Chinese Philosophy

An Introduction

Ronnie L. Littlejohn

• Publisher: I.B. Tauris
• Year: 2015
• Print ISBN:
  9781784532611
• eBook ISBN:
  9780857739827
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Philosophy
• Subtopic: Asian History

The philosophical traditions of China have arguably influenced more human beings than any other. China has been the home not only of its indigenous philosophical traditions of Confucianism and Daoism, but also of uniquely modified forms of Buddhism. As Ronnie L Littlejohn shows, these traditions have for thousands of years formed the bedrock of the longest continuing civilization on the planet; and Chinese philosophy has profoundly shaped the institutions, social practices and psychological character of East and Southeast Asia. The author here surveys the key texts and philosophical systems of Chinese thinkers in a completely original and illuminating way. Ranging from the Han dynasty to the present, he discusses the six classical schools of Chinese philosophy (Yin-Yang, Ru, Mo, Ming, Fa and Dao-De); the arrival of Buddhism in China and its distinctive development; the central figures and movements from the end of the Tang dynasty to the introduction into China of Western thought; and the impact of Chinese philosophers ranging from Confucius and Laozi to Tu Weiming on their equivalents in the West."

CHAPTER I

哲学

Ontology: Questions about the Nature of Reality

Introduction

This chapter deals with a set of questions in the category known as ontology. Ontology comes from two Greek words ontis, meaning “being” or “reality,” “that which is” and logos, meaning “the study of” or “the knowledge of.” Though ontology is sometimes called metaphysics, referring to what can be known about reality beyond what physics or science tells us, I choose not to use this term because it implies that there is something that is beyond what can be known through science or empirical data. Metaphysics is often taken to deal with that which transcends or is beyond natural phenomenon. While we shall see that some Chinese philosophers suggest in their ontologies that there may be aspects of reality beyond the way things appear to us, generally speaking, all Chinese ontologies start and finish with what they regard as natural, even if sometimes the objects and phenomena produced by natural forces are not accessible by the limited range of human sensory powers (i.e., sight, hearing, touch, etc.).

We might make a distinction between ontology and cosmology:

• ontology is the set of philosophical positions concerned with the nature and operation of reality;
• cosmology is focused more specifically on the observable movements and processes of the phenomena of the universe.

While ontology concerns itself with the general nature of the entities, qualities and relationships that compose and constitute reality, cosmology occupies itself with making empirical assertions about existence.

The notable contemporary philosopher Chung-ying Cheng prefers using the term onto-cosmology of Chinese thought about the nature of reality because he feels it is more accurate than the division of these two approaches as is done in the West.¹ However, for our purposes, we will continue to refer to Chinese ontology, even if as we work our way through the texts and views of Chinese philosophers, we will notice that Cheng’s term does indeed capture much of the Chinese approach to questions of reality.

This chapter deals with the following questions:

• What is reality composed of/made of?
• Is reality of a single type of thing (monism), two types of things (i.e., “dualism”: minds and bodies; matter and spirit; nature and supernature), or many types of things (pluralism)?
• Is reality composed of only transient, impermanent things, or are there enduring, or even eternal and universal components in its composition?
• Is reality actually as it appears to us or is it something different in its true nature from what we are most directly aware of?
• Does reality have a meaning, is it “purposing” or is it guided by a mind or intelligence to process as it does?
• Does it follow some internal pattern of its own nature, or is it the case that humans attach and invent meaning and impose it on reality, although it is devoid of purpose in itself?

The Formation of the Early Chinese Worldview

The ontology of early Chinese thought comes down to us through a number of philosophical texts that are not traceable to any single author. Included among those covered in this section are the “Great Commentary” (Da Zhuan) to the Classic of Changes (Yijing), the Commentary of Zuo (Zuozhuan) and the “Great Plan” (Hong Fan) section of the Classic of History (Shujing).

