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Is Chinese Cosmology Metaphysics? IS CHINESE COSMOLOGY METAPHYSICS? Jiyuan Yu* Abstract: In literature about Chinese philosophy, there are two prevailing views: (1) Chinese philosophy lacks interest in metaphy- sical pursuit and is preoccupied with practical affairs; and (2) There is a rich cosmology in Chinese thought. However, when we put these two views together, we get a disturbing and puzzling result: (3) Chinese cosmology is not metaphysics. This paper seeks to address the question “is Chinese cosmology metaphysics?” by asking questions about the following three topics. (a) Is there a shared Chinese cosmology that is unique to Chinese tradition but is sharply different from Greek cosmology? (b) Precisely what is the nature of the elation between Chinese ethics and Chinese cosmology? (c) Chinese cosmology and the issue of being. Although a full discussion of the issue is beyond the scope of one paper, I will try to identify some major problems in outline. My approach is through a comparison between Chinese cosmology and Greek cosmology/metaphysics. Introduction: Problem and Approach IN LITERATURE about Chinese philosophy, there are two prevailing views: (1) Chinese philosophy lacks interest in metaphysical pursuit and is preoccupied with practical affairs; and (2) There is a rich cosmology in Chinese thought. Let me call (1) the ―lack of metaphysics‘ view, and (2) the ―rich cosmology‖ view. The position (2), the ―rich cosmology‖ view, cannot be mistaken. Developed in the classical texts such as Mencius, Xunzi, Laozi, Zhuangzi, Guanzi, The Book of Changes, Huainanzi etc, Chinese cosmology has contributed many influential theories, such as that of tian (Heaven), Dao, Ying/yang, five phases, qi, the cyclical changes, tian-ren ho-yi (―the unity of tian and man‖), and so on. The view (1), the ―lack of metaphysics‖ view, is also strongly justified. It is shared by those who defend the philosophical nature of Chinese philosophy (Fung, 1952, vol.1, 1-6), as well as those who reject the philosophical nature of Chinese thought (Zeller, 1997, 2). 1 There are also prominent compara- tivists who believe that the lack of theoretical interest in metaphysical pursuits is indeed one of the major differences between Chinese thought and Western philosophy (e.g. G. E. R. Lloyd, 1990, 124) . However, when we put these two views together, the result appears to be: (3) Chinese cosmology is not metaphysics. *JIYUAN YU, Professor, Department of Philosophy, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260, U.S.A. and Changjiang Chair Professor, Department of Philosophy, Shandong University, Jinan, China. Email: [email protected] 1 Indeed, for those who accuse Chinese thought of not being a real philosophy, what they actually mean is that Chinese philosophy does not study metaphysical questions. 138 JIYUAN YU Since Chinese cosmology expresses a Chinese view of reality, the thesis (3) is surely disturbing and puzzling. It raises issues about the precise distinction between metaphysics and cosmology, and also the philosophical nature of Chinese cosmology. Yet although the relationship between Chinese cosmology and Western metaphysics is a topic of central importance, we have not seen much serious study in this area. Instead, we frequently read in literature confusing expressions such as ―the anthropo-cosmological foundation,‖ or ―the cosmological-meta- physical foundation.‖ Does ―a cosmological foundation‖ amount to ―a metaphysical foundation?‖ One reason why this important issue has attracted little attention is that, in recent years, the dominate approach to Chinese cosmology or Chinese philosophy has been to emphasize its peculiar sensibility or rationality. In the English-speaking West, the trend has been to show that the West‘s own notion of philosophy is provincial and culturally contingent and that Chinese thought should be understood in its own terms. In mainland China, scholars in the past decade have been debating the issue of ―the legitimacy of Chinese Philosophy.‖ Is ―philosophy‖ understood in the Western sense appropriate to understand Chinese traditional thinking? When Western concepts and theories are used to examine Chinese classics, is the result ―philosophy of China‖ (i.e. philosophy that is discovered in China) or ―philosophy in China‖ (i.e. Western philosophy in a Chinese mask)? There is no question that we must understand Chinese philosophy in terms of its own questions and approaches. It is also definitely our goal to identify Chinese philosophy‘s distinct contributions and its alternative perspectives to philosophy. However, we have to conduct in-depth research to ascertain whether many apparent or alleged differences are truly the case, and whether these differences are ―in types‖ or ―in degrees.‖ It is not productive if we treat the issue of the distinctness as a matter of ideology. Over-emphasizing the difference between Chinese cosmology and Western metaphysics will distort our understanding of Chinese cosmology, will mislead scholars of Western Philosophy to treat Chinese philosophy as a different genre of thought, and will serious hamper constructive dialogues between Chinese cosmology and Western metaphysics. This paper seeks to address the question ―is Chinese cosmology metaphysics?