Heavenly Principle and Order: A Study of Political and Ethical Thought in the Song Dynasty
|Zheng Jizhou and Zhang Hongming|
Social Sciences Academic Press
December 2023
ISBN：978-7-5228-2691-2
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Introduction
Song Confucianism's discussion of politics was ethical, and it was based on the principles of heaven and guided by the ideas of scholars and scholars, and promoted the rational arrangement of the political order. "Winning the way of the king" and "ruling the world together" are the goals of the political and ethical thought dominated by Song Confucianism, but in the actual political order, there is a contradiction between the subjectivity of scholars and bureaucracy, and the essence of this contradiction is the game between the monarch and the minister. In the historical evolution of ethical thought in the Song Dynasty, the contradiction between heavenly principles and merit gave rise to the distinction between kings and tyrants, and the distinction between righteousness and benefit. From the perspective of the development direction of political and ethical thought in the Song Dynasty, its characteristics are the rationalization of political life under the resurrection of ancient rites and the domination of utilitarianism.
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About the Author
Zheng Jizhou, Ph.D., is an associate professor of the Teaching and Research Department of Party Construction of the Party School of the Fujian Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, a postdoctoral fellow in Marxist theory at Fujian Normal University, with a research direction of political culture, presided over one National Social Science Fund project, and published more than ten articles in core journals such as "Hebei Academic Journal" and "Southeast Academic".
Zhang Hongming, Ph.D., is a postdoctoral fellow in Marxist theory at the Party School of the Fujian Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China and Fujian Normal University, with a research direction of Chinese-style modernization, participated in a number of national, provincial and ministerial projects, and published many academic papers in journals such as World Philosophy and Ethical Research.
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Introduction/1
I. The Consciousness and Political and Ethical Vision of "Scholarly Governance"/2
II. Moral Subjectivity and Bureaucratization of the Scholars/6
III. The Rational and Political Contradictions of "Co-governance of Monarchs and Ministers"/13
Chapter 1 The Modern Age of the Song Dynasty: The Situation of Song Confucianism in Political and Ethical Thought/22
1. The Meaning and Analysis of the Song Dynasty's "Modern Theory"/23
2. Divergences and Identities in the Modern Discourse of the Song Dynasty/32
3. The Cultivation of Virtue and the Beginning of Rationalist Political Ethics in the Song Dynasty/39
Chapter 2 Heaven and Man: Zhou Dunyi's Political and Ethical Thoughts/46
1. Zhou Dunyi's concept of "the unity of heaven and man" and the concept of heaven and ethics of political ethics/47
II. Integration of Learning, Taoism, and Government: The Development of Political and Ethical Thought/50
3. Human Ethics and Self-cultivation: Establish people to be in harmony with the way of heaven/54
Chapter 3 Leading Government with Taoism: A Study of Political and Ethical Thought in the Second Journey/59
1. The Formation of the Concept of Heavenly Reason and Reason/60
II. The Ontology of Tao and Reason/62
III. The Historical Development of the Way of the First Kings/65
4. The Politics of Responsibility and the Ideal of Mentorship/69
Chapter 4: Emptiness is Anger: Zhang Zai's Political and Ethical Thoughts/86
1. Void is qi and qi become Tao/87
2. The Nature of Heaven and Earth and the Nature of Temperament/93
3. Changing Temperament and Etiquette/96
IV. The Theory of Civility and Feudalism/99
5. "Great Heart, Poor Reason" and "Feeling" Labor/102
Chapter 5: Zhu Xi's Political and Ethical Thoughts/107
1. The Heavenly Order of Political Ethics/108
2. Zhu Xi's Proof of Political Ethics/111
3. "Born of reason" and its universality/115
IV. The Unity of Heavenly Principle and Political Ethics/117
5. Harmony of Affection and Courtesy: The Realistic Presentation of Zhu Zi's Political Ethics/121
Chapter 6 Mind and Reason I: Lu Jiuyuan's Political and Ethical Thoughts/124
1. The Ontology of Political Ethics in which "the heart is reason"/125
II. The Political Principle of "One Monarch and the People"/127
3. The Monarch's "Heart" Pursuit of Benevolent Government/135
