Wu Mi's view of Guoxue

Author: Huang Yanwei (Associate Professor, School of Arts, Henan University)

Wu Mi is an important scholar who cannot be ignored in the history of modern thought and culture. From 1922 to 1933, he edited the magazine "Xueheng", practicing the academic purpose of "Changming Guozhi, Melting New Knowledge"; in 1925, he participated in the organization and actually presided over the work of Tsinghua Guo college, and in just one year, Tsinghua Guo College had formed a far-reaching influence from scratch and in Chinese and foreign academic circles. Then, Wu Mi's determination of sinology and the invention of its inner spiritual righteousness are quite important.

One

How to define Sinology, Wu Mi said in September 1925 in "The Purpose and Experience of Tsinghua's Establishment of research institutes", "The so-called Chinese scholars refer to the whole of Chinese academic culture." Although this "whole of academic culture" still points to the "four parts" of the subset of jingshi, Wu Mi obviously has its own unique understanding. In his article "Tribute to Mr. Ke Fengsun", he invented that "jing" is a metaphysical universal truth. Reason is universal and permanent, and things are accidental, so a "twenty-four histories" is the concrete empirical evidence of the truth of the scriptures. The sub-part is the individual's perception of "the whole nature of the universe and the organization into a system", so it is inferior to the history of the scriptures relative to the universality of the truth of the scriptures and the social integrity of the history department. The individual and emotional properties of the set part make it inferior to the rationality of the subpart, and it is after the subpart. As a result, Wu Mi's exposition of the inner order and logic of the "four parts" has overflowed the vision of traditional scholarship and presented it as the conceptual consciousness of Chinese and Western academic associations. His theory of preaching, the "origin of all things" and the "universal permanence", is close to plato's "world of ideas"; and his so-called true essence that pervades the universe, the "true truth" of the root of all things, is close to the magnificent realm of Buddhism. Therefore, Wu Mi said that the "classification and order" of the Chinese academic system really contains far-reaching reason. Judging by universal standards (synthesizing Ancient and Modern China and the West, or exceeding one time and one place), it can be understood that its significance and value can be understood", the letter can be said to be also!

Further, traditional Confucianism believes that "people can promote the Tao, not the Tao", and the inner spirit of Chinese academic culture must reside in typical characters. Therefore, he said: "The typical figures and great authors in the history of Chinese scholarship must be produced by this system, and it is not possible to follow this system... It also contains an ideal and spirit, and the characters he hopes to create are, in short, (1) the inner saint and the outer king, who have both virtue and deeds; (2) sincerity and righteousness, self-cultivation and self-cultivation to govern the country and the world; (3) the rich and noble cannot be adulterous, the poor cannot be moved, and the mighty cannot be bent; (4) the poor are good at their own, and the poor are both good at the world. This ideal personality is a product of the Chinese academic system. The academic system and the ideal personality, the two are actually combined and integrated, and they are used interchangeably. Only such a system can produce such a personality, and only such a personality can prove the success of this system and the value of its existence. Since the late Qing Dynasty, China's old academic system is suffering a major impact, which in the view of Wu Mi, who has long adhered to the classical humanistic tradition, the system will be related to its "ideal figures, I am afraid that it will be cut off from now on", which is probably the deep meaning of his repeated greetings to "Teacher Su Ru MingXian Shuoxue". Wu Mi praised Zeng Guofan as "a figure worthy of our respect in the past three hundred years in China", praised Ke Shaochen as "the personality norm of the Chinese academic system is more pure than its purity", and believed that Wang Guowei "also abides by the Chinese academic system and admires the ideal personality nurtured by the system", which is exactly what he established from the Chinese spirit.

