
Author: Liu Wendian
In the past twenty years, ordinary people have gradually come to know that Westerners have philosophy, law, political science, ethics, and even evidence and vocabulary; and there is also the new sociology that has made rapid progress and has great utility. And I also know that those learning that we have learned in ancient China, in today's situation, we must rely on him exclusively to "cultivate Qi Zhiping", which is somewhat unreliable. Therefore, there are also a group of people who study Western cultural sciences, and there are also many people who can study them to the point of depth, and the ideological circles have also been greatly influenced, causing great changes, and there have been amazing changes in society and politics. To discuss the spread of civilization, the spiritual aspect is more slow and difficult than the material aspect, and now that culture and science have been brought in, the digestion of nutrients, although still unknown, is finally opening its mouth to eat. This is a very optimistic phenomenon.
However, recently there is a phenomenon that people often have to do the work of "Chinese and Western academic communication". Opening his mouth and lifting his pen, he always said that what principles of Western learning were already in ancient China, which sage and scholar had already said; which science in the West asked which was already very developed in ancient China, which sentence of Western scholars was which sentence in ancient Chinese books. When it comes down to the good of The Ancient Chinese; the new of the West is nothing rare. To say that the origin of this kind of "communication" psychology is really too deep in the old superstition inherent in the country, and I want to use some of the knowledge of Western science that I have "tasted" to refute the subtlety and wonder of Chinese learning. From this strong and excessive feeling arises the miscalculation of the value of "secondary school". This is still very sincere "communication", as for the insincere, to be honest, it is the intention to list many book titles, personal names, and scientific names, from the show of their "learning through the East and the West". Those who are insincere and do not talk about him are this kind of sincere "communication," and the result is that those who govern "middle schools" and those who govern "Western studies" have a bad impact. For his own studies, it is needless to say that there are also disadvantages.
In the previous paragraph, I said softly, "For the miscalculation of the value of secondary schools", the meaning is probably not clear, this sentence is the main theme of this article, can not but say more detailed, explain clearly, naturally also push out a conclusion.
There are many civilizations in the world, in detail, but there are only three main ones, that is, the Greek system in Europe, the Chinese system in Asia, and the Indian system, Greece is the source of Western civilization, and most of the ideas of Westerners are based on Greek thought. However, from another point of view, Greek scholarship is Greek scholarship, and modern scholarship is modern scholarship, each with its own independent spirit and special color.
When the Indian people were still living in Central Asia Minor, they were already quite literate, and then gradually moved south, one to Persia and one to India. The civilization of this branch of Persia, directly related to many influences on Christianity, indirectly brought about many changes in the culture of China and the early modern period in Europe. Because of the relationship between the land, this branch of India has developed extremely high and rapidly, and has become Brahmanism and Buddhism, which has brought about major changes in the ideology and culture of China and Japan.
The civilization of the Chinese department does not need me to elaborate, even if I want to elaborate, the length is not allowed. However, there are a few words that I would like to solemnly declare, that is, the Chinese nation, no matter how excellent, is an ordinary human being, and the development of its civilization must follow the same procedures, abide by the same laws, and follow the same conditions as other nationalities. In other words, it is necessary to take it step by step, there are twists and turns, and it is also necessary for the culture to reach a certain point and the social situation to reach a certain point before there must be a certain doctrine. For example, a few students, this one, no matter what kind of "heavenly saint", his learning must also be gradual, even if it is faster than others, it must not be able to understand differential integration without learning arithmetic, and without learning inorganic chemistry, you can know biochemistry and celestial chemistry, this is a universal theorem, and China's "ancients" must not be unique.
