Love and the Paradoxes of Unity: Zhu Xi's Debate with Followers of Cheng Hao over "Perceptual Oneness"

At the end of the twentieth century,there was a trend in Chinese literature towards characterizing Chinese culture as the "unity of Tian (Heaven) and humanity天人合一.” Rather than arguing against such a view,I present in this paper a series of debates over the paradoxes within the concept of unity as well as various notions of love,hoping to demonstrate the depth and complexity of this seemingly simple and dogmatic dictum so that those who cite it can be alert to its potential intricacies.I will discuss three elements which threaten to render the pursuit of oneness an impossible project:(1) the relation between naming and the named,which makes any conceptual attempt to attain oneness an infinite regress,as can be seen in Zhuangzi's莊子 argument against Hui Shi's惠施 oneness;(2) the gap between contemplation and practice,as can be seen in the contrast between Zhang Zai's張載 contemplative oneness and Cheng Hao's程顥 perceptual oneness;and (3) the self-bifurcating attentive acts of the heart-mind,which render any conscious endeavor to attain oneness a self-defeating project.Unlike Cheng Hao's emphasis on the subjective experience of perceptual oneness,his followers posit its underlying metaphysical substance as qi or xing (nature) and believe that moral self-cultivation should start from a metaphysical insight into this substance.Zhu Xi 朱熹 rejects the approach of grounding ethics on metaphysics and argues that love is not based on the notion of unity in terms of qi.He sees the ultimate comprehension of unity rather as a "metaphysical promise," a goal to be attained by following the Confucian Way of selfcultivation,which starts simply from reflection and practice on things near at hand.     

今本《子夏易传》即唐张弧伪本考论

《经义考》和《四库》皆认为,今本《子夏易传》非但不是唐以前流传的古本《子夏易传》,也不是唐代张弧所假托伪撰的《子夏易传》,而是宋以后伪撰的另一新伪本,而唐张弧伪本已亡佚。这一观点得到了大多数学者的认可。但本文通过详细考证,认为今本《子夏易传》即宋代流传的唐张弧伪本,易学史上并不存在张弧伪本之后的新伪本《子夏易传》。考证清楚此问题,对我们更好地理解、利用今本《子夏易传》,以及对古本《子夏易传》的辑佚都有重要意义。     

十六大以来党中央对马克思主义宗教观的新认识和新观点

十六大以来,以胡锦涛为总书记的中央领导集体,从构建社会主义和谐社会的总体战略出发,提出了建立和谐宗教关系的理论;强调要充分发挥宗教在促进社会和谐方面的积极作用,发挥宗教界人士和信教群众在促进经济社会发展中的积极作用;进一步明确了宗教工作在党和国家工作中的地位,要求加强和改善党对宗教工作的领导,形成了对宗教问题的新认识和新观点。     

胡适、杜威认识论思想模式比较

西方传统认识论以主客体二分和主体有认识能力的假设为基础,杜威认为这是旁观者知识论。在批判传统认识论的同时,杜威提出了实验的知识论。胡适虽然总体上接受了杜威对传统认识论的批判,但胡适的认识论模式仍然是传统的旁观者知识论,而不是杜威的实验的知识论。     

Hu Shi’s Study of Chinese Medieval Intellectual History

Hu Shi frequently gave lectures on the history of Chinese philosophy, especially the history of ancient Chinese philosophy, from the year 1919 to 1937. A large number of papers and dissertations published during this period are related to his research on this topic. In his opinion, there are three characteristics of the history of ancient Chinese philosophy: “ religionalization of thought,” “Indianization of philosophy,” and “conflict between Chinese thought and Indian thought.” In this paper, I explore Hu Shi’s deep insight into the religionalization of Confucianism in Han dynasty and into the thought of Taoism in the medieval times. Originally published in Chinese Philosophy, volume 15 (May 1992), translated by Han Jianying     

宋代学人对两宋非孟思潮的理论回击

在宋代声势浩大的孟子升格运动中,出现了一些非孟者,他们对孟子的批评成为孟子升格运动中的不和谐音。以胡宏、张九成、余允文为代表的宋代学者对非孟者进行了直接的回击。他们的回击不仅对于消除人们对孟子的疑虑和巩固孟子的历史地位有积极作用,而且也维护了正在兴起和发展的理学的地位,可以从中把握到各自思想的脉膊及宋代学术发展的多种路径。     

朱熹《春秋》学考述

宋代大儒朱熹对儒家的许多经典都有精深的研究 ,唯独对《春秋》一经很少作出讲解和阐发。他虽然不敢否定《春秋》的经典地位 ,但他反对“一字褒贬”说 ,反对以“例”说春秋 ,对三传以及历代经师的解经表示出了强烈的怀疑 ;同时 ,对在当时有着重要影响的程颐与胡安国的《春秋传》也提出了批评。他的客观求实的态度 ,在当时的儒者中独树一帜 ,他对《春秋》经传的看法 ,在学术史上有着重要的地位。