The Metaphysics of Chu-Hsi
上海交通大學哲學系杜保瑞
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Title: A new interpretation of the Neo-Confucian Metaphysics The Metaphysics of Chu-Hsi─the Meaning of Its Creation and Its Contribution
Duhbauruei National Taiwan University
Abstract:
The concept of metaphysics is a basic philosophical problem whose background can at least be traced to Greek philosopher’s theory suggested by Plato and Aristotle. In Aristotle’s definition, metaphysics means the theory discussed after the knowledge of Physics. In the western tradition, the problems of metaphysics include the theory of substance, the relationship between principle and phenomena, the theory of truth, the theory of the reality, and so on. In the 20th century, as eastern philosophy joins the western society of philosophy, the problem of metaphysics has its new content. In the study of traditional Chinese philosophy, Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism are the three main schools, and all of them have shed some light on the metaphysical problem more or less.
Neo-Confucianism has now been well-known by the western society, for its influence on Chinese culture is immense. Among its proponents, Master Chu-Hsi is the most influential among them, the reason of which can be attributed to his fully speculative viewpoints and his comprehensive senses of philosophy problems. In Chu-Hsi’s theory, metaphysics is his most creative contribution to Confucianism. However, it is susceptible to being miss-understood by his contemporaries and today’s scholars, for his basic concerns about the metaphysics are so much different from the other Confucians. While the theory of the reality and the value are concerned by all the Confucian philosophers and they had provided many different yet profoundly metaphysical systems, Master Chu-Hsi notices the problems of the definitions of all the concepts concerning the reality and the ultimate value and develops a new metaphysical system discussing the problems of the reality of the whole Being in the universal, the moral potential difference between people and the animal, and the existential difference between humans and the Ghost. .
In this article the author is going to introduce Master Chu-Hsi’s metaphysical constructions and creations. The discussion will be proceeded as follows: (1) the original questions of Chu-Hsi’s metaphysical thinking, (2) the theory of the whole Being of the Universal, (3) the theory of human nature and the explanation of why the moral ability is different in the human beings, (4) the practical theory, and (5) the evaluation and the contribution of Chu-Hsi’s metaphysics in the history of the development of Confucianism.
Keywords:
Chu-Hsi; metaphysics; human nature; ghost; methodology; practical theory
Section (1): the basic concerns of Chu-Hsi metaphysical thinking
The traditional theoretical problems of Confucianism include arguing with the reality of the Universe, the goodness of human nature, and asking people to behave them morally. Among them, the first one belongs to the problem of metaphysics; the second is about the theory of human nature; and the last one is the theory of practice. Moreover, during the Han dynasty, some Confucian works were written for the purpose of fighting against challenges from Daoism, like the Ten Appendices of the Book of Changes（易經的十傳） and the Doctrine of the Mean（中庸）. As for the Song and Ming dynasty, the Neo-Confucians at that time had to deal with challenges coming from Buddhism. The main theoretical conflict among these three schools is basically the problem of metaphysics, for the cosmological knowledge and the ontological ideas are what divide the three schools into different systems. And the theory of human nature and practice in each of these three schools are actually based on their metaphysical systems.
The image of Master Chu-Hsi in the Chinese philosophical history is that he constructed a great system resolving all the problems unsolved at that time and reorganized most of the useful theories from his predecessors into his giant system. What he has reorganized is just a kind of creation, and what he creates is mainly the metaphysical theory along with the theory of human nature. The reason that his theory had been criticized by some later philosophers is that the latter’s philosophical concern is the problem of practice instead of metaphysics, and all of them, including Master Chu-Hsi himself, seem unable to make the distinction clearly.
In this article, I will leave behind the conflict between Chu-Hsi and his contemporaries and later philosophers and focus on his creative metaphysical theory. The basic concerns of Chu-Hsi metaphysical thinking include how to explain why everyone should seek for a perfect personality and why people are always not as perfect as they expect. The key point is based on the theory of the ontological structure of all the existential creatures. This is what I am going to discuss in the section 2.
Section (2): theory of being
The discussion of theory of being is about the existential structure of everything in the world, including human beings, plants, animals, and mineral. Chu-Hsi thinks that Li(理) and Chi(氣) are the principle and the matter of any creature in the world. The structure of Li offers the creature the way it is, whereas Chi gives the creature its existence. Therefore, Li is the principle for beings to form its ideal style while Chi makes beings real in the world. In this existential structure, every thing exists with both its Li and Chi; this means everything has gotten its matter from Chi and its principle from Li.
What states above is Master Chu-Hsi metaphysics about the theory of being, in which the theoretical construction of Cosmology and Ontology is included. In Cosmology, it tells how the Chi of Yin(陰) and Yang(陽) work together by different ways of combination to form all the different things. In Ontology, it brings all the creatures the purpose to exist and the way to be and, if it is talking about human creatures, the ideal to run for.
The aim of the construction of this metaphysical theory, like all the other metaphysical theory created by the Confucians, is for the discussion of the moral behavior. To built the theory of the existential structure is to explain why human beings could run for a perfect personality and also occasionally do something wrong. This kind of discussion is also the same to the discussion of the theory of human nature. The reason why people could do something right by his nature and even do everything correctly is because he is born with Li. Li is intrinsic to his mind and makes him knows what is right and what is wrong by nature. One only depends on his free will to behave right or wrong. The reason why people will occasionally make mistakes is because of the Chi which is also born with everybody and will restrict people’s intelligence.