Looking at the development of various civilizations, although there are inevitably some differences in time, the path is consistent. Geographically, politically, economically, and socially, the culture accumulated since the time of the original people is bound to play a great role in fermentation, and a brilliant civilization will occur. The civilization of Greece, the ancient civilization of India, and the civilization of the late Zhou Dynasty of China were born under this law of conditions. Soon after, because of the inertia of the national spirit and the lack of conditions, it was bound to decay. After a long time, new favorable conditions have been obtained, and the national spirit has been restored, it will certainly be revived again, and it will be more glorious than before. If there is no more opportunity to qualify, it will be devastated, as evidenced by the Egyptian Babylon.
Observing these three major civilizations with a fair eye, we can see that the ancient civilizations of these three series are consistent in many places. Why is this? Because the ancient peoples are very fresh and quick to splash, the legends of the predecessors in their minds are not printed much, even if some of them do not have much authority, the freedom of thought is restored, and the living conditions are not far apart, so the vision of all nationalities to see nature and life is roughly the same. Even if because of geographical relations, a certain people pays special attention to a certain phenomenon and explains it specially, but this is only a difference in degree, not a fundamental difference, so there is some similarity between the two ancient civilizations, which is also a natural thing, and there is nothing strange about it. Other people's homes are consistent with me, I am consistent with other people's homes, and there is nothing to boast about.
My friend Hu Shizhi wrote an "Outline of the History of Chinese Philosophy", the value of which can really be regarded as a book of Epoch making in modern China, that is, a history of Western philosophy written by Westerners, and only the books of Two famous artists in Germany, Wingband and The United States, Thllly, are as well written as he is. I especially liked the first few words of his book, when he said, "The more referenced material I use is Western philosophy." Although I use Western philosophy as a reference material, I do not think that there is also some kind of doctrine in ancient China, so I can boast of myself. Those who do history must not have the slightest subjective prejudice, but the academic ideas of the East and the West confirm each other and invent each other, at most, they can see that the human senses and psychology are about the same, so when they encounter the situation of similarities and differences, they will produce similar schools of thought. The east family has it, but the west family has none, only because the situation is different, the west family may not be inferior to the east family, and the east family is not worthy of boasting about the west family. Moreover, everything is the same, and no one deserves to be proud. What a mind, what an insight. When I saw that he had such knowledge and insight, I advised him to use his mental efforts for a few more years to make a "history of comparative philosophy" that needed the most relevant ones that Western scholars could not think of and could not do, and to make a big comparative study of the ancient civilizations of various departments in the world. I thought that apart from this kind of research, there was no longer any communication between Chinese and Western academia.
To make a comparison between China's inherent school of thought and other civilizations, to say a fair word, even if you dare not boast that you are higher than people, you cannot say that you are necessarily lower than people, and the value in history is very heavy. However, its value is limited to history, because the Chinese school of thought, since it was embedded in the mold of iron casting, although it cannot be said to have never changed, has never evolved, after all, there has never been a fundamental reform, giving rise to a new civilization. Although the modern Chinese school of thought and the ancient school of thought are not the same, after all, it is the old ideas and old scholarship that have undergone several changes, and it must not be regarded as new ideas and new scholarship that have been born out of birth and replaced by bones.
Now there are many "communicators". If we communicate the ancient Chinese ideological scholarship and the ancient Western ideological scholarship, study the consistency points in the study, and invent and refer to each other, this is an excellent thing, and even if we dare to oppose it, we can only welcome it. Unfortunately, most of them have miscalculated the true value of Chinese scholarship, and have always regarded ancient Chinese academic thought as a confrontation and rival to modern Western academic thought, and insisted on pulling together two unrelated things. Forgetting the value of domestic scholarship and not seeing the value of scholarship in other countries clearly, the result is a meaningless futility, or many laughable comedies.