Chapter 7: The Distinction between Princes and Tyrants: The Controversy of the Utilitarian Schools of the Song Dynasty/144
1. The Orientation of Merit: Chen Liang's Political and Ethical Thoughts/144
The two "benefit" and "appropriateness": Ye Shi's political and ethical thought /158
3. The Deviation of Political and Ethical Thought of the Rationalist School of the Song Dynasty/165
Chapter 8 The Revival of Ancient Rites: The Characteristics of Political and Ethical Thought in the Song Dynasty/169
1. The Theory of the Unity of Benevolence and Taoism: The Unity of Ethics and Politics, and the Integration of Family and State/169
2. The Value Objectives of Monarchy and Scholar Politics: Raising the People, Religious People, and Pastoral Persons/172
3. The Ethical Issues of Responsibility in Reason, Heart-Oriented, and Gejun's Mind/174
appendix
The Distinction between Ancient and Modern Chinese Political Philosophy/178
The "Juche" Reflection of Confucius, Meng, and Xun's "Tianxia" Thought: Starting from the Contemporary "Tianxiaism" Controversy/178
"Spring and Autumn" is the Han system: Dong Zi's ancient and modern distinction of "pushing the Confucian family and suppressing the hundred schools" /195
Research on Zhu Zi's Thought of "Co-governance": Starting from the Guidance of "Taoist Unification" to "Political Unification"/215
Document Ref./229
Afterword/263
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Preamble / Dawen Fung
The ontological metaphysics of Confucianism was propagated by the philosophers of the Song and Ming dynasties. The construction of ontology is based on the rationality of knowledge, and on the basis of a more explicit distinction between the common and the special categories. During the Han and Tang dynasties, Confucianism turned to cosmology, and Confucian scholars represented by Dong Zhongshu talked about "harmony between heaven and man", and attached benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and faith to the rhythm of the changes of the four seasons and five elements of the universe of heaven and earth. Because relying on cosmology can the values and beliefs of Confucianism acquire objective, absolute, and even transcendent significance.
However, from the perspective of the ontology that Song and Ming scholars were keen on, the biochemical origin "qi" of cosmology is "plasticity", and the biochemical characters formed by "qi" also have "plasticity"; Ercheng and Zhu Xi followed the formal rules adopted by intellectual rationality to distinguish between the common and special aspects of all things in heaven and earth, referring to "qi" as the constituent of special aspects, and pushing the "reason" with the meaning of unity to the absolute metaphysical position, and constructing the "ontology of reason". Let's look at Cheng Zhu's argument. Ercheng said: "Although I have learned something, the word Tianli is my own thoughtfulness. With this statement, Ercheng declared their farewell to the Han and Tang cosmology. So, what is the relationship between "reason" and "qi"?
Cheng Yi said: "There is no way without yin and yang, so yin and yang are the way." Yin and yang, qi also. Qi is the metaphysical, and the Tao is the metaphysical. Cheng Yi regards the relationship between "reason" and "qi" as the relationship between metaphysics and metaphysics. Zhu Xi strongly agreed with Cheng Yi, and he also said: "Between heaven and earth, there is reason and anger. The rational is also the metaphysical way, the essence of living things, and the qi is also the metaphysical instrument, and the tools of living things. It is the life of a character, and it must be based on this principle and then sexuality, and it must be born with this qi and then tangible. Zhu Xi here also depreciates "qi" and exalts "reason". However, what is "reason"? Why is "reason" more worthy of respect and more metaphysical ontology than "qi"? This is first of all because "reason" is public. Zhu Zi said: "The reason is that there are petals one by one. Each has its own order, which is called the reason, and what people have in common is the way. "The Taoist, the principle of ancient and modern commonality, such as the kindness of the father, the filial piety of the son, and the loyalty of the monarch and the courtiers, is a public truth. Virtue is to get this way in the body, then for the king to be benevolent, for the minister to be loyal, etc., all of which are self-reliant, and they are relieved. "Reason" (Tao) is "common to all people", "public", and has its own common meaning.
