In recent years, there have been many voices calling for and discussing the creation of China's independent knowledge system, of which Zheng Yongnian is the most vocal. In fact, what hinders the reconstruction of China's independent knowledge system is precisely these current advocates and researchers, because they stand in the Western knowledge system to see this problem, and it is the existence of the Western knowledge system that makes them blind to the Chinese knowledge system, making them sit at the bottom of the well and cannot see the sky of the Chinese knowledge system.
China is the only ancient civilization among human civilizations that has maintained continuous and uninterrupted, and there must be a set of great and unique knowledge systems behind this to support, so it is very funny and absurd for China to talk about the construction of an independent knowledge system. To put it more bluntly, China not only formed a set of Chinese independent knowledge system as early as the beginning of civilization, but in fact, only China has a real knowledge system. The so-called knowledge system in the West is pseudo-knowledge and pseudo-system in front of the Chinese knowledge system.
This also means that "creating a Chinese knowledge system" is itself a pseudo-problem, because the Chinese knowledge system not only already exists, but already exists very anciently. Moreover, China's knowledge system is not only the oldest of human beings, but also the only true knowledge system of human beings.
It is also this unique chinese and the only true knowledge system of mankind that supports the emergence and continuous existence of Chinese civilization. In fact, in the history of mankind, Chinese civilization also constitutes the axis of human civilization, and it is precisely the continuous spread of Chinese civilization to the outside world that makes civilizations outside China advance and develop periodically. That is, the spiral of negation of what Marx called negation.
In other words, China's knowledge system belongs not only to China, but also to the world. Unfortunately, however, not only foreign intellectuals are unable to identify and recognize her, but also Chinese intellectuals.
What has led to the intellectuals' loss of cognitive ability to the great and long-standing Chinese knowledge system is the superstition of the Western knowledge system. The Western knowledge system is actually the bottom of the well, and the Chinese knowledge system is the sky, superstitious Western knowledge system, taking the Western knowledge system as the frame of reference, standing in the Western knowledge system to see the Chinese knowledge system, it is like sitting in a well and looking at the sky. Sitting at the bottom of the well, of course, you can't see the existence of the sky, but only one wellhead.
In fact, the Chinese knowledge system in the eyes of the Chinese knowledge system creationists is actually sitting in the well and watching the sky, and they are trying to get rid of the wellhead of the West and create a Chinese wellhead. They could not imagine that China's body of knowledge was a sky very different from Western knowledge.
Since the intellectual community is ignorant of it, why do we say that the Chinese knowledge system has always existed? This brings us to one of the core characteristics of the Chinese knowledge system: practice-based, and its fundamental mode of existence is practical, not academic. This makes it impossible for a scholar to sit in a well and look at the sky and see the Chinese knowledge system, but this does not affect her existence, because she exists in the people and in practice.
There are two lines in the inheritance of the Chinese knowledge system, one is the academic line, the other is the practice line, the academic line is Confucianism, that is, the Four Books and Five Classics, and the practice line is the practice of the people and the government. The practice of the people includes family education, life and production, while the practice of the government is social governance.
China's history proves that the academic line not only appeared late, but also changeable, but the practice line is rock solid. It is also the Chinese knowledge system in the line of practice that supports the continuity of Chinese civilization.
According to Chinese standards, the real knowledge system must be practiced, and the knowledge system that lacks the basis of practice must be a pseudo-knowledge pseudo-system. This is the case in the West.
The Western knowledge system is divorced from practice, and in the religious period it is based on God, believing that God is the root of knowledge, while in modern times it is based on thinkers, believing that thinkers are the root of knowledge. In fact, the source of knowledge in these two concepts of knowledge is fictional. This fact shows that the source of knowledge does not exist in the West, so the "root knowledge" in the Western knowledge system can never be endogenous in the West, but transmitted externally. From where it came from, only China.
Confucius said, "To learn without thinking is to be reckless, and to think without learning is to perish.", this "learning" is actually practice, and "thinking" is knowledge. Wang Yangming said that "knowledge and action are one", this practice of action, knowledge is knowledge. "The pit ashes are not cold and the mountains are chaotic, Liu Xiang did not read books in the first place"; "On paper, I finally feel shallow, and I absolutely know that I must do this" These verses also emphasize the practical nature of Chinese knowledge.
After the New Culture Movement, the Confucian system was overthrown, and the academic line of the Chinese knowledge system was interrupted, but this was not a break in the Chinese knowledge system itself, but continued to be passed on through the practice line. The Chinese knowledge system is still the core that supports the development of Chinese society and civilization, the practice of China's revolution, the practice of new China's construction, and the practice of economic rise.
"Linking Theory with Practice", "Sinicizing Marxism", "Maintaining Close Ties with the Masses", and "Socialism with Chinese Characteristics". The essential connotation of the concepts of "sinicization", "Chinese reality", "people's masses" and "Chinese characteristics" is the Chinese knowledge system.
The Chinese body of knowledge has always been present, has been guiding China's practice as a deep core, but people do not feel its existence. This is what the Zhou Yi said, "The people use it every day but do not know it."
The Chinese knowledge system is the avenue system of "the people use it every day without knowing it".
The core of The Chinese knowledge system is righteousness, a system of righteousness, and a system of argument between righteousness and profit. Righteousness and profit are both based on righteousness. The Western knowledge system is devoid of righteousness, only interests and dogmas, a dogmatic system of interests, beneficial and unrighteous. Because the Chinese knowledge system has both righteousness and profit, it is two-dimensional, so it is the sky. Because the Western knowledge system, which lacks righteousness and benefits righteousness, is one-dimensional, it is a wellhead.
The Chinese sky-type knowledge system is the true knowledge system, while the Western wellhead-style knowledge system is a pseudo-knowledge pseudo-system.
What China needs to do is not to create a Chinese knowledge system, but to regain the knowledge cognition ability to recognize the Chinese knowledge system, and then rediscover and interpret the Chinese knowledge system inherent in China and that exists in practice.
The answer to how to regain the knowledge and cognitive ability of the Chinese knowledge system is to get out of the bottom of the Western knowledge system and remove one of the obstacles to the Western knowledge system.