‖ A full discussion of the issue is beyond the scope of one paper. What I try to do is to identify some major problems in outline and my approach. My approach is through a comparison between Chinese cosmology and Greek cosmology/metaphysics. This approach is adopted for the following two major reasons. First, to effectively answer the question under investigation, we need to have a recognized notion of what metaphysics is. Yet in contemporary philosophy ‗metaphysics‘ becomes a term with ambiguous edges. In contrast, Greek metaphysics provides us with a relatively uncontroversial framework. Metaphysics was born in ancient Greece, and it is Aristotle who defines it as the central area of subject matter in philosophy. Second, Greek philosophy also has a rich tradition of cosmology, as a main part of its ―physics‖ or IS CHINESE COSMOLOGY METAPHYSICS? 139 ―natural philosophy.‖ How metaphysics and natural philosophy are related in Greek philosophy should provide a vantage of point from which to see the nature of Chinese cosmology. In pursuing this comparison, I use, among others, the ―mirror‖ method, which is appropriated from Aristotle who uses the metaphor of a mirror to explain what real friendship is. [W]hen we wish to see our own face, we do so by looking into the mirror, in the same way when we wish to know ourselves we can obtain that knowledge by looking at our friend. For the friend is, as we assert, a second self. If, then, it is pleasant to know oneself, and it is not possible to know this without having someone else for a friend, the self-sufficing man will require friendship in order to know himself‖ (Magna Moralia, 1213a20-26). A friend is a second self, and can be used as an essential and indispensable mirror for one to know oneself better and to obtain self- knowledge. Taking Greek metaphysical/cosmological traditions and Chinese cosmology as mirrors for each other leads us to reflect upon the traditional roots of both traditions, to examine their otherwise unexamined presuppositions, and to generate alternative perspectives to determine why each side proceeds in the way it does. One main task of philosophy is to uncover hidden assumptions, and cross-cultural philosophical comparison has a lot to contribute in this regard. Furthermore, by promoting mutual understanding, comparison will also help philosophy transcend cultural boundaries and reach genuine insights that are not culturally bound. In specific, I ask questions in the following three topics. (1) Is there a shared Chinese cosmology that is unique to Chinese tradition but is sharply different from Greek cosmology? In literature on Chinese cosmology, the ―prevailing view‖ focuses on its difference from Western cosmology. It claims that Chinese cosmology is immanent and organic, and it lacks all sorts of dichotomies such as essence/appearance, universal/particular, mind/body, reason/emotion, being/becoming, know- ledge/opinion, fact/value, substance/attribute, etc., which are characteristic of Western metaphysics. This prevailing view should be examined in order to determine whether the alleged differences between Chinese cosmology and Western metaphysics are tenable. (2) Chinese cosmology and the issue of the metaphysical foundation of Chinese ethics. Chinese cosmology is said to be the foundation of Chinese ethics. Confucius is said to have no interest in metaphysical issues, and after Confucius there is not a development of metaphysics that differs from cosmology. In Greek philosophy, Socrates, who initiated Greek ethics, also shows no interest in metaphysics. Yet Plato and Aristotle quickly develop systems in which metaphysics and epistemology constitute the core. What is it that Chinese philosophy does not see a similar development? Precisely what is the nature of the relation between Chinese ethics and Chinese cosmology? We should be enlightened if we examine how Greek ethics is related to its metaphysical foundation. 140 JIYUAN YU (3) Chinese cosmology and the issue of being. One major reason to say that Chinese philosophy does not have metaphysic is that there is no theory of being. Metaphysics is defined as ―the science of being qua being‖ in Aristotle. We need to study why Chinese thought lacks a theory of being, and how it affects Chinese cosmology. It would be helpful for this purpose if we examine the relation between cosmology and metaphysics of being Greek philosophy. In the following, I outline, regarding each of these three topics, what the current situations are, what questions are raised, and offer some perspectives. Hopefully, the following synoptic discussion identifies some serious issues and leads to some in-depth studies. I. About the uniqueness of Chinese cosmology ―The prevailing view‖ of Chinese cosmology in current scholarship claims that China had a radically different cosmology from that seen in the West. The nutshell of this view can be summarized as follows.
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