For the philosophy of Mou Zongsan, a relatively important part, let me introduce it to you. Our first question is to first introduce Mr. Mou Zongsan's academic experience.
From his academic experience, his first published academic work was about the Book of Changes. Studying Chinese metaphysics and moral philosophy from the perspective of the Book of Changes "is his first work.
Starting from this work, his academic life has continued for 60 years. So for those in academia, this is also very rare. So this philosophy, this book, he studied the Book of Changes. When he was studying at Peking University, he also listened to many lectures from old gentlemen. So after class, he also went to find some books to read on his own because he was studying philosophy at that time. So, when it came to Chinese philosophy, he mainly read books on the Book of Changes, and mainly read books on the Han Dynasty's study of numerology.
So during this period of study, after hard work, he wrote this book to study Chinese metaphysics and moral philosophy from the perspective of the Book of Changes. But Mr. Mou's academic experience is very interesting. Although he initially started with Chinese philosophy, he soon left this field, and even left Chinese philosophy. He conducted an in-depth exploration from Western philosophy. So in the process of exploring Western philosophy, he was first interested in logic. Starting from logic, at that time he listened to Mr. Zhang Shenfu's lecture because many people may feel that he was a revolutionary, but in fact he was also a scholar. Many revolutionaries at that time were scholars, including Chen Duxiu and Zhang Shenfu, who was the brother of Mr. Zhang Dainian. He was also an early revolutionary.
So when Mr. Zhang Shenfu was talking about logic at that time, Mr. Mou also went to listen, so his academic interest started from Western philosophy or logic. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, Peking University, including Tsinghua University, were all relocated to other places. Later, there was Southwest Associated University. During such a difficult period, Mr. Mou traveled around. It is said that he brought very few of these things with him, but he only brought two big books of logical exemplars, which are about logic. Later, he wrote a book called "Logical Exemplars" in the field of logic himself.
In addition, he also wrote about critical thinking from the perspective of Western learning, including the philosophical part, which was probably during Mr. Mou's youth to middle age. During this period, his main academic experience was focused on Western learning research, and such works were quite influential at that time. It is said that Mr. He Lin's research on Mr. Mou at that time was that his book had not yet been published, but Mr. He Lin was already introducing it to him. The book he was about to publish would be a good introduction to logic, cognition, and so-called reason.
In the late 1940s to 1950s, Mr. Mou's academic interest began to return to Chinese philosophy. However, when it came to Chinese philosophy, he considered more issues during this period, which were called political philosophy. During this period, he wrote three books, namely "Philosophy of History," "Idealism of Morality," and "Politics and Governance.
Later on, the three books became known as the "Three Books of the New Foreign King", which mainly explored political philosophy, known as the "New Foreign King Problem". Combining his academic experiences before and after this period, you will find that during this period, he had a research on the subject of cognition, and he gradually or rather entered a research on a moral subject.
What is the study of cognitive subjects?
Kant's philosophy is an epistemology because he believed that when we examine what the world is like, we must first examine our cognitive abilities. Kant posed this question, so he believed that it is unreasonable to talk about what the world is without examining human cognitive abilities.
I don't know if everyone has a certain understanding or viewpoint on this issue. When we first describe the world, for example, some people believe that the root of this world is water, or that its fundamental root is fire, or that its fundamental root is atoms, and so on.
But Kant believed that when making such a statement, you first need to examine your own cognitive ability. This is simple because when we understand the world, we need to use our own concepts and categories, and why are our own concepts and categories said to be our own?
In fact, we humans use our unique 'through holes' to understand the world. In such a world, besides us humans, there are many animals. When animals learn about this world, are they the same as us humans? For example, what do we see with our eyes and what fly eyes see?
Because the structure of a fly's eyes is different from ours, our eyes can only see ahead and we cannot see behind. However, flies are different. Their eyes are composed of more than 2000 compound eyes, which can see 360 degrees. When I was a child, the hygiene conditions in rural areas were not good, and there were many flies. I used a racket to beat it, but I couldn't hit it because once I raised the racket, it could see. Why is this the case? Because its structure is different from that of humans.
