He said, 'I want to establish a' most philosophical philosophy ', and I demand that all my propositions be both empty and spiritual. After understanding these four concepts, did Mr. Feng ultimately realize his most philosophical concept? What is the most philosophical concept?'?
For the truth, there is only formal affirmation, but not factual affirmation. There is affirmation for the truth, but not particularly for the truth. Try to minimize the dependence on actual experience.
Firstly, in the world of reason, he separated the relationship between reason and things. The concept of qi is not limited to this school in China, as qi is not just air. Qi itself is a very vague and ambiguous concept. Basically, in China, these Chinese people know what Qi is, but you can't tell what Qi is when you ask people to say it. It is an incredible and indescribable thing, it is the kind of material thing that helps it relative to its implementation, and it is an absolute base material. You still cannot see the connection between it and actual things. The Tao and the Tao are static and dynamic, both of which may seem concrete, but they also contain some abstract parts.
So in the end, whether it's from propositions or concepts, we can say that it abstracts the entire philosophy into a system where everything is abstracted into a concept, and then speculates and constructs the concept itself. The connection between it and actual things cannot be said to be non-existent, it does exist, but it is also not significant.
What was the initial philosophical purpose of the system he ultimately established? He wants to establish a system that covers multiple aspects such as society, politics, and life, discussing various issues such as nature, morality, art, and so on. Let's ask you how to answer these questions with such a system? How does it involve such aspects?
The process from reason to qi, and then to the Dao body and the Quanta. Feng Youlan said that by following this line of reasoning, I have been able to deduce all the metaphysical concepts of Chinese philosophy in the New Neo Confucianism and combine them into a clear and systematic whole.
He also said that the New Neo Confucianism was inspired by the traditional Chinese metaphysics and used modern New Logic to criticize metaphysics, establishing a completely unrealistic metaphysics.
How can you question the authenticity of this system, which has little or no connection with reality?
You say there is no reason, no qi, no Tao, no totality. You cannot deny him with factual things because you cannot use positivism to say that this is not right and that is not right. From an abstract perspective, it does meet the requirements of logic. It can be deduced from one proposition to another, and naturally derive a conclusion from one proposition. This is not a problem. Therefore, it should be said that from his initial intention, he has achieved it.
But let's talk about the effect separately. In fact, from writing the Six Books of Zhenyuan to his Anti Japanese War period, Mr. Feng also reflected on the entire new Neo Confucianism system. After 49 years, he began to reflect on the new Neo Confucianism system from the Marxist standpoint. One of the Marxist stances is to adhere to materialism, and the other is to adhere to dialectics. It is obvious that it is about the connection between commonalities and differences, completely cutting apart the commonalities and differences. This approach does not meet the requirements of dialectics. We generally believe that the theory of dialectics states that the general and the individual are mutually opposed, but also interconnected. It only sees the opposing side of each other and ignores the possibility of interconnection between the two. This kind of reflection is actually very necessary, and it is also very beneficial for the construction of the new theoretical system.
After the 1980s, he used Marxism to construct a new theoretical system and further reflected on it. He said that in fact, we construct the entire system. He said that commonality is the natural principle shared by a class of things. Anomaly is an individual molecule within a class of things.
However, when we look back now, we will find a difference in Mr. Feng's definition of commonality and dissimilarity. He noticed the connection between commonality and dissimilarity. He said that commonality is a natural principle shared by a class of things, and he no longer treated it as a class. He added the concept of principle to the concept of commonality. Anomaly is an individual molecule in a class of things. In this way, commonality and dissimilarity intersect the general and individual connections.
This is not only necessary for understanding commonalities and differences, but also for the metaphysical system he constructs. Whether it is static or dynamic, the world achieved in the end is a world shared by both commonalities and differences. If we separate them completely, the connection between Dao and Qi, as well as the entire Dao and Daquan, will be divided into two layers. If we can organically connect them together, the process from reason to Qi, and from Daquan to Dao will appear smoother.
He said that it generally resides in the individual, and the common resides in the particular. The existence of commonalities only exists within individual classes.
