The Philosophy of Human Nature Confucianism and Emerson's

39 The Philosophy of Human Nature m Confucianism and Emerson’s Transcendentalism Chen Li-Jen As a rule, Chinese terms are hard to define. Among them Confucianism is almost the hardest. It looks like a religion, and yet it is not. Its doctrine are firmly believed by our people with almost religious zeal. Yet in' spite of countless numbers of Confucian temples in China, Confucius is not a god. To our people he is merely "the Most Saintly Teacher". The whole writings of the Confucian scholars can be termed Confucianism. Certain ’ customs and institutions in China which are the causes or the effects of Confucianist thought can be t巴rmed Confucianism. It has embraced some of the more admirable elements of traditional Chinese religion, such as a respect toward Heaven and worship of ancestors. Confucius advocated that man can be sage through self-cultivation and inner enlightenment. Confucian temples stand as memorial monuments rather than functioning religious institutions such as churches. Confucianism is more than a cr巴巴 d to be professed or rejected.- It has becom 巴 a pattern worked into. the Chinese life and society. As a cultural influen 間， it is probably the steering wheel of our mental and institutional development. In philosophy, Confucianism stands for an ideal of human relationship in harmony with the universal order. In ethics, as well as in politics, it stands for a rationalized social order, based upon personal cultivation. In literature and in art, it stands for the clarification of man’s experience and the crystallization of life. This is sheerly a humanistic approach, for Confucianism is nothing else than humanism. The chief characteristic of Chinese philosophy is, in a word, humanism. It is humanism that underlines the whole stream of Chinese thought. It is humanism that forms the foundation-stone of one of the oldest civilization of the world. Transcendentalism maintains that man has ideas that come not through the five senses or the powers of,reasoning-the result of God’s immediate inspiration or His immanent presence in the ·spiritual world. It asserts that man has a spiritual body within a physical body. The transcendentalists term 巴 d it variously as the oversoul, the conscience, or the inner light. New England Transcendentalism came into the world in 1836 when Emerson's "Nature" was published. It would be wrong to attribute New England Transcen dβntalism solely to the effect of the German Transcendentalists. It was also derived from oriental mysticism 缸1d Neoplatonic idealism. "The Americans were basically eclectic in their philosophy. They borrowed ideas from their amazingly widespread reading in such esoteric sources as the religious books of the orient (particularly the Sayings of Confucius and Bhagavad Gita of Hinduism)." 1 Then, what is New England Transcendentalism? It stimulated a “ renaissance" in 40 Journal of the College of Liberal Arts Vol. 18 American literature-a renaiss且nee whose first exponent was none other than Ralph Waldo Emerson. It was influenced by the formal philosophy of Immanuel Kant 可 but greatly modified it. It applied this philosophic id 巴 alism and religious enthusiasm to the practical reform of American social institutions. It developed the puritan religion of its own New England past in new ways. In the first paragraph of Emerson ＇日 famous essay on "Th 巴 Transcendentalists", he defin 巴d ;“What is popularly called Transc 巳 ndentalism among us is Idealism 刊＿ 2 Emerson was a p10found Idealist who found the inexhaustible source of truth, good ness, and beauty at the bottom of conciousness. The chief idea which Emerson derived from Kant was the distinction between the transcendental "Reason" and the empirical "understanding". 3 Reason described the intuiti011s of the mind itself. It was opposed not only to empiricism but to rationalism. Understanding is rational. "Reason" formed the very foundation of Emerson's transcendental philosophy. The . dualism between , the ideal and the real sugge~ted the logical paradox of Emerson's thought. In philosophy Emerson found expression in a homely 、 Yankee realism as the citizen of Concord. But by contrast he found expression in transcendental idealism as the dreamer of things. His heredity and environment linked him with the realities of nineteenth century New England. It also helped Emerson to explore th巴 mysticism of the ancient East, German philosophy, and the optimism which transcends tragedy. The mysticism of the ancient East and the religious piety of the Puritan contributed to th巴 formulation of Emerson’s ideas. But the pragmatism of the West, the realism of modern science and philosophy, and the moral conservation of old New England also contributed to Emerson’s outlook of life. Emerson always tried to mediate