regarding the first point, we need to discuss it in another way. here, I just want to express some views on the second point of Mr. Li Shen's history of Confucianism in China (hereinafter referred to as the history of Confucianism).
Although the author stated in the preface to The History of Confucianism that the purpose of writing a book is to find out the original appearance of traditional culture, "the mission of this book is only to find out the original appearance. As for how people treat it and what kind of application it is in reality, it is a matter for the parties concerned. " ("History of Confucianism" preface 3 pages. However, in the last part of the book, we can see that the author still has clear practical concerns. The author points out in the two chapters of "The Death and Struggle before the Death of Confucianism" and "The Aftershock of Confucianism and the Victory of Science" that Confucianism, as an integration of politics and religion, "the state organization of the monarchy is also its religious organization." (Volume II, page 157) So with the demise of the feudal monarchy, the peach book faded? γπΎγπΎγγγβΌβ€§? Hey? What's the matter? Xin Xin? β½ β½ βΏ βΏ β β β? What's the matter with you? Disaster relief? Corner? Endure danger? Yarn? Is it crispy? Are you annoyed? Law? ! Stop pregnant cows? Hui Huang Qiao Yi wall braised? Idle? Hey? Pregnant? Where to invade pregnant cows? Gluttony? Knock on the boat? Give grazing? β½ β½ βΏ βΏ β β β? What's the point? I'm sorry. Brother Huang plaque? Mu Mu's family? Young phlegm wood? Hey β ²? Brother Huang plaque? A deleted voter? What do you say about the party's clever cleaning of the cysts? middot; Abandoning the superstition of God's will, sacred will and scriptures, all thoughts are judged by whether it is scientific or not, and all judgments are judged by whether it is scientific or not. This is the real end of Confucianism's rule over China society for two thousand years and the real rebirth of China society. (Volume II, page 194)
I can't agree with the author's overall point of view, but this doesn't hinder our dialogue on cultural issues. I just think that if the author regards the History of Confucianism as a systematic academic monograph in the history of ideas (obviously, the author is not compiling data sets or writing introductory common sense books), he can't ignore the basic theoretical requirements of humanities research. From the seriousness of academic creation, there should be at least two theoretical preparations.
First of all, we should make a basic review of the ideas directly related to this topic, on this basis, explain how our own views are possible, and establish our own empirical background, logical starting point, research perspective and theoretical model, and then radiate a systematic discussion network. With this work, we can affirm the necessity and rationality of our research practice. Readers can also understand the position and value of this research topic in related ideological and academic fields. Kant is known as a summative and groundbreaking ideological giant in the history of western thought, because he put forward the fundamental theoretical principle of "innate comprehensive judgment" on the basis of reviewing the two major schools of thought of European rationalism and British empiricism, and thus launched his ideological system. As the peak of enlightenment thought in Europe and the spiritual "reservoir" that contains the main problems of modern human beings, Kant's value is realized on a solid theoretical basis. We can't expect every researcher, including ourselves, to become Kant, and we can't dogmatically apply Kant's model to all research practices, but Kant's way of thinking and research attitude are the basic conditions to ensure the scientificity and seriousness of humanistic research.
