a short history of chinese philosophy

1、A Short History of Chinese PhilosophyThe Spirit of Chinese PhilosophyThe place which philosophy has occupied in Chinese civilization has been comparable to of religion in other civilizations. In China, philosophy has bee

2、n every educated person’s concern. In the old days, if a man were educated at all, the first education he received was in philosophy. When children went to school, the Four Books, which consist of the Confucian Analects,

3、 the Book of Mencius, the Great Learning, and the Doctrine of the Mean, were the first ones they were taught to read. The Four Books were the most important texts of Neo-Confucianist philosophy. Sometimes when the childr

4、en were just beginning to learn the characters, they were given a sort of textbook to read. This was known as the Three Characters Classic, and was so called because each sentence in the book consisted of three character

5、s arranged so that when recited they produced a rhythmic effect, and thus helped the children to memorize them more easily. This book was in reality a primer, and the very first statement in it is that “the nature of man

6、 is originally good.“ This is one of the fundamental ideas of Mencius' philosophy.Place of Philosophy in Chinese CivilizationTo the Westerner, who sees that the life of the Chinese people is permeated with Confuciani

7、sm, it appears that Confucianism is a religion. As a matter of fact, however, Confucianism is no more a religion than, say, Platonism or Aristotelianism. It is true that the Four Books have been the Bible of the Chinese

8、people, but in the Four Books there is no story of creation, and no mention of a heaven or hell.Of course, the terms philosophy and religion are both ambiguous, Philosophy and religion may have entirely different meaning

9、s for different people. When men talk about philosophy or religion, they may have quite different ideas in their minds concerning them. For my part, what I call philosophy is systematic, reflective thinking on life. Ever

10、y man, who has not yet died, is in life. But there are not many who think reflectively on life, and still fewer whose reflective thinking is systematic. A there is a philosophy. In fact, every great religion is a philoso

11、phy with a certain amount of superstructure, which consists of superstitions, dogmas, rituals, and institutions. This is what I call religion.According to the tradition of Chinese philosophy, its function is not the incr

12、ease of positive knowledge (by positive knowledge I mean information regarding matters of fact), but the elevation of the mind—a reaching out for what is beyond the present actual world, and for the values that are highe

13、r than the moral ones. It was said by the Lao-tzu: “To work on learning is to increase day by day; to work on Tao (the Way, the Truth) is to decrease day by day.“ (See ch. 48.) I am not concerned with the difference betw

14、een in-creasing and decreasing, nor do I quite agree with this saying of Lao-tzu. I quote it only to show that in the tradition of Chinese philosophy there is a distinction between working on learning and working on Tao

15、(the Way). The purpose of the former is what I call the increase of positive knowledge, which of the latter is the elevation of the mind. Philosophy belongs to the latter category.Problem and Spirit of Chinese Philosophy

16、There is a main current in the history of Chinese philosophy, which may be called the spirit of Chinese philosophy. In order to understand this spirit, we must first make clear the problem that most Chinese philosophers

17、have tried to solve.There are all kinds and conditions of men. With regard to any one of these kinds, there is the highest form of achievement of which any one kind of man is capable. For instance, there are the men enga

18、ged in practical politics. The highest form of achievement in that class of men is that of the great statesman. So also in the field of art, the highest form of achievement of which artists are capable is that of the gre

19、at artist. Although there are these different classes of men, yet all of them are men. What is the highest form of achievement of which a man as a man is capable? According to the Chinese philosophers, it is nothing less

20、 than being a sage, and the highest achievement of a sage is the identification of the individual with the universe. The problem is if men want to achieve this identification, do they necessarily have to abandon society