between mysticism and practicability, between Transcendentalism and scienc巴， between romance and politics, and between nineteenth century optimism and the old puritan morality. Em 巳rson was a pragmatist not only in theory but in fact also. He knew that what seems for the moment efficient will be replaced by what at another moment is equally useful and perhaps closer to truth. Confucius' philosophy has played a part in the development of the social and political conceptions of the modern west. It is remarkable that the Emersonians ar 巴 a very potent factor in bringing Confucianism into American life. Confucius' views on heaven, sincerity and Mencius' views on the goodness of human nature and chi are relative to Transcendentalism. In Emerson’s Journals for 1830 h巴 noted that the Golden Rule was to be ascribed to Confucius, and that the Confucian Classics contained "Promising definitions" of Nature, Law, and Instruction. Then in 1843, tlw "Sheking”, or Chinese book of odes, appears among his list of boo~s read during the year. In 1836, the date of the publication of Nature, he first read "Marshman’s Confucius 刊，＇ and copied many sentences ascribed to Confucius into his Journals. One of these:“How can a man remain concealed," appeared also in his first volume of Essays. In 1837, howev巴 r, in reading the Asiatic Journal. he The Philosophy of Human Nature in Confucianism and Emerson’s Transcendentalism 41 came in contact with what he labeled “the mountainous nonsense of Chinese diplomacy'', and this impression of China is reflected in an essay on "The Conservative" in 1841. In 1838 he was again reading "Confucius" and quoted in his Journals for that year,“Action, such as Confucius describes the speech of God." Again in 1841 he listed Confucius ; and in 1843 he read over the “自 he king’,. In that year he read for the first time a complete translati9n of The Four Books of the Chinese Classics; copying many sentences from them in his Journals. Many of these quotations reappear in his later Works--and almost, every volume includes one or two illustrative sayings taken from the Chinese Classics, His later Journals, likewise show a continued interest in them.4 For Emerson, Confucius was the greatest thinker in Chinese history. Emerson clearly shows his respect and admiration for Confucius. He quoted the sayings of Confucius, Mencius as illustratfons of his ide 且s. He copied a passage from the Chinese Classics explaining well the action of Confucius into his Journals:“Chang Tsoo and Kee Neih retired from the state to the fields on account of misrule, and showed their displeasure at Confucius who remained in the world. Confucius sighed and said, I cannot associate with birds and beasts. If I follow not man, whom shall I follow? If the world were in possession of right principles, I should not seek to change it."5 Such a passage shows what a moral staff Confucius was in helping him to stand on his own feet. Again, in his essay on "Social Aims”, Emerson quoted Confucius as saying: "If the S巴 arch for riches were sure to be successful, though I should become a groom with whip in hand to get them, I will do so. As the search may not be successful, I will follow after that which I love." One· quotation from Confucius he uses twice, and writes : “I will say with Confucius, 'If in the morning I hear of the right way, and in the evening die, I can be happy.’”6 But Emerson always felt that this "right way” of Confucius was apt to lead through so.cial convention to formalism. In his Journals he remarked ·“The Chinese are as wond 巴rful for their 巳 tiquette as the Hebrews for their piety. 叮 The tie that bound Emerson to Confucius was their common belief in the goodness of man. 8 Confucius himself said very little about Human Nature. He mentioned it once in the Analects “By natu間， men are near甘 alike ﹔ by practice, they get to be wide apart. "9 The Confucianist theory of the goodness of human nature became obvious after the appearance of Mencius. He said ; "All men have a mind which cannot bear (to S巳e the sufferings o 叮 others .... If men suddenly see a child about to fall int0 a well, they will without exception experienc巴 a feeling of alarm and distress. (They will feel so), not as a ground on which they may gain the favor of the child’s parents, nor as a ground on which they may seek the praise of their neighbors and friends, nor from a dislike to the reputations of (having been unmoved by) such a thing." “From this case we may perceive that the feeling of commiseration is 巴sse ntial to m間， that the feeling of shame and dislike is essential to man, that the feeling of modesty and complaisance is essential to man, and that the feeling of approving and disapproving is essential to man." 42 Journal of the College of Liberal Arts Vol.

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