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Xun Kuang's Philosophical Thought

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Xun Kuang's Philosophical Thought JOURNAL OF CRITICAL REVIEWS ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 06, 2020 XUN KUANG’S PHILOSOPHICAL THOUGHT Dr. Vo Van Dung, Khanh Hoa University Email: [email protected] Mobile phone: 0948666159 Abstract Xun Kuang’s philosophical thought was born and developed in a chaotic period in China. His philosophical thought was not an exception when he introduced a new look into his philosophical system which seemed to be old issues, by which he wished to build a better society. Also, Xun Kuang’s doctrine also had a certain influence on his temporary period in which he was living, with his dedication to worldview, epistemology and social views. Though his philosophical views were closely linked with the interests of new aristocratic class, actively defending the rising feudal tyranny at the end of the Warring States period, the achievements in his philosophical system, such as radical atheism in the conception of nature, the development of cognitive theory and logic, and the view of the active role of human activities in world perception and transformation, are a huge step in the history of ancient Chinese philosophy. Keywords: thought, philosophy, Xun Kuang, worldview, methodology. 1. Introduction Xun Kuang is a thinker, an educator and a writer under the Warring States period. He was also a Confucian Guru, the last representative of Confucian thought in the Confucian period, with the preservation of typical works of Confucianism. In his works, he critically summarized the ideological achievements of Xiānqín, building the Confucian ideology, the Faija and other theorists, on the basis of Confucianism which was the subject. In terms of the materialism of ancient China, his ideology was a new development. In general, Xun Kuang’s philosophical ideology has been approached by researchers in the following views: firstly, from the perspectives of a historical philosophical representatives; secondly, from the viewpoints of a military politician; thirdly, from a thinker’s perspectives. In general, at any views, the researchers have generalized the life, career and content of Xun Kuang’s thought. However, from the perspectives of Xun Kuang’s philosophical ideology, the author finds that due to Xun Kuang’s philosophical ideology, there are some really distinctive points, as well as even Xun Kuang himself had a particularly different view in his mind. Because of that, the number of people who have researched on his philosophical ideas, therefore, also have some certain limitations. This is also a great difficulty for those who delve deeply into the study of Xun Kuang’s philosophical thought. On the basis of learning and summarizing practical experience, the author tries to bring a complete research work as well as possible on Xun Kuang’s philosophical thought. Our article will conduct a research to clarify the basic contents of the Xun Kuang’s philosophy. To perform that task, we will use the following main research methods, namely analysis and synthesis, logic and history, comparison and contrast ...etc, to present the problems posed. 2. Content At the end of the Warring States period, there were new inventions to serve the development of agriculture and the agricultural economy of many countries reached a turning point. Handicrafts continued to flourish, urban areas also reached a peak of prosperity. The feudal landlords occupied dominant positions in society. The Qin state was becoming a powerful nation, gradually annexing other countries, unifying China. Xun Kuang was a representative of the growing landlord class. Xun Kuang’s surname is Xun, his real name is Khanh, (born in about 315 and died in 230 BC). People also called him as Ton Khanh. In terms of personalities, he was a man with a will to save life like Confucius and Mencius. Xun Kuang also gave some arguments to clarify that Tao was his duty; however, he was not as aggressive as Mencius when he argued about "characteristics" with Cao Tu, he calmly showed the right and wrong things with clear evidence, through which it is helpful for those can hear about it; it also would not be annoying anyone if they could not listen to, and if he met an aggressive person, he stopped talking with him. He is a confident scholar with many unique ideas and sharp inference. Xun Kuang is a philosopher and a thinker rather than a politician. When researching on Xun Kuang’s career, in the Chronicles of Sima Qian, it can be seen that Xun Kuang wrote a book of several thousand words, so Xunzi (Book) appeared very late in the second century BC. Then this book was collected, arranged and compiled into 32 chapters by Liu Xiang, so it was called as "New Book". All these chapters have highlighted a system of