as for the argument that Confucianism is a religion, there are two viewpoints that should be responded. The first is the reflection on the world cultural problems derived from the "axis period" theory. Specific to China, that is, from 8 to 2 BC, in the historical stage called "Axial Age" by Karl Jaspers, China, like ancient Greece and India, had a "breakthrough beyond" in its spiritual process. This breakthrough means the awakening of human consciousness shown by Confucianism, Mohism, Taoism and Legalism. However, during the period when the Axis Theory was put forward, some western scholars used the specific model of Jewish civilization to explain China's heaven, Tao and God, Indian Brahma and Buddhism's "nirvana", and the results were deviated. The mistake is to define "transcendental breakthrough" as the affirmation of a transcendental and external entity-God, and God is the highest or final criterion of the realistic world. In 1982, the Jewish thinker Elkana proposed "Secondorder thinking" to understand "transcendental breakthrough". The so-called reflection is to reflect on the thought itself. The object of reflection can be the transcendental external God; It can also be nature, for example, when Greek civilization entered the philosophical era from the religious era, it asked whether the final truth was water, fire, number or logos; It can also be people themselves, such as Confucianism in China, who consider what a person is and how to be a person, that is, the philosophy and realization of selfcultivation (see Du Weiming's Ten Years of Opportunity Waiting for Confucianism). Ai Kaina's generalization may not be comprehensive, but it has formed a view generally recognized by academic circles, that is, the traditional religion formed by China in the three generations, after humanistic baptism and philosophical sublimation in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, its main form (although it retains religious content) has changed qualitatively into a humanistic ideological system based on patriarchal clan system, with moral life and helping the people by doing things. Confucianism, though not a typical religious form, has the same cultural function of religion because of its integration function of morality and ethics and transcendence of inner cultivation. As Mr. Qian Mu said, China's humanistic spirit can replace the function of religion, and it is not hostile to religion. We can't avoid such a view, which has historical basis and philosophical explanation and is generally recognized by academic circles at home and abroad. Because from the internal logic, the basis of the other party's argument is precisely to refute their own hidden arguments. Second, the "religious" problem associated with the "axial period" theory. While affirming the humanistic form of Confucianism, scholars do not shy away from the religious content of Confucianism. For example, Confucian classics contain a lot of ideas about the other side of the world, such as destiny and ghosts. Sacrificing to heaven, ancestors and Confucius is a Confucian ritual that must be observed from the emperor to the common people under the feudal patriarchal system. This is not available in general academic schools. In view of this feature of Confucianism, mainland scholars Mou Zhongjian and Zhang Jian put forward "patriarchal traditional religion" to distinguish Confucianism as an independent academic and cultural system. They believe that there are obvious differences between Confucianism and patriarchal religion, but they are closely related, have the same value orientation and are integrated with ancient books and documents. In addition, in view of the confusion in understanding non-western religious culture caused by defining religious concepts, In The Meaning and End of Religion, W.C.Smith, an American religious scientist, suggested replacing the word "religion" in English with "religion" or "religiosity", because the latter means a static structure and cannot dynamically reflect the tradition in religious education. Many scholars accepted this proposal, and thus got rid of the dilemma when measuring various traditional cultures with "what is religion" as the scale. The introduction of the word "religiosity" has expanded the interpretation space of various traditional cultures, especially Confucian culture, and also increased the dimension of dialogue with other cultures. However, it makes people deeply understand traditional culture, and at the same time, it can't avoid a positive response to it. Scholars who advocate that Confucianism is non-religious but religious should answer what is religious in Confucian tradition? What are its internal resources? What can be used for reference? Can you play? What must be added? Wait a minute. Scholars who insist that Confucianism is a religion must also respond positively to whether religiosity is enough to clarify the religious content of Confucianism. If the answer is negative, they must insist on interpreting Confucianism in a religious framework with a static structure, so they should also explain the non-religious humanistic thought in Confucianism according to the principle of unity of logic and history. According to the author's point of view, one of the important differences between secularism and religion is that "it depends on whether it is carried out in the name of God" (see "Arguments on Confucianism" on page 424). However, there are a lot of contents in Confucianism that are not carried out in the name of God, and the view that "Confucianism is teaching" cannot be established without reasonable explanation. Incidentally, the author used to prove that "Confucianism is a religion" (some scholars think that denying Confucianism is a religion is equivalent to "cutting off the upper half of Confucianism"). The author speculates that it probably means "not recognizing three generations of religions as the cultural matrix of Confucianism is equivalent to cutting off the upper half of Confucianism". It's just speculation, as evidenced by seeing specific words.
The author has roughly read the text that "Confucianism is religion" elaborated by the author of "History of Confucianism", but I haven't seen the correct academic response to various related questions. In most cases, some documents are listed by themselves, or some crude logical inferences are made to prove that this is "a historical fact" and people should "have the courage to face the truth" (see preface to the History of Confucianism and collection of debates on Confucianism on page 379). In the sense of revealing the true meaning of history, fact is not equal to truth, and partial truth is not equal to the whole truth of history. This is like saying that there are triad gangs in today's society in China, which is a fact and partly true, but it is absolutely impossible to draw the conclusion that "China is a society of black forces".