And testing a person's cognitive ability is a philosophical question, which means that the world we see as humans and the world seen as flies are obviously likely to be different. Similarly, ants and flies are also different, so there is a problem that the world we see has undergone a special processing and refinement by us humans.
So, in this way, Kant's question arises. When you say what the world "is," do you ever think that you may be a unique understanding of your own person among humans.
And what the world was originally like, you may not know, even Kant explicitly said, you just don't know, you don't know what the world is like, what its true face is, you don't know, because what you see is imbued with a certain human color. Of course, Kant's philosophy of this kind also exists in Chinese philosophy, such as Zhuangzi. In Zhuangzi, he talked about the concept of "Qi Wu". When talking about Qi Wu, you gave a few examples, for example, we think Xi Shi is very beautiful, Xi Shi is a beauty of ancient and modern times, but when a fish sees Xi Shi, it sinks to a deep place, and when a bird sees Xi Shi, it will fly. It's very high, so why is this situation happening?
That is to say, we people may not necessarily approve of the beautiful Xishi, but birds and fish may not. We people think it's comfortable to lie in bed, but loaches think it's comfortable in mud and water. Monkeys think standing on tall trees is the best and safest, but people don't think so. What if they fall off from a tall tree; If a person lies in muddy water, their waist will definitely be unbearable.
Zhuangzi also raised this question here, who knows which place is the most comfortable?
This reveals a problem, our understanding of the world is influenced by our subjective nature as humans. So in Kant's philosophy, whether it is time or space, it is an inherent part of human beings, which means that time is internal and space is also internal. So in this, taking Kant's philosophy as an example, Western philosophy is an epistemology. It first tests a person's cognitive ability.
But in Chinese philosophy, later on, Mr. Mou shifted his focus to historical philosophy, moral idealism, and political and governance principles. He then shifted from the subject of knowledge to a so-called 'moral subject', rising from the subject of morality. In this way, it became a philosophy that transformed from epistemology to a philosophy of virtue, which was a turning point for him.
So around the 1960s, Mr. Mou devoted himself to sorting out several important historical stages in the history of Chinese philosophy. In order to sort out primitive Taoism and Wei Jin metaphysics, he wrote a book called "Talent and Metaphysics".
So, Mr. Mou wrote 'Buddha Nature and Prajna' in order to gain an understanding or recognition of the Buddhist teachings of the Sui and Tang dynasties.
So in order to gain an understanding of the Neo Confucianism of the Song and Ming dynasties, he wrote "Heart Body and Sexual Body" and "From Lu Xiangshan to Liu Laoshan".
So later on, he also wrote 'Famous Masters and Xunzi', which is certainly a review of primitive Confucianism.
So in this way, he has made a specialized exposition on different aspects or main stages of Chinese philosophy as a whole. So during this period, it means that his research on Chinese philosophy reached a very profound height.
So, in the mid to late 1970s to 1980s, what were some of his books, such as "Phenomena and the Thing Itself," "On the Circle of Goodness," "Truth, Goodness, and Beauty," and "On the Theory of Separation and Integration," used for?
These books are a fusion of Chinese and Western cultures, reconstructing Chinese philosophy.
So, one of Mr. Mou Zongsan's contributions is that he is not an ordinary historian of philosophy. An ordinary historian of philosophy may simply sort out a history of philosophy. However, in Mr. Mou Zongsan's academic journey, he first studied Western philosophy, epistemology, logic, and then political philosophy, moving from the subject of knowledge to the subject of morality. He then further divided some important schools of Chinese philosophy, such as metaphysics, Buddhism, and Neo Confucianism.
So from the 1970s to the mid to late 1980s, he was integrating Chinese and Western philosophy. He talked about phenomena and the essence of things, the theory of roundness, goodness, and beauty, and the integration of them. He integrated Chinese and Western philosophy and reconstructed Chinese philosophy.