The scholarship of modern Western times is not only different from that of ancient China, but also different from the scholarship of ancient Western times. To discuss in detail the methods and nature of modern Western science, it has become a specialty of the "Philosophie der Wissenschaft", and it is not clear written by non-specialized masters. To put it crudely, the first step is to gather the objects of experience under a "class concept" from its class, and this first step of work is called classification (Einteilung); and then all the characteristics of all kinds are analyzed, and the guests of the main proposition with their class concept are said, and this second step of work is called be called be described as beschreibung; to do the second step of work, it is considered to have a slight prototype of science, the science of this account (Beschreibung The value of Wissenschaft is not much, and it is necessary to further seek the principles in it, plus reasonable explanations, to be counted as the science of this explanation (Erklarende Wissenschaft), but also to be able to "use the good life", its value is noble, whether it is natural sciences, spiritual sciences (Geistes Wissenschaft), it is so. Although the definition of the term "learning" in modern times is different from school to school, at least it must always be "systematic and organized knowledge" to be worthy. From this rigorous meaning, the position and value of Chinese scholarship in today's scientific community can be slightly seen.
Many scholars in ancient China, that kind of keen thinking, thorough observation, and meticulous organization, were not under the Western scholars. Many of the great problems in modern science are really difficult for them to see and raise early, but if they see and propose them, they can solve them even if they can be studied, and the fragmentary knowledge is better than the knowledge that cannot be organized systematically.
For example, the book "Zhuangzi" says that there are several places where organisms evolve, and this passage says, "All things are seeded, zen with different phases, and there are rings in the beginning, and there are modalities, which is called heavenly average." According to my opinion, this word "species" is probably not a species of species, as if it is seed Seed, and when it says "how many species there are", it can be seen that it does not mean species. "Tianjun" seems to be the so-called "equality of nature" Natural Balance in biology. The Zhile Chapter goes into more detail, "There are a few seeds, and when you get water, you follow, when you get water and soil, you are clothed by frogs, when you are born in Lingtun, you are a ling, and if you are born in Lingtun, you are a black foot." The root of the black foot is a grub, and its leaves are bearded butterflies. Hu Dixu also turned into a worm, born under the stove, its shape is like a fall, and its name is Plover. The Bird is a bird with a name of Dry Bones. The foam of the dry bones is Si Mi, and Si Mi is the food mash. Yi Rui was born of food, Huang Xuan was born of Jiu Yi, and Jing Rui was born of decay. Yang Xi is more than Hu Bu Zhen, Jiu Zhu sheng Qing Ning; Qing Ning sheng cheng, Cheng sheng ma, ma sheng ren, people are reversed into the machine. Everything comes out of the machine, and everything goes into the machine. This paragraph clearly states that humans in higher organisms evolved from inferior protophyls (Protista), followed by what the frog's clothes and tombs are, we really can't point to his "scientific name" now, but in terms of literary speculation, it can be said that it is the protophyta and protophyta in the protophyta. The black foot has roots, of course, it is a "post-plant". From the black foot evolved into insects, adult birds, and evolved into "mammalian horses", "narrow nose gate" people.
If Zhuangzi had not undergone many careful observations that day, he would never have been able to say this passage. We certainly admit that Zhuangzi once saw the phenomenon of biological evolution. People more than 2,000 years ago were able to see this layer and say these words, which was also rare and precious. But now the scholars of the "Communication School", seeing Zhuangzi's words, are like picking up treasures, and they want to bring him up to confront Darwin and Hekel in the West. Two or three hundred years before Zhuangzi, the Greek philosopher Yanaxemandre also said "self-transformation", said "motionless and unchanging", said "never moved", said that the first creature was born in water, said that man evolved from fish. Although I do not know Greek and have not been able to read his writings, I do not know the details of his teachings, and they do not know clearly, and in the history of Greek philosophy alone, there seem to be some places that are more subtle than those spoken by Zhuangzi. Wouldn't it be glorious for the West to have such a university more than 2,000 years ago? Why is it that not only did the Greeks not hear of him and confronted Darwin in England and Hekkel in Germany, but scholars from other countries studied Greek philosophy very hard and attached great importance to it, and no one said that Yanauximander was even the inventor of the theory of evolution.
