The Chinese Mind
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
THE CHINESE MIND: ESSENTIALS OF CHINESE PHILOSOPHY AND CULTURE I I i I I the Ihinese mind Essentials of Chinese Philosophy and Culture Charles A. Moore, editor With the assistance of Aldyth V. Morris HONOLULU East-West Center Press University of Hawaii Press COPYRIGlIT © 1967 BY EAST-WEST CENTER PRESS UNIVERSITY OF HAWAU, HONOLULU SECOND PRINTING ALL RIGHTS RESERVED LmRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOG CARD NO. 66-24011 PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CHARLES A. MOORE, for many years senior professor of philos ophy at the University of Hawaii, died in April, 1967, before his work on this volume was completed. Long an advocate of the pro motion of greater tolerance between people of the East and West, Professor Moore was known internationally as the innovator and driving force behind the East-West Philosophers' Conferences, held in Honolulu in 1939, 1949, 1959, and 1964, which brought together some of the leading thinkers of the Orient and the Occident to ex change ideas and to enhance their understanding of other traditions. Every effort has been made by those involved in· finishing this book to maintain the high standards set by Professor Moore. A special recognition is owing to Professors Peter Lee, Lily Winter~, Chung-ying Cheng, Edward H. Schafer, Mr. Shien-min Jen, and Mr. Chi-ping Chen for their help in preparing this posthumous work. WINFIELD E. N AGLEY Chairman Department of Philosophy University of Hawaii Preface THIS VOLUME is composed exclusively of chapters selected from the proceedings volumes resulting from the four East-West Philoso phers' Conferences held at the University of Hawaii in 1939, 1949, 1959, and 1964." Each of the chapters here was originally a paper presented at one of these conferences and discussed at that time. (Incidentally, some of the discussion which took place is included at the end of some of the papers, in the form of Questions and Answers.) This volume-and two succeeding volumes on India and Japan -are intended both for the general reader and for the philosophy student and scholar. These are not textbooks as such, but are pre sented with this possibility strongly in mind, since they provide an excellent basis for courses in their respective fields. The papers are substantial and authoritative, but not overly technical, presenta tions on Chinese philosophy in general and also on specific aspects of Chinese life and culture in their philosophical and social contexts. While this is essentially a reprint volume, the papers have been re-edited by their authors (except Hu Shih and E. R. Hughes, who are no longer living) and by the editor of this volume, and some changes in style, translation, transliteration, etc., have been .. The four volumes from which these papers are taken, all edited by Charles A. Moore, are: Philosophy-East and West, published by Princeton University Press (1944); and three published by the University of Hawaii Press, Essays in East-West Philosophy: An Attempt at World Philosophical Synthesis (1951); Philosophy and Culture, East and West (1962); The Status of the Individual in East and West (1967). viii PREFACE made. However, there are no major revisions of the substance of the papers. An attempt has been made to bring about unity and consist ency of style as far as possible, although the four volumes were not always consistent in style; in fact, within the same volume some of the authors themselves insisted on following different styles. As in all the conference volumes, several editing difficulties were encountered. Among these are the usual ones of capitaliza tion, hyphenation, italicizing, and transliteration from Oriental lan guages. Another concerned the order of names of Far Easterners mentioned in the text. Far Eastern tradition calls for the family name to be given first, but this practice has been abandoned by some contemporary Asians; this results in confusion. Usually, classical names are given in traditional style, modern and contemporary names in Western style. The proper name-order will be found in the index in all cases. The matters of capitalization and hyphenation in romanized Chinese are extremely difficult because competent scholars in the field are not in agreement as to what constitutes correct style. An effort to achieve uniformity and consistency has been made, but there are undoubtedly some discrepancies. An attempt to correct all such discrepancies will be made in the index. The editor assumes responsibility for revising usage employed by some of the authors-and common usage-in cases of published items which are in fact articles or chapters or parts of standard works. These are enclosed within quotation marks and are not italicized. (There are some unavoidable discrepancies here.) On matters of detail: ( 1) The fear is that there is too much capitalization-because some of the authors strongly wished it