The “Great Commentary” to the Classic of Changes (Yijing)

The Classic of Changes (Yijing) is the name for a complete edited work that includes two parts. One part is a quite ancient manual of divination known simply as the Changes (Yi), or more correctly, as the Zhouyi. It is a handbook traceable to the period and practices of the Western Zhou dynasty as is indicated, among other features, by its use of language expressions found on the bronzes of that period (c.1046–771 BCE). The other part of the Classic of Changes is a set of seven commentaries attached to it. Three of the commentaries are composed of two sections each. Accordingly, taken as a whole, the commentary set making up this second part of the Classic of Changes is known as “The Ten Wings” (Shiyi).

One of these ten commentaries to the Classic of Changes (Yijing) is known by the various titles of the “Great Commentary” (Dazhuan) or “Appended Statements” (Xici). The “Great Commentary” is arguably the most important single text available to us for an understanding of the earliest Chinese ontology. The Classic of Changes as a whole is much less valuable to us as philosophers. There are reasons to date some material in the “Great Commentary” into the Han dynasty (206 BCE–222 CE), but I include it as a statement of the early Chinese worldview because the passages I have selected are consistent with a much earlier period and they also lack the overt connections to Han syncretism that we see in the overwriting of classical works during that period, especially with regard to the ontology of the Five Phases (wuxing).

The “Great Commentary” sketches out the early Chinese worldview that was basic to all of China’s philosophical systems for over two millennia. It also introduces the fundamental philosophical vocabulary of Chinese ontology that has been employed by Chinese thinkers up to the modern period.

What Western philosophy calls reality, the philosophers who created the “Great Commentary” generally called by the compound “heaven and earth (tiandi).” As for the process of reality’s change, they used the term Dao (道). While there are many uses of the term dao in classical Chinese, Western English-language translators have most often used “way,” or “the Way.” This text frequently employs the term Dao as a nominative and portrays it as operating according to patterns (tian wen) or Principle(s) li (理).

The Chinese thinkers who created the ontology of the “Great Commentary” observed both change and continuity in reality. They thought of reality as composed of one sort of fundamental substance that was a kind of pure energy they called qi (氣). Here is how the “Great Commentary” uses these fundamental ontological concepts in relation to each other:

The Yi [i.e., the Classic of Changes] being aligned with heaven and earth, can wholly set forth the dao of heaven and earth. The Yi looks up to observe the patterns of heaven (tianwen 天文), and looks down to examine the principle(s) (li 理) of earth. Thus,

it knows the causes of darkness and light, origin and ends;

it comprehends the meaning of birth and death,

it perceives how seminal qi forms into things.

Now yin 陰, now yang 陽 move and this is dao

(“Great Commentary,” Part I, 4, 5).

In these passages, the author makes use of a robust philosophical vocabulary. Reality (heaven and earth) is qi (氣) substance in constant process, but its changes are not arbitrary, chaotic or haphazard. The term used to capture this order is Dao, which is used for the “way” or “path” that the changing processes of reality follow. This path reveals Principles (li 理) that are evident to one who reflects on the Dao. The dao of qi gives rise of itself to forces that move it: it is self-moving, according to its internal dynamics of yin and yang.

The “Great Commentary” not only makes the philosophical claim that all reality is in process but also that there are patterns to its changes. By tradition, a thinker of antiquity named Fu Xi originally developed a system of eight symbols called trigrams to express these patterns. These trigrams had three lines or rows. An unbroken line was used to indicate the yang forces operative in change and a broken line represented yin forces. According to one interpretation, the first two lines represent yin and yang and the third represents the relation of the previous two lines standing for reality’s creative advance. Taken in this way, there are eight possible figures. Thus, in Chinese, this set of eight is called the Eight Trigrams (bagua).

In a commentary appended to the Classic of Changes entitled “Discussion of the Trigrams” (shuogua), the trigrams are also used as explanatory devices for the emergence of families, seasons, directions, colors and various anim...

Table of contents

• Author Biography
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• Chapter I Ontology: Questions about the Nature of Reality
• Chapter II Epistemology: Questions about the Nature and Scope of Knowledge
• Chapter III Value Theory: Questions about the Nature and Application of Morality
• Chapter IV Political Philosophy: Questions about the Nature and Purpose of Government
• Guide to Philosophers and Significant Works
• Quick Guide to Pronunciation
• Comparative Chronology of Philosophers
• Notes
• References