Read A Short History of Chinese Philosophy Online
Authors: Yu-lan Fung
Tags: #Philosophy, #General, #Eastern, #Religion, #History
A Short History of Chinese Philosophy (56 page)
moral sphere, and the transcendent sphere.
A man may simply do what his instinct or the custom of his society leads him to do. Like children and primitive people, he does what he does without being self-conscious or greatly understanding what he is doing. Thus what he does has little significance, if any, for him. His sphere of living is what I call the innocent sphere.
Or man may be aware of himself, and be doing everything for himself. That does not mean that he is necessarily an immoral man. He may do something, the consequences of which are beneficial to others, but his motivation for so doing is self—benefit. Thus everything he does has the significance of utility for himself. His sphere of living is what I call the utilitarian sphere.
Yet again a man may come to understand that a society exists, of which he is a member. This society constitutes a whole and he, is a part of that whole. Having this understanding, he does everything for the benefit of the society, or as the Confucianists say, he does everything for the sake of righteousness, and not for the sake of personal profit." He is the truly moral man and what he does is moral action in the strict sense of the word. Everything he does has a moral significance. Hence his sphere of living is what I call the moral sphere.
And finally, a man may come to understand that over and above society as a whole, there is the great whole which is the universe. He is not only a member of society, but at the same time a member of the universe. He is a citizen of the social organization, but at the same time a citizen of Heaven, as Mencius says. Having this understanding, he does everything for the benefit of the universe. He understands the significance of what he does and is self—conscious of the fact that he is doing what he does. This understanding and self-consciousness constitute for him a higher sphere of living which I call the transcendent sphere.
Of the four spheres of living, the innocent and the utilitarian are the products of man as he is, while the moral and the transcendent are those of man as he ought to be. The former two are the gifts of nature, while the latter two are the creations of the spirit. The innocent sphere is the lowest, the utilitarian comes next, then the moral, and finally the transcendent. They are so because the innocent sphere requires almost no understanding and self-consciousness, whereas the utilitarian and the moral require more, and the transcendent requires most. The moral sphere is that of moral values, and the transcendent is that of super—moral values.
According to the tradition of Chinese philosophy, the function of philosophy is to help man to achieve the two higher spheres of living, and especial— 558 CHINESE PHILOSOPHY IN THE MODERN WORLD
ly the highest. The transcendent sphere may also be called the sphere of philosophy, because it cannot be achieved unless through philosophy one gains some understanding of the universe. But the moral sphere, too, is a product of philosophy. Moral actions are not simply actions that accord with the moral rule, nor is moral man one who simply cultivates certain moral habits. He must act and live with an understanding of the moral principles involved, and it is the business of philosophy to give him this understanding.
To live in the moral sphere of living is to be a hsien or morally perfect man, and to live in the transcendent sphere is to be a sheng or sage. Philosophy teaches the way of how to be a sage. As I pointed out in chapter one, to be a sage is to reach the highest perfection of man as man. This is the noble function of philosophy.
In the Republic, Plato said that the philosopher must be elevated from the "cave of the sensory world to the world of intellect. If the philosopher is in the world of intellect, he is also in the transcendent sphere of living. Yet the highest achievement of the man living in this sphere is the identification of himself with the universe, and in this identification, he also transcends the intellect.
Previous chapters have already shown us that Chinese philosophy has always tended to stress that the sage need do nothing extraordinary in order to be a sage. He cannot perform miracles, nor need he try to do so. He does nothing more than most people do, but, having high understanding, what he does has a different significance to him. In other words, he does what he does in a state of enlightenment, while other people do what they do in a state of ignorance. As the Ch an monks say: Understanding—this one word is the source of all mysteries. It is the significance which results from this understanding that constitutes his highest sphere of living.
Thus the Chinese sage is both of this world and the other world, and Chinese philosophy is both thisworldly and other-worldly. With the scientific advancement of the future, I believe that religion with its dogmas and superstitions will give way to science; man s craving for the world beyond, however, will be met by the philosophy of the future—a philosophy which is therefore likely to be both thisworldly and other-worldly. In this respect Chinese philosophy may have something to contribute.