So, in the end, he talked about the relationship between reason and matter, with reason in matter rather than in matter.
If the reason he abstracted in his first proposition earlier was about gradual abstraction, the independent reality of reason, and the logical precedence of reason, it seems that there is a higher value or a higher precedence in relative matters. After reflection, he believes that there is an interactive process between reason and matter. Reason is not superior, but is inherent in the entire process of things,
After introducing Mr. Feng's early system of Neo Confucianism and his final reflection, let's turn back and see how we should view this new Neo Confucianism system. It can be said that Mr. Feng's new Neo Confucianism system is composed of four philosophical concepts: reason, qi, Dao body, and Quanta, all of which are fine. Among them, reason and qi are the forms and qualities that constitute things.
A thing, infinite and Taiji, is composed of both principles and qi. The Tao and Quanta support the existence and popularity of things from both dynamic and static aspects. Therefore, the formation of this system marks the transition of Chinese philosophy from tradition to modernity, becoming a modern philosophy.
Because firstly, it conforms to his initial speculation about the "most philosophical" philosophy, and secondly, it has transcendentalism. It can be said that in this sense, Chinese philosophy is no longer a mixed expression of ideas without a system or logical reasoning. Many Western philosophers criticize Chinese philosophy for this and even believe that China lacks some of the reasons for philosophy. He has truly completed such a transformation with a philosophical system and philosophical standards.
So in this sense, the philosophical new Neo Confucianism system established by Mr. Feng can truly be called a system of modern philosophy.
For us, the first one is that Mr. Feng established a rationalist metaphysics.
From commonality to particularity, from possibility to reality, from stillness to popularity, from part to whole, these four categories have constructed a rationalist system, and he has transcended mysticism and empiricism beyond his system. Indeed, commonality to particularity, from possibility to reality, from stillness to popularity, from part to whole, all of these have been fully reflected in these four concepts and propositions.
So from this perspective, it is a rationalist metaphysical system.
Mr. Zhu Bokun briefly discussed the methodological issues in the study of Mr. Feng Youlan's academic thought. He said that Mr. Feng's research on the history of Chinese philosophy particularly emphasizes the method of logical analysis, which is the modern formal logic. It is not other logic, such as the current fuzzy logic, etc. Mr. Feng's understanding of logic is formal logic.
In fact, Mr. Zhu's words are already implicit. The formal logic used by Mr. Feng makes it completely devoid of the fuzzy logic represented by it. He regards A as A and B as B in a very rigorous logical and rational system. Therefore, this rationalist feature makes Feng Youlan's philosophy easy for Westerners to understand and has gained great reputation abroad. However, it is precisely because of this reason that his ideology differs from the mainstream of other Neo Confucians such as Liang Shuming and Xiong Shili, and thus became a separate son in Mou Zongsan's mouth rather than the orthodox one.
In the new system of Neo Confucianism established by Mr. Feng, the concepts of reason, qi, Dao, and Quanta may seem to be based on Chinese philosophy, but deep down, they have already diverged greatly from many aspects of Chinese philosophy. Therefore, compared with Xiong Shili and Liang Shuming, you can see that they have taken two completely different paths. If Liang Shuming and Xiong Shili borrowed Western philosophy to help express China and maintain the characteristics of Chinese philosophy itself, Mr. Feng hopes to bring Chinese philosophy into the system and framework required by Western philosophy.
The second point is that this system is an old bottle of new wine.
This is easy to understand. I just talked about the complete set of principles and methods, which already exist in traditional Chinese culture. However, Mr. Feng gave them a new connotation, so he bottled a new wine in an old bottle. Mr. Ren Jiyu said in his book "Talking About Feng Youlan" that Mr. Feng's philosophy is mainly about carrying forward the past and opening up the future. He followed the "Cheng Zhu Neo Confucianism" and was able to understand the new realism of the West, absorb the materialist conception of history of Marxism, and integrate it into his own philosophical system. Therefore, he continued to move forward on the old foundation rather than starting over from scratch.
