《易經》創化概念與懷德海歷程思想

孔子以「十翼」贊《易》，而其中〈繫辭傳〉曾明白昭示：「是故形而上者謂之道，形而下者謂之器」，《易》所關切者，乃形而上之道是也。根據這項哲學信念，當代中國哲學家中，方東美與程石泉二先生均以《易》為中國形上學的源頭，其基本原理在於「創化生生」(creativity and unceasing generations)。他們並且認為西方哲學家中懷德海(A. N. Whitehead)的機體哲學與古易智慧最為接近。而懷德海，一位當代歷程哲學家，也曾在他的《歷程與真際》(Process and Reality)一書中提到：不同於一元論者以「絕對」(The Absolute)或者「神」是終極的，他的機體哲學乃以「創化」是終極的(ultimate)；就這點而言，他所採取的立場似乎更接近某些印度或者中國的思想，而不接近西亞或歐洲的思想。本文將根據方程二先生這項洞見，促進中西歷程思想在「創化」議題上的文化交流與對話。文中將說明懷德海的創化思想與當代西方歷程哲學對於吾人瞭解《易經》可作的貢獻，以及《易經》本於中國人本主義發展出創化宇宙觀與天地人三才之道說，不受有神論與唯物論的思想限制，對於西方歷程哲學家應有的啟示。

關鍵字

易經；創化；歷程；形上學

並列摘要

”Ten Wings” attributed to Confucius are the philosophical expositions of the Book of Changes or I Ching. Among them, ”Hsitz'u Ch'uan” (The Conspectus) has once pronounced that ”What is metaphysical, supersensible, is Principle or Tao; whereas what is concrete, sensible, is Material, Artifact, or Ch'i.” Evidently what the authors of the Book of Changes concerned is the metaphysical principle-Tao. Contemporary Chinese philosophers Thome Fang (189-1977) and Shih-chuan Chen(1909-2005) following this archaic dictum are convinced that the Book of Changes is the metaphysical fountain of Chinese philosophy and its fundamental notion is ”creativity with unceasing generations.” They consider A. N. Whitehead, one of the modern process philosophers, the most appealing to Chinese mind since he has made the concept of ”creativity” the major theme of his philosophy. As Whitehead says in his Process and Reality that ”In the philosophy of organism this ultimate is termed 'Creativity'……In this general position the philosophy of organism seems to approximate more to some strains of Indian, or Chinese thought, than to western Asiatic, or European, thought.” Following Fang and Chen, the present paper is an attempt to promote the cross-cultural dialogue between the Eastern and Western process thought on the issue of creativity. We believe this can be done by showing that Whitehead's concept of creativity and modern Western process thought, especially Whitehead, are in great help for our understanding the Book of Changes. On the other hand, the philosophy of creativity in the Book of Changes will also help Western process philosophers to see how the view of a creative universe and its organic relation with humankind can be developed from comprehensive synthesis of human experience, untrammeled either by theistic or by materialistic frame of thought.

並列關鍵字

Creativity ； Process ； Yijing ； Metaphysics

參考文獻

C. G. Jung,,Richard Wilhelm,English trans.,Cary F. Baynes(1955)."Foreward," in The I Cling or Book of Changes, German trans.New York:Bollingen Foundation Inc.