"Reason" is at ease in "before heaven and earth", and "sincerity" is a priori. Here, Zhu Xi uses the prior nature of "reason" to ensure its transcendentality, and then proves its objective universality and absolute eternity through the transcendentality. As mentioned above, the theory of "qi" recognizes the nature of "substance", and "qi" uses "substance" to biochemical human beings, and the plasmids endowed by human beings and characters are legitimate, and their pursuit of material desires is also legitimate, and the differences of individual individuals formed by different metamorphosis opportunities are also recognized. This means that although the theory of "qi" has talked about "class" and "class" in cognition, the degree of abstraction and formalization is insufficient. It can even be referred to as anthropology with theological beliefs, which is different from the ontological philosophy that distinguishes between the common and the different, which recognizes the individual human characters and characters as metaphysical, and refers to the "reason" of the "common cause" of human beings and objects as metaphysical, which is abstracted and formalized and endowed with a priori meaning. In the context of Confucianism, Cheng Zhu has made great contributions to this development path. Zhu Xi's "Supplementary Biography" for the "Knowledge of Things" in the "University" can best illustrate their ideological direction of starting from epistemology, distinguishing the metaphysical and the metaphysical with the common and the different, and elevating the common phase to an "ontology". Zhu Xi wrote: "The so-called knowledge is in the object, and the words want to know the thing, and the thing is in the matter." The soul that covers people's hearts is not knowledgeable, and the things in the world are all reasonable, but the reason is not endless, so its knowledge is endless. It is the beginning of teaching with the "University", so that the scholars, that is, all the things in the world, will benefit the poor because of their known principles, so as to seek it to the extreme. As for the long time of exertion, and once it is suddenly penetrated, the surface of all things is coarse, and the whole of my heart is not clear. This is the personality of things, and this is the best thing to know. ”
As an abstract object that abandons its own "special appearance", the public "Heavenly Principle" can no longer accommodate the humanistic values of the specific orientation of specific groups of people in a specific period, such as benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and faith, but Cheng Zhu puts this humanistic value into the "Heavenly Principle" as the content of the "Heavenly Principle", so that the values and beliefs of the specific orientation of specific people in these specific periods can gain objective, universal, and absolute significance. In fact, this is also against the rules of formality. However, Cheng Zhu's purpose in constructing ontological metaphysics is precisely this. The "Theory of Reason" established by him and Cheng Yi and the emphasis of this theory on "preserving heavenly principles and destroying human desires" are indeed aimed at providing theoretical support of objective and universal significance for people to get rid of the troubles of the pursuit of profit and the danger of life and death between people brought about by the pursuit of profit.
five
Epilogue
When the last character is tapped, the completion of the manuscript of "Heavenly Reason and Order: A Study of Political and Ethical Thought in the Song Dynasty" does not give me a sense of relief, on the contrary, the contradiction between the political ethics of heaven and reality, and the tension between imperial power and scholarly power, are indescribable. The political culture of the Song Dynasty gave scholars a relatively large degree of freedom, and also gave Confucianism the possibility to guide the construction of political order. However, after all, the real political system is dominated by the Son of Heaven, and in the interaction between the monarch and the minister, the political proposition of "preserving the principles of heaven and destroying people's desires" often leads to the tension of the realpolitical order.
Song Confucianism's discussion of politics was ethical, and it was based on the principles of heaven and guided by the ideas of scholars and scholars, and promoted the rational arrangement of the political order. "Winning the way of the king" and "ruling the world together" are the goals of the political and ethical thought dominated by Song Confucianism, but in the actual political order, there is a contradiction between the subjectivity of scholars and bureaucracy, and the essence of this contradiction is the game between the monarch and the minister. In the historical evolution of ethical thought in the Song Dynasty, the contradiction between heavenly principles and merit gave rise to the distinction between kings and tyrants, and the distinction between righteousness and benefit. From the perspective of the development of political and ethical thought in the Song Dynasty, its characteristics are the rationalization of political life and the integration of utilitarianism in the context of the resurrection of ancient rites.
In the process of completing this book, I put more energy into the writing of chapters 2 to 8, the main content of the book, and wrote a total of 202,000 words. Thanks to Professor Zhang Hongming for undertaking the introduction and writing of the first chapter of this book, Brother Hong Ming began to carry out research on Chinese modernization and Chinese civilization in 2022 at the postdoctoral workstation jointly set up by Fujian Normal University and the Party School of the Fujian Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China. I am grateful to my family, teachers, and friends for their selfless support to me, and to the editors in charge of this book for their careful proofreading. The completion of this book was guided by the consultants of the Department of Philosophy of Sun Yat-sen University and the School of Marxism of South China Normal University.
On January 1, 2023, at the Party School of the Fujian Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China
1. Song Dynasty History Research Information 1
E-mail: [email protected]