Without making the necessary theoretical analysis and response, the starting point of the author's argument seems narrow and thin. Throughout the book, it can be seen that the author takes the absolute external god mode of monism as the logical starting point. This crude theoretical basis makes it difficult for the author to make a reasonable explanation of Confucian culture in a specific historical situation, and always shows the embarrassment of trying to solve it. Due to the limitation of space, just give two small examples.
in the first example, the author quoted Yong Ye, the Analects of Confucius, as saying that "serving the people and keeping away from ghosts and gods can be described as knowing", which means that "Confucius advocates being pious to ghosts and gods, but not being too intimate". However, if we pay a little attention, we will find that the author not only looks at the text directly, but also omits the key phrase "serving the people", which shows the context. The complete record of The Analects of Confucius Yong Ye is as follows: "Fan Chi asked for knowledge. Confucius said,' I know the meaning of serving the people and staying away from ghosts and gods.' "It turns out that Confucius said" stay away from ghosts and gods "only in the specific context of" serving the people ". Generally, people often associate "staying away from ghosts and gods" with the record in the Book of Rites: "Confucius said:' Xia Dao respects life, keeps ghosts away from God, and is close to people and loyal. Reward first and then prestige, reward first and then punish, and kiss without respect. Yin people respect God, lead the people to serve God, first ghost and then ceremony, first punish and then reward, respect and not kiss. Zhou people respect the ceremony, but the ghosts respect God and stay away from it, and they are close and loyal. Its rewards and punishments are given by the rank of nobility, and the relatives are not respected. " "The three generations have their own advantages and disadvantages. How to choose? Confucius concluded:" The quality of Yu Xia is the best in the literature of Yin and Zhou Dynasties! " It means that the combination of Yu Xia and Yin Zhou's respective advantages and looks is the best way to govern the world. The best form of this combination is to take the middle way between ghosts and gods and the people, to stay away from ghosts and gods in the secular activities of "serving the people" and to respect ghosts and gods in religious sacrifice activities, so as to achieve the goal of "being harmless to ghosts and gods and not complaining about the people" It can be seen that what Confucius expressed here is a rational way to deal with social life: to overcome the disadvantages of respecting each other instead of respecting each other, and to maintain a moderate tension between the social hierarchical order shown by respecting and the kinship expressed by kissing, so as to achieve the dual purpose of integrating society politically and spiritually. It is not just the superficial piety and sense of distance to ghosts and gods. Even if the author insists on his own point of view, he should explain it from religious psychology and anthropology.
in the second example, when explaining Mencius' important proposition of "the unity of man and nature", the author even put forward such a view: "Mencius believes that man's kind nature is endowed by God, so if he knows his nature, he will know the God of Heaven; To preserve this kind nature is to serve God and obey the destiny "; "God is a god who respects morality. It will naturally endow people with a kind nature ....................................................................................................................................................................... (Volume I, page 194) Similar fallacies abound in the voluminous works with more than 1.4 million words. Some scholars say that this is because they don't understand books at all and don't understand exegesis. The author believes that this is not entirely the case, and we should give the author a sympathetic understanding. Because the theoretical basis set by the author is too narrow, when we interpret the complicated and vivid course of China's thought for thousands of years, we can only interpret it according to the one-sided monist god mode. In order to maintain the coherence of logic, there are bound to be many fallacies and good theories. In a certain sense, it can be said that this is a logical trap, but unfortunately, these traps were dug by the author himself.
the second basic theoretical requirement of the study of the history of thought is that the research topic should be placed in a specific historical situation, and it should be summarized and explained from a multidisciplinary perspective to find out the internal relationship between thought and history, so as not only to understand the day, but also to provide a connecting point for today's progress and tomorrow's development. In this regard, Mr. Du Weiming's views are of universal significance. He believes that "Confucian tradition is a historical phenomenon and a life form, which has philosophical significance, religious significance, humanistic significance and anthropological significance. Therefore, it is necessary to reflect on this tradition from the perspectives of philosophy and history. " It is a healthy way to show the value and significance of Confucianism in historical analysis and analyze its limitations and internal dynamic sources with the support of multi-angle academic theory. ("Modern Spirit and Confucian Tradition" on page 29) We can call this a three-dimensional study in "vision integration". Of course, specific to each research topic, it is impossible to use a variety of academic systems at the same time, but the support of historical sociology is essential. Mr. Mou Zongsan once put forward the "three unification" framework of political unification, Taoist unification and academic unification to explain China's traditional Confucian thought. Mr. Yu Dunkang added "patriarchal clan system" (popular clan system) to form a "four-unified" framework, aiming at bringing civil society into the research field of vision, and trying to make efforts in power groups