王船山的宇宙觀

In terms of ontology, Ch'uan-shan can be considered neither a materialist nor an idealist. While claiming that the ultimate being the of cosmos is the two-in-one unity of Yin-Yang (陰陽), he frequently, suggests in his philosophical works that ever since the cosmos came into existence, this a priori substance always works with Ch'i (氣) of Yin-Yang, the micro-elementary material essence of the cosmos, and thus makes itself evident to the mind. The other outstanding feature of Ch'uan-shan's cosmology is his vehement refutation of theories of cosmic genesis propounded by Taoists and Buddhists and his persistent refusal to discuss them by arguing that Tao (道) has no roots and has only but its substance, its dynamics and motions. He also asserts that all beings known to us are derived from, dependent upon and in line with the dynamic oneness of Yin-Yang, which is, sometimes, called Tao, T'ai-chi (太極) or T'ai-ho (太和). While ＂implying, comprising, penetrating and inherent in everything,＂ Tao is not ＂in opposition to anything.＂ Driven by its own a priori dynamism, Tao constantly and continuously moves, creates, produces and changes all kind of things from invisible to visible, and vice versa, in accordance with relevant principles and rules of various levels derived from the Li (理) of Absolute Truth. Therefore, Tao is endless and boundless. However, Ch'uan-shan emphasizes that all changes and creations are made through and in line with movements of Ch'i, and that without Ch'i and movements Li can do nothing. As a matter of fact, all his relevant arguments assume that Li and Ch'i are inseparable and never apart. To him Li exists in Ch'i and Ch'i carries Li. It is his stress on this crucial point that marks Ch'uan-shan from Chu Hsi's Neo-Confucianism and sometimes causes him to be identified mistakenly as a materialist philosopher in the modern sense. Ch'uan-shan, on many occasions, speaks of Tien (天) instead of Tao. By his operational definitions, Tien has these senses: 1) the Tien of Tien, (天之天) i.e., the nature or Tao itself; 2) the Tien of Wu (物之天), i.e., the Tien seen and experienced by all things except man; 3) the Tien of len (人之天), i.e., the Tien known to and interpreted by human beings who are necessarily ethical beings. Accordingly, he points out over and over again that man should not confuse the Tien known to him with the Tien itself; and that man must not consider Jen-chü (人據), the intellectual schemes created for a better understanding of nature and history, as eternal truth, and must not take Jen-li (人理), the patterns, regularities and general laws so far discovered by man in nature and history, as Tien-li (天理), or the Absolute Truth. The worst thing man can do is to be so conceited with his Jen-chü and Jen-li as to use them to limit the unlimited scope of Tien-li, and thus preventing himself from further intellectual progress.

並列關鍵字

無資料

國際替代計量

王船山的宇宙觀

全文下載

主題瀏覽