ideas as well as the human life of Xun Kuang. Standing on the basic stance of materialism, Xun Kuang summarized, inherited critically all previous ideological currents in all aspects and then built his own doctrine. It can be said that he summarized the history of 2604 JOURNAL OF CRITICAL REVIEWS ISSN- 2394-5125 VOL 7, ISSUE 06, 2020 ancient Chinese philosophical thought. Xun Kuang mentioned many issues, each of which was discussed deeply by him in details such as the ontology, epistemology and political-social viewpoints. In terms of the ontological issue in Xun Kuang’s philosophical thought, when discussing this issue, he said that "the Heaven and man have a distinction". This is considered the most significant proposition in Xun Kuang’s philosophical thought; he is also not the first philosopher to discuss the relationship between the Heaven and man, but when some concepts of Heaven and man are contrary to the views of "Heaven destiny" or "Heaven’s will" which consider the Heaven is a supreme force that can dominate everything in the world and govern human society. According to history, at the latest period until the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, the Chinese still believed that Heaven was the creator of all things, the ultimate subject who had mind, will and affection and was friendly and almighty. Xun Kuang dismissed that traditional belief. He accepted the Heaven as the root of life, but he did not believe that the Heaven is a metaphysical existence or a moral value. Heaven was only natural to him - a force which was equal to the earth and man; the Heaven was functioned according to natural, eternal and everlasting principles. He said that "the Heaven is taking place according to a normal rule, not intentionally making Emperor Yao still alive or making King Jie die". According to him, the good or bad business of people was done by themselves. The Heaven did not interfere at all. That is the reason why he said “the Heaven cannot create poverty if human know how to utilize the weather for their harvest. The Heaven cannot make human ill if they eat healthily and exercise regularly. So a drought cannot make people hungry or coldness cannot make people sick; also demons cannot harm people. Xun Kuang also said that the not because human hated coldness but the Heaven ignored winter as well as the land knew that human disliked to work on a field far from their house; the Heaven had ordinary Tao, there are farm land for farmers. According to Xun Kuang’s conception of heaven, Phung Huu Lan (馮 友 蘭) and some other famous Chinese scholars all said that he was influenced by the Naturalism of Lao Tzu , Zhuang Zhou. Indeed, Lao Tzu said that the basic Tao of the universe operated according to the natural rules that "the Heaven and the earth are inhuman, taking all things as grass dogs ". Xun Kuang said that human should focus on fulfilling our duties and not contend for the duties of the Heaven. Thus, "we will obtain what we need without doing or asking for help". Those affairs are the “positions” of the Heaven, even human’s thought or judgment are profound or human are talented, all of which does not contribute anything to The Heaven’s Tao. From that point of view, Xun Kuang affirmed the human’s role and position in the world through human’s awareness and world improvement. He advocated that human should give up the habit of relying on nature and should not wait passively for the natural giving, but they have to use their intelligence, abilities and strength to survive and develop. In terms of human hood, in according to Xun Kuang, it is essential to strive to develop production, carry out national affairs, and focus on educating morality and ethics. In doing so, human can be compared equally with the Heaven and the earth. With this concept, Xun Kuang deconstructed the theory of Heaven which had the will to reward the good and punish the evil of Macedonian religion and the Taoist cult of nature. His thought is in the cult of human’s business, the essence of progress in human life. This thought though somewhat is relevant to Confucian’s ideology, but because he was inclined towards the concept of “ The heaven and human are uncorrelated” , it turns out to be different from the thought of Confucian and Mencius "(Tran Trong Kim 1992) In the era of science that has not yet developed like the Xun Kuang’s period, the study of the universe could not be done, so he advocated that he should only know human affairs to make human more and more improved each day but not care about the Heaven’s affairs. Although there are biochemical contacts between the Heaven and all creatures, each side has its own position. Besides Heaven was only nature that human could understand, then the monstrous phenomena occurring in the sky and earth were nothing to be afraid of.
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