Section(3): the theory of human nature
The theory of being tells that all the creatures are born with Li and Chi, both of which form the nature of human beings and the other creatures such as animals. Therefore, the human being is inherent in Li and constructed by Chi. Moreover, Li is a universal principle and a pure will of goodness, giving all human beings the potential to behave morally, which, according to this theory, is the purpose of life. Master Chu-Hsi gives this Li a name for the role it plays in the human nature as “the nature of the heaven (天命之性).” If Li was the only causation of human nature, then everyone is born to be a good person, and after some training, one could even reach the stage of Sage easily. However, it is not so. This is because Chi is still the other causation of human nature which plays an equally important role. Chi is by its nature is a kind of matter and is divided into many different sub-categories; whenever a creature exists, it is constructed by many different sub-categories of Chi by randomness. People’s nature, composed by different sub-categories of Chi, will be restricted in terms of moral behavior in different degrees. This gives the explanation why moral ability is different in human beings. Master Chu-Hsi gives the Chi a name of “nature of matter(氣質之性)” for its role to play in the human nature.
Now, the nature of heaven, (here the concept of heaven represents the universal principle of morality immanent to all creatures,) promises the capacity of being good, but the nature of matter restricts the character. People who behave well or not depend on his nature of matter by different degrees of the composition of the multi-categories of Chi. In this theory, Chu-Hsi should solve two problems. First, under the affection of these two human natures, how could people seek for their moral life, and second, is this theory fatalism?
To answer the first question master Chu-Hsi suggests that the nature of matter is not a positive force to reject the moral will but a restrictive force which could be overcome. Maybe someone who gets the better nature of matter will behave good easily but for those who get the worse nature of matter, they should still cultivate themselves hard since the nature of heaven is still inside their human nature, depends on whether if they want to take it or not. For the second problem, Master Chu-Hsi admits that there is fate for human beings. But the different Chi which people acquire is not endowed by any divine creatures on purpose, it is only by chance and people should just accept it.
Section :( 4) the practical theory of Chu-Hsi____through the approach of the interpretation of the classics
The discussion of this article is necessarily to focus on the issue of the practical theory of the Neo-Confucian Master Chu-Hsi. The author suggests that the study of the Chu-Hsi practical theory should be separated from the study of his metaphysical theory. Generally speaking, the academic circle always criticize Chu-Hsi practical theory as losing the powerful will to purifying one’s mind. Actually it is not true. There are two different kinds of mistakes here. First, when Chu-Hsi discuss the metaphysical theory, he is of course not at the same time talking about the issue of the practical theory but doing the ontological speculation focusing on the analyzing of the definition of the concept of the beings. Second, when Chu-Hsi discusses the practical theory, he is at the same time doing the classic interpretation, and in the interpretation of the book of The Great Learning there is a special kind of practical theory which is about the process of the practical steps instead of the fundamental meaning of the practical activity. Accordingly, the author will illustrate what the theory of practice is in the interpretations of the classics by Chu-Hsi through the Great Learning; Mencius; the Doctrine of Mean. In his interpretation of the Great Learning, he concerns about the issue of the process of the practical steps. Suggesting which is for offering a common way of self-cultivation to everyone, and make people to reach the position of Sage step by step. In the Mencius, he concerns about the issue of the fundamental meaning of the moral training. Suggesting which is requesting for the loosing heart and is equal to purifying one’s mind. This idea should be based on the presupposition of the good human nature. In the Doctrine of the Mean, he uses both the above concerns to interpret it. Through the above analyzing the misunderstanding of the Chu-Hsi practical theory could be corrected.
Section :( 5) the evaluation and the contribution of Chu-Hsi metaphysics
The characteristic of the metaphysics in the Chinese philosophy is widely argued in the academics. The modern Chinese philosophers understand that the Chinese philosophy is mainly concerning about the human life therefore the Chinese metaphysics should run for this role. In their concerning the Chu-Hsi metaphysics didn’t take enough consideration about the human activity but going to focus on the detail problems such as the definition of the universal concepts and the relationship between those concepts. Their ideal style of Chinese metaphysics is those which tell about the practical theory and claim for the moral behavior of the human creature is the ultimate meaning and the end of the existence of the universe. Therefore the evaluation of the metaphysics of Chu-Hsi is negative. But the scholars who are doing the philosophical comparative between the eastern and the western philosophical systems think that there are lots of the same ideas in Chu-Hsi and the western systems. Their evaluation of Chu-Hsis is therefore positive.
How to face the different opinions? Actually, there are two different kinds of philosophical problems in Chu-Hsi metaphysics and also in all the Chinese philosophical systems. One is the problem of the value the other is the problem of concept. The discussion of the value need to do value judgment and will build an ontology telling the end of the world and by this understanding asking human beings to cultivate themselves and behave themselves following the end. All these discussions happened in the systems of most of the Neo-Confucianism and also in the system of Chu-Hsi. The judgment of what the ultimate value is comes from the intuition of those philosophers and can be criticized as a dogma. In the Confucianism they are the beliefs of the good human nature and the good will of the universe. The discussion of the concepts needs to give a philosophical systems telling about the relationship between the universe and the individuals and telling about the behavior framework of human beings showing how to do good from an ordinary people to a perfect persons. What he needs to do is to give the definitions of the concepts |