Because to talk about the theory of evolution, it is not only possible to see the phenomenon of biological evolution, but also to deduce the principle, build a system, put forward solid evidence, and draw immovable conclusions. The theory of evolution in recent times has been aided by physical and chemical sciences (such as the microscope of physical products, the staining of chemical products, etc.), the application of the latest research methods (such as comparative research methods), according to the anatomy, histology, morphology, physiology, geology, paleontology and other unshakable natural sciences, from the lowest Moneren (Moneren) to the higher human beings, from the body to the spirit, from "individual occurrence" to "systematic occurrence", to find out a consistent system, and then dare to advocate evolution. His theory of evolution is also valuable. If you can only see the phenomenon of biological evolution, it was very valuable in ancient times, and what is it today? Therefore, we can only regard Zhuangzi's position in the history of philosophy as high as that of Anaximander, because the two of them know that the phenomenon of biological evolution has been noticed since ancient times. If you want to communicate Zhuangzi's words with the theory of evolution in the modern world, isn't this a comedy?
Just to say a word, even if it is very correct, can only say that this sentence is good, can not say that it has academic value. Last summer, I was visiting Xiangshan in the west of Beijing, resting under a big tree on the side of the road, and I heard two donkey men talking about reincarnation, saying that what kind of people reincarnate as donkeys after death, and there was a melon seller next to me who said, "Where are these words!" Everything in the world is born of nature. I smiled at my friend who was traveling with me and said, "What a biological philosopher!" Unexpectedly, I met a man here who advocated the "Autogony Hypothesis." My words are nothing more than a joke, and what the melon seller calls "nature" is not necessarily the meaning of Autogony, how can his sentence be compared with The doctrine of Herkel. Unexpectedly, the "communicator" said this kind of joke in a solemn language.
Now those "communication faction" communication, probably all this. As long as you see that someone in the ancient Chinese books has said which phenomenon in science and which problem in science has been raised, they want to communicate this ancient book with the scientific questions of the modern world, and they do not know that seeing the phenomenon and raising questions is one thing, and it is another thing to solve problems and establish a system. The phenomenon is visible to smart people, the problem can be put forward by people with a little thought, and the difficulty is to solve it correctly and organize it into a system. In recent times, science has also been established through an extremely long developed class and subsidized by other scientific questions. Before this developed class, the ancient Chinese people did not have the help of other scientific questions, how could they get the results obtained by science in recent times? How can his words be communicated with modern science? As for the "science of society", it is even more necessary to wait until the social organization reaches a certain point before a certain doctrine occurs. For example, under the economic organization of the Middle Ages, The doctrine of Adam Smith could not happen, and the machine had not yet passed, so how could there be Max's doctrine? Today's communicators, however, would communicate the Kong doctrine that occurred under the economic organization of the feudal era with the economics of the present era, saying that his doctrine was very suitable for the economic organization of the twentieth century.
In addition, there are of course the same, such as the Pipe's "Water and Land Chapter", which says, "Gathered in the grass and trees, the roots get their degree, the hua gets its number, the real amount gets it, the birds and beasts get it, the body is fat, the feathers are abundant, the literature is clear, all things are inexhaustible, and the abnormal ones are also suitable within the water." ...... Therefore, he is known as the water man, the origin of all things, and the ancestral chamber of all beings. "What Thales of Greece said was not much different from him. This is because the ancient thinkers felt that there was always a common origin in this world of thousands of things, and that the water that "gathered in heaven and earth and hidden in all things" was indispensable to all living things. Of course, we all regard water as "the origin of all things, the ancestral chamber of all beings". For example, the Chinese ancients talked about the five elements, and the Western ancients also talked about the four elements, because thinkers should analyze this unified universe into several different constitutive protoplasm, of course, they will think of those most specific forms of earth, water, fire, wind, wood, gold and other categories. This kind of convergence can only refer to each other, and there is no use for communication. As for the accidental coincidence, such as the words of "Zhuangzi Health" that have herpes to solve the cattle, and the words on The Phaedrus of Bratu, it is even less of a thing, there is no rarity, but just the same metaphor.
