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Dai Zhen's Ethical Philosophy of the Human Being Dai Zhen’s Ethical Philosophy of the Human Being By Ho Young Lee Thesis submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of the Study of Religions School of Oriental and African Studies University of London 2006 ProQuest Number: 10672979 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 10672979 Published by ProQuest LLC(2017). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 4 8 1 0 6 - 1346 Abstract The moral philosophy of Dai Zhen can be summarised as “fulfil desires and express feelings”. Because he believed that life is the most cherished thing for all man and thing, he maintains that “whatever issues from desire is always for the sake of life and nurture.” He also claimed that “caring for oneself, and extending this care to those close to oneself, are both aspects of humanity" He set up a strong monastic moral philosophy based on individual human desire and feeling. As the title ‘Dai Zhen’s philosophy of the ethical human being’ demonstrate, human physical body and activities of life is ethical base of philosophy of Dai Zhen. He regards the cause of activities for life is desire and feeling and he claimed that it is the prime concern of his moral philosophy. He set up a strong monastic moral philosophy base on the individual human desire and feeling to establish man as the moral subjectivity. Dai Zhen applied a systematic research agenda and built on palaeography and phonology to reconstruct the meaning of the Canons to become a sage by using the "meanings" of words as a method of reconstructing the "intentions" of the words of Canons, rather than by using metaphysics and intuitive meditation. 2 The following abbreviations are used in the footnotes Quan-ji Dai Z h e n ^ R Dai Zhen quan-jiMMHkM(The Complete works of Dai Zhen). v.1-7. An-hui cong-shu Huang-shan-shu-sheW:ih^t±. 1997. Yuan shan Dai Z h e n U lt, Yuan-shan M l?, Commentary by An Zheng-hui ^JE W : Dai Zhen zhu-zuo-xuan-ji (Selected works of Dai Zhen, with commentaries). Beijing: Zhong-hua shu-ju^^WM). 1978. Quan-ji. v.6. Xu-yan Dai Zhen I tR , Xu-yan Wim(The Prolegomena) Dai Zhen quan-ji V.6. An-hui cong-shu Huang-shan-shu-she H ill H it . 1997. Shu-zheng Dai ZhenUfcjH, M eng-zi zi-yi shu-zheng” Commentary by An Zheng-hui Dai Zhen zhu-zuo-xuan-ji f F i l i l Beijing: Zhong-hua shu-ju^p^WiM). 1978. Quan-ji. v.6. Xing-zhuang Hung PangP^, Dai Dong-yuan xian-sheng xing-zhuang (Biographical account of Master Dai Zhen), Quan-ji, v.7. Nian-pu Duan Yu-cai^B 1$, ‘Dai Dong-yuan xian-sheng nian-pu (Chronological biography of Dai Zhen),Quan-ji V.6. Ewell Trans. This dissertation will follow the Ewell’s translation (Ewell, John Woodruff. Reinvention the Way: Dai Zhen’s Evidential Commentary on the meanings of Terms in Mencius (1777). Berkeley, CA, Unpublished PhD Dissertation in history, 1990.), not only because it is an excellent translation but also because it has nowadays become the standard translation of Dai Zhen in English-speaking academia: Philip Ivanhoe and the Internet Chinese Philosophy Text Archive, for instance, use Ewell’s translation. 3 Table of Contents Title: Dai Zhen’s Ethical Philosophy of the Human Being Abstracts 2 Notes 3 Table of Contents 4 Introduction 5 I. Life and Works of Dai Zhen 21 1. Life of Dai Zhen 22 2. Works of Dai Zhen 34 II. Intellectual Milieuo f Dai Zhen 50 1. The Origins of the Philosophy of Dai Zhen 52 2. Dai Zhen and His Contemporaries 60 3. Modern Understanding of Dai Zhen 82 III. Methods of Dai Zhen 107 1. Dai Zhen’s Evidential Study 109 2. Dai Zhen’s Methods of Philosophy 115 IV. The Moral Philosophy of Dai Zhen134 1. Dai Zhen’s Philosophy of the Human Being 137 2. The Metaphysics of the Way 148 3. The Ethical Human Being 167 4. Learning, Morality and Canons 222 Conclusion 236 Bibliography 257 Glossary 267 4 Introduction Dai Zhen (1724-1777) was a philosopher and eminent evidential scholar of the mid-Qing era. As a direct result of Dai Zhen’s influence, important Confucian concepts and ideas have undergone philological study that has proved fruitful in text critics, and has proved equally productive in the context of Chinese moral philosophy. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, it was broadly held amongst scholars of Chinese philosophy that Dai Zhen, regarded as a social philosopher and as one of the foremost evidential scholars of the mid-Qing era, was the strongest contender to Zhu Xi, the founder of Neo Confucianism and the author of orthodox commentaries on the Canons, in particular the Four Books. However, in the mid-eighteenth century, when Dai Zhen was in Beijing, although his philological works were held in high regard, few found in favour of his philosophical works. On reading his philosophical treatise Inquiry into Goodness (Yuanshan) one of his contemporaries Zhu Yun expressed the view that “he had wasted his energy on something useless,” and merely praised Dai Zhen’s skill at glossing words and terms, and his knowledge of the Six Canons and the nine branches of mathematics.1 1 Benjamin A. Elman. From Philosophy To Philology : Social and Intellectual Aspects of Change in Late Imperial China. Cambridge: Harvard Council of East Asian Studies, 1990.pp.106-107. 5 The intellectual climate of the following century was completely different. Confucian literati became increasingly receptive to philosophical issues, and once again stressed the moral aspects of Confucian discourse. The distinguished scholar and patron Ruan Yuan (1764-1849) composed essays on Confucian philosophy modelled on Dai’s linguistic approach to philosophical terms. Ruan’s treatise made use of etymological and phonological procedures to reconstruct the meanings of key Confucian concepts. The antithesis of Dai Zhen and Zhu Xi inspired the thinkers who strongly demanded reform of the Qing Dynasty. Dai Zhen’s philosophy found support among social reformers, essentially because it represented a possibility of social change. At the same time, Dai’s criticism also provoked responses from the defenders of the Zhu Xi orthodoxy, such as Fang Dongshu (1772-1851), who was a staunch advocate of the Neo Confucian orthodoxy.2 In the twentieth century, even previous radicals such as Zhang Binglin and Liu Shipei agreed on the impact of Dai Zhen’s philosophy, followed by Liang Qichao and Hu Shi. Also, Feng Yulan, Qian Mu and Yu Yingshih carried out research on Dai Zhen in the context of Chinese philosophy.3 However, whilst acknowledging the impact of Dai’s philosophy, a great disparity can be seen in the academics’ evaluations of his works. Zhang Binglin 2 ibid. p.21. 3 ibid. pp.21-22. Feng Yulan’s(1895-1990) wrote on Dai Zhen in the second volume of his History of Chinese Philosophy in 1934. 6 was the first important writer to focus on Dai’s philosophy. His learning was inherited from the Wan School, and his interest in Qing intellectual history undoubtedly had an influence on the later scholars Liang Qichao and Qian Mu.4 Zhang was the first to distinguish between the Song Confucians’ aims and Dai’s. Liang Qichao and Hu Shi were eager to espouse anti-Song Neo Confucian philosophy, since they felt it was Song Neo Confucianism that bore chief responsibility for social injustice and material backwardness in China, traditionally the country’s most glaring weaknesses. Feng Yulan, however, found Dai’s philosophy neither profound nor especially creative as compared with that of the Song Neo Confucians whom Dai criticised. Qian Mu, on the other hand, was a Confucian scholar, whose interpretation of the history of ideas followed the orthodox tradition. Later, Yu Yingshi compared Dai Zhen with Dai’s contemporary, the famous Qing historian Zhang Xuecheng. Dai Zhen’s philosophy certainly seems politically radical on the surface, and does contain some elements of modern thinking. However, it is suggested that Dai Zhen’s Shuzheng and Inquiry into Goodness are not radical philosophical works but rather profound works on human nature and goodness, using Kaozheng methods to analyse key concepts in Confucian philosophy. Time after time, Dai’s works have come to be regarded as so radical. However, it is not Dai Zhen’s work that has changed but the time and situations that have surrounded it. Trends of intellectual discourse have changed in 4 Elman 1990. p.22. 7 accordance with the political climate, and there has been a switch from the old version of the Canon to the new. Throughout the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries, scholars have argued over Dai Zhen’s philosophy and have examined the Canons and Classics following Dai Zhen’s instructions. His research method is still highly praised in many Chinese disciplines and his philosophy is utilised in some modern methods of analysis; furthermore, Dai Zhen’s work has always been central to discussions of the mid- and late Qing period in both philosophy and evidential research.5 The aim of this dissertation is draws a comprehensive understanding of the moral philosophy of Dai Zhen.
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