TAO, LOGOS AND COMMUNICATIVE RATIONALITY IN EDUCATIONAL PROCESS

楊深坑(Shen-Keng Yang)

《國立臺灣師範大學教育研究所集刊》 31期 (1989/06) Pp. a1-23

https://doi.org/10.6910/BGIENTNU.198906_(31).0017

摘要

Language is one of the most characteristic existential categories of human being. It is the ability to articulate the speech and names that makes man the god-like being (Plato, Protagoras, 322 ab, cf. Xenophon, Memorabilia, BKI, §IV-11). J. G. Herder, W. von Humboldt and W. Dilthey etc. regard the creation and use of language as the most important cultural achievement of human being. (YANG, 1988, pp. 128-131) Rejecting the ＂sign＂ theory of the nature of language, H.-G. Gadamer emphasizes that language discloses human life-world: ＂To have a world is at the same time to have language＂ (H.-G. Gadamer 1960, p. 419). Agreeing evidently with Gadamer on the world-disclosing function of language, O.F. Bollnow maintains further that the need of language for human existence lies in the following facts: language as medium of self-development, language as way to self-realization and language as indication of self-identity (O.F. Bollnow, 1966, p. 195). In short, language plays a very important role not only in one's communicating with others but also in the formation of his personality and worldview. Therefore, in order to carry out a sound educational process, language problems should not be escaped from the attention in doing educational research and formulating educational policy. Since the dawn of civilization men have already tried to find the universal law governing the natural process and human activities. With the finding of Logos the ancient Greeks broke the mythological thinking style and coped with the world in a rational way. Appealing to Tao the ancient Chinese tried to harmonize the human life with the Heaven. However both the Greek Logos and Chinese Tao possess two-ply meaning: the transcendental Law on the one hand and the language on the other. It is very difficult to render the transcendental Law into the spoken language. Thus Lao Tzu makes this point clear at the outset of his Tao Te Ching: ＂The Tao that can be Tao's (spoken) is not the Absolute Tao (ch'ang tao). The name that can be named is not the absolute name (Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chap. I). Similarly Heraclitus states: ＂The Logos (of the universe) is as here explained; but men are always incapable of understanding it, both before they hear it, and when they have heard it for the first time. For though all things come into being in accordance with this Logos, men seem as if they had never met with it, when they meet with words and actions such as I expound, separating each thing according to its nature and explaining how it is made＂ (Diels & Kranz, 22. Herad B1). Furthermore Heraclitus Claims: ＂Though the Logos is universal, the majority live as if they had understanding peculiar to themselves.＂ (op. cit, 22. Herad. B2) The untranslability of the universal Law into the spoken language explains also the difficulty of the communication in the human life-world, for the setting of a common principle to lead man to mutual understanding is not an easy task. The situation of interpersonal communication is getting even worse with the progress of science and technology and the continuous bureaucratization of modern society. Objectification is nowadays essential not only in the scientific research but also in the personal relationship. Rationality is thus cramped to a functionalistic caculating reasoning. The departmentization of social labor and the focus on the effectiveness of the work in modern society are transformed to a kind of ideology which distorts the human communicating process. Therefore it is essential to reconstruct a communicative rationality in order to lead human being to a better mutual understanding. According to K. Mollenhauer, education, as a kind of communicative action, is oriented to reaching understanding. The afore-mentioned barriers of communication present again in the educational process. Serious reflection on the distortion of communication and liquidating the hindrance to mutual understanding seem to be the main task of a modern educationist. It is only through domination-free communication in educational process that students' authentic enlightenment can be realized and their firmly autonomous personality can be formed. Through the comparison with Chinese Tao and Greek Logos this paper attempts to show the difficulty of establishing a universal law human communication. Emphasis will be put especially on the detailed analysis of the possible and educational process and educational research. Such an analysis will contribute not only to improving education itself, but also to promoting the mutual understanding between different cultures. Thus it cuts also a very significant figure in the study of comparative education.