that way. Usually, the capi tal letter is used for "ambiguous" terms when they refer to meta physical ultimates, the lower-case when reference is to empirical matters. For example, the Buddha, but buddha-nature, buddha dharma, etc.; Heaven and heaven, Ying-Yang for the school, but yin and yang for the two forces in Nature, and so on. In some cases authors insisted otherwise and the editor complied. (2) Dates (sometimes varying slightly because of personal interpretations) are given frequently so as to provide the unac quainted reader with a better historical sense of the development of ideas. PREFACE ix (3) Transliterated Chinese is often in the text or within pa rentheses to provide the opportunity for those who can to check interpretations given in the translations. (4) In a few cases, common usage is observed rather than technically correct spellings. (5) The same Chinese term or title is sometimes differently translated-in accordance with the preferences of the several au thors but clarity is not thereby sacrificed. (One example is Ii: rea son, law, principle, etc.) (6) Alternate names are frequently used for some of the im portant thinkers whose views are described and explained here their "true" name and their pen name, or adopted name, or hon orific name. For example: Wang Shon-jen and Wang Yang-ming; Chu Hsi and Chu Yuan-hui; Ch'eng Hao and Ch'eng Ming-tao; Ch'eng I and Ch'eng I-ch'uan, etc. Double listings are provided in the index. An alphabetical list of Chinese names, titles, terms, etc., with corresponding Chinese characters, is given as an appendix. Appreciation is hereby extended to Professor Peter H. Lee of the University of Hawaii and Professor Edward H. Schafer of the University of California, Berkeley, for their great assistance in the most difficult matter of transliteration, to Mrs. Floris Sakamoto for work far beyond the call of duty, and to Princeton University Press for permission to republish Professor Wing-tsit Chan's "The Story of Chinese Philosophy," from Philosophy-East and West (1944, 1946). Charles A. Moore Honolulu October 9, 1966 Contents Charles A. Moore Introduction: The Humanistic Chinese Mind 1 Wing-tsit Chan Chinese Theory and Practice, with Special Reference to Humanism 11 Wing-tsit Chan The Story of Chinese Philosophy 31 ' E. R. Hughes Epistemological Methods in Chinese Philosophy 77 Hu Shih The Scientific Spirit and Method in Chinese Philosophy 104 . Wing-tsit Chan Syntheses in Chinese Metaphysics 132 Y. P. Mei The Basis of Social, Ethical, and Spiritual Values in Chinese Philosophy 149 Hsieh Yu-wei Filial Piety and Chinese Society 167 T'ang Chiin-i The Development of Ideas of Spiritual Value in Chinese Philosophy 188 ..J John C. H. Wu Chinese Legal and Political Philosophy 213 " Thome H. Fang The World and the Individual in Chinese Metaphysics 238 Contents (continued) T'ang Chiin-i The Individual and the World in Chinese Methodology 264 Wing-tsit Chan The Individual in Chinese Religions 286 Hsieh Yu-wei The Status of the Individual in Chinese Ethics 307 Y. P. Mei The Status of the Individual in Chinese Thought and Practice 323 JohnC. H. Wu The Status of the Individual in the Political and Legal Traditions of Old and New China 340 Appendix: Romanization and Corresponding Chinese Characters 365 Who's Who 373 Index 378 THE CHINESE MIND: ESSENTIALS OF CHINESE PHILOSOPHY AND CULTURE CHARLES A. MOORE Introduction: The Humanistic Chinese Mind IN THE CONTEMPORAR y world a knowledge of the basic prin ciples of Chinese philosophy is indispensable for the educated man and for the philosopher, both in the West and throughout Asia. Simply to be educated requires that we understand the Chinese people and Chinese culture. To understand the contemporary'" world of Asia-and to be able to live at peace, or at war, if need be, with any other people-we must know them. This is impossible without a substantial knowledge of the fundamental characteristics and also the variety of points of view that constitute, in this case, the Chinese mind or Chinese philosophy. This necessitates under standing these principles in themselves and in their applications to the various aspects of Chinese life-its culture and civilization as a whole. It has often been said that philosophy is more significant in v China, in the life of even the common man, than in any other civilization in the history of the world. It has been said, too, that in China it is not necessary to be religious but it is necessary to be philosophical, or at least possessed of a knowledge of philosophy. For the Chinese, philosophy takes the place of religion-certainly for the educated and intellectual Chinese. The philosopher, even the technical philosopher-not merely those who simply want to know and understand other peoples must know the fundamentals of Chinese philosophy if he would be worthy of the title "philosopher." By definition, the philosopher must have, or at least seek, comprehensive knowledge of all the :2 CHARLES A.