If the Ancient Chinese had one or two theories, which had been proved by Western modern science, it would certainly be very gratifying, but its value was also limited after all, and it should not be proud of it, or even "amplify it by electric light." Like Mozi's "Sutra", it is said: "Circle one in the same long also." This means that there is only one center of the circle, and that no matter which point in the circumference is equal to the center of the circle. Mozi is no different from modern geometry. And "arguing or calling it an ox, calling it a non-cattle, arguing for the other, not being proper, not being proper, being necessary or improper." This is clearly the "Principle of excluded Middle" (or "intolerable intermediate principle" or "law of exclusion" in the five fundamental principles of modern logic). There are many other optical, logical, and geometric theorems. If we read it, we can only infer that the scientific level at that time was already very high, and we had considerable respect for him, and if we say that the science of ancient China is higher than that of the West today, this is the same as those who are delusional to see that there are books that say that Mozi made flying kites and that he can build airships and planes.
According to this, is Chinese and Western scholarship absolutely uncommunicable? This is not the case. There must be people who are eager to learn and think deeply, who have the vision of the civilizations of all departments in the world, who have gone to a good sense of modesty and courtesy, who have understood the methods, nature, and values of science in recent times, who have understood the developed path of academic history, who have made a comparative study of Chinese and Western scholarship, and who have sought the integration of the civilizations of the two lineages.
By word
This article is transferred from the public account of "Zhang Huang Guoxue". Due to space limitations, it has been slightly abridged. Mr. Liu Wendian is an outstanding literary historian in modern and contemporary Chinese history, especially known for his study of Zhuangzi. He was rigorous in his studies and wrote a wealth of writings. Although he has been engaged in the collation and research of various classical documents all his life, he emphasizes the communication between China and the West in academics.
In this article, Mr. Liu Wendian saw two types of "Chinese and Western communication" in the context of the times at that time: one is "sincere" communication, but the essence is "to use some of the knowledge of Western science that he has tasted to disprove the subtlety and wonder of Chinese learning"; the other is "insincere" communication, which is "intentional to list many book titles, personal names, and scientific names, which come from showing off his learning in China and the West.". Although the former is not enough to discuss, the latter has the existence of "always regarding ancient Chinese academic thought as a confrontation and rival to modern Western academic thought, and insisting on pulling together two unrelated things." The disadvantage of forgetting the value of domestic scholarship and not seeing the value of scholarship in other countries clearly has finally become "many laughable comedies". He used Zhuangzi as an example to point out that the root cause of this kind of drawback is that "it is one thing to not know that the phenomenon of seeing the phenomenon raises the problem, and it is another thing to solve the problem and establish a system." The phenomenon is visible to smart people, the problem can be put forward by people with a little thought, and the difficulty is to solve it correctly and organize it into a system." And the real communication should "have the vision of the civilizations of the various departments of the world, go to the humble and dignified courtesy, know the methods, nature, and values of modern science, understand the developed path of academic history, make a comparative study of Chinese and Western scholarship, and seek the integration of the two civilizations."
"Chinese and Western academic communication" is a timeless topic, the article criticizes the protection and misjudgment of Chinese scholarship due to excessive emotion, and to this day, we also see many phenomena that negate China's inherent traditions and overemphasize the value of Western studies because of "emotion". How to maintain their respective academic characteristics in communication, promote each other's academic progress, and avoid the emergence of "laughable comedy" should be the common goal of true academic researchers, and it is also the purpose of our push this article.
About the Author
Liu Wendian (1889-1958), a native of Hefei, Anhui, was originally from Huaining, Anhui. He is an outstanding master of literature and history in modern times, a master of collation and surveying, and an expert in the study of Zhuangzi. His original name was Wen Cong, the character Shuya, and his pen name was Liu Tianmin. He is the author of "The Collected Interpretations of Huainan Honglie", "Zhuangzi Corrections", and "Notes on the Three Yu".