The Methodology of Metaphysics
In my work, A New Treatise on the Methodology of Metaphysics, 1 main-56O CHINESE PHILOSOPHY IN THE MODERN WORLD
tain that there are two methods, the positive and the negative. The essence of the positive method is to talk about the object of metaphysics which is the subject of its inquiry; the essence of the negative method is not to talk about it. By so doing, the negative method reveals certain aspects of the nature of that something, namely those aspects that are not susceptible to positive description and analysis.
In chapter two I have indicated my agreement with Professor Northrop that philosophy in the West started with what he calls the concept by postulation, whereas Chinese philosophy started with what he calls concept by intuition. As a result, Western philosophy has naturally been dominated by the positive method, and Chinese philosophy by the negative one. This is especially true of Taoism, which started and ended with the undifferentiable whole. In the Lao-tzu and Chuang-tzu, one does not learn what the Too actually is, but only what it is not. But if one knows what it is not, one does get some idea of what it is.
This negative method of Taoism was reinforced by Buddhism, as we have seen. The combination of Taoism and Buddhism resulted in Ch' anism, which I should like to call a philosophy of silence. If one understands and realizes the meaning and significance of silence, one gains something of the object of metaphysics.
In the West, Kant may be said to have used the negative method of metaphysics. In his Critique of Pure Reason, he found the unknowable, the noumenon. To Kant and other Western philosophers, because the unknowable is unknowable, one can therefore say nothing about it, and so it is better to abandon metaphysics entirely and stop at epistemology. But to those who are accustomed to the negative method, it is taken for granted that, since the unknowable is unknowable, we should say nothing about it. The business of metaphysics is not to say something about the unknowable, but only to say something about the fact that the unknowable is unknowable. When one knows that the unknowable is unknowable, one does know, after all, something about it. On this point, Kant did a great deal.
The great metaphysical systems of all philosophy, whether negative or positive in their methodology, have crowned themselves with mysticism. The negative method is essentially that of mysticism. But even in the cases of Plato, Aristotle, and Spinoza, who used the positive method at its best, the climaxes of their systems are all of a mystical nature. When the philosopher in the Republic beholds and identifies himself with the Idea of the Good, or the philosopher in the Metaphysics with God thinking on thinking, or the philosopher in the Ethics finds himself "seeing things from the point of view
562. CHINESE PHILOSOPHY IN THE MODERN WORLD
of eternity" and enjoying the "intellectual love of God, what can they do but be silent? Is their state not better described by such phrases as "not one, "not many, "not not-one, not not-many ?
Thus the two methods do not contradict but rather complement each other. A perfect metaphysical system should start with the positive method and end with the negative one. If it does not end with the negative method, it fails to reach the final climax of philosophy. But if it does not start with the positive method, it lacks the clear thinking that is essential for philosophy. Mysticism is not the opposite of clear thinking, nor is it below it. Rather, it is beyond it. It is not anti-rational; it is super-rational.
In the history of Chinese philosophy, the positive method was never fully developed; in fact, it was much neglected. Therefore, Chinese philosophy has lacked clear thinking, which is one of the reasons why it is marked by simplicity. Lacking clear thinking, its simplicity has been quite naive. Its simplicity as such is commendable, but its naivete must be removed through the exercise of clear thinking. Clear thinking is not the end of philosophy, but it is the indispensable discipline that every philosopher needs.
Certainly it is what Chinese philosophers need. On the other hand, the history of Western philosophy has not seen a full development of the negative method. It is the combination of the two that will produce the philosophy of the future.
A Ch an story describes how a certain teacher used to stick out his thumb when he was asked to explain the Buddhist Too. On such occasions, he would simply remain silent, but would display his thumb. Noticing this, his boy attendant began to imitate him. One day the teacher saw him in this act, and quick as lightning chopped off the boy s thumb. The boy ran away crying. The teacher called him to come back, and just as the boy turned his head, the teacher again stuck out his own thumb. Thereupon the boy received Sudden Enlightenment.
Whether this story is true or not, it suggests the truth that before the negative method is used, the philosopher or student of philosophy must pass through the positive method, and before the simplicity of philosophy is reached, he must pass through its complexity.
One must speak very much before one keeps silent.
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