Two

"Looking at the humanities, in order to transform into the world", China's original Confucianism originally had a distinct humanistic orientation. As a Chinese disciple of Bai Bide, a master of American new humanism, after Wu Mi returned from studying abroad in 1921, under the control of new humanism, it was a special feature of his concept of chinese culture to expound the philosophy of Chinese sages and the spirit of literature, art and art. He explained: "In the West there is Plato and Aristotle, and in the East there is Shakya and Confucius, all of whom are the most proficient in the right way of being human, and their sayings coincide. And these sages are all empirical, factual, precise, plain and accessible. It is advisable to change it now and apply it today as a model for the living. Everyone knows that if he is a man, the evils of material things disappear, the sophistry is extinguished, the name of religious morality is lost, but the function is long, the form is broken, but the spirit still exists, which is the so-called most accurate, most detailed, and most novel humanism. "The Confucian humanistic tradition, represented by Confucius and Mengmeng, is actually one of the important parts of the new humanistic ideological resources. Wu Mi's advocacy of new humanism in China naturally be based first on the Confucian position, and then on the humanist unity of ancient Greece and the subtle words of Buddhism.

However, in the process of China's transformation from tradition to modernity, Confucianism, which is the best at being a human being, has been attacked by the radicals. In this regard, Wu Mi stressed the need to explore the spiritual value and modern significance of the Chinese tradition on the one hand, and on the other hand, to absorb and integrate the reasonable elements of heterogeneous culture, and then promote the innovation and creation of Chinese culture. He said: "The humanism of Confucius and Mencius, which was originally the foundation of the moral scholarship of our country, is now taken in comparison with the doctrines of Plato and Aristotle, integrated, extracted from the essence, and then discussed by the famous Confucian giants of the Western dynasties, and forged a furnace, thinking that it is the basis for the group rule of the new society in our country... The so-called miracle of causing the new culture to merge the two major civilizations of the East and the West may be achieved. The reason why Wu Mi has a historical and open humanistic vision is because he firmly believes that China and the West are based on the humanistic foundation of the same in terms of morality, mentality, reasoning, and governance.

Three

The practical purpose of Wu Mi's study of Chinese studies is to seek "the synthesis of history and the creation of central theories." In January 1926, Wu Mi pointed out in Tsinghua's "Opinion on the Development Plan of the Research Institute" that the two goals of today's sinology research are: the first is to use modern academic concepts and methods to sort out and synthesize the whole of Chinese academic culture, and to invent the unique spirit and value of Chinese classics, history, literature and art from it; the second is to base on modern China from the perspective of humanism, take Confucianism as the foundation, uphold the humanistic belief in the convergence of Chinese and Western morals and ethics, compromise and reconcile, and take it as appropriate. Try to construct a new order of morality, society and life with universal values. This is also the specific reference of Wu Mi's desire to "create a central doctrine to determine the state of being" and to the confusion or contribution to the world's confusion and strife. To this end, he has repeatedly said: "In the future, world culture will be the fusion of the crowd, and the characteristics of Chinese culture will be the middle way of accepting ideals in reality." It is our true duty and immortal prosperity to carry forward and make Chinese culture contribute to the world. ”

Obviously, the goal of Sinology research set by Wu Mi is not only the fact of Chinese culture as a whole, but more importantly, the unique spirit behind the facts and the value of modernity contained in it, which must be based on the "advanced special topic research" of Sinology. However, Wu Mi's view of Sinology requires that it must be implemented in social practice, so he particularly emphasizes the importance of "teaching ordinary Sinology". Wu Mi originally wanted to use this to "cultivate generalists and masters for China" and "cultivate upright and intelligent people" in order to transfer social customs and cultivate people's morality and people's nature. He said that this is the major responsibility that the Tsinghua Research Institute should bear for sinology, for society, and for the future of China. If it is said that the dual research goal of Wu Mi is "body", then the cultivation of generalists and masters is "used", and both body and use are consistent, and fang is the complete embodiment of Wu Mi's concept of national studies.

For this reason, Wu Mi's view of Sinology can be summarized as follows: Under the humanistic vision with Confucianism as the foundation, in the historical process of the transformation of tradition into modernity, following the original structure of the Chinese academic system, extracting the humanistic essence of Confucius and Mengxiangsheng, referring to the moral philosophy of the West, synthesizing and penetrating in order to obtain the true spirit of Chinese culture, and then constructing a new order of morality, life and society with universal value.

Guangming Daily (November 14, 2020, 11th edition)

Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily