requestId:684c3e520308c2.07610972.
Zhu Xi’s ethical thinking dimension of “emotion”
Author: Chen Yongbao (Doctor of Philosophy, God’s Teachings, and Assistant Professor of Science and Technology, School of Science and Technology)
Source: “Philosophy and Civilization” Volume 48, Issue 7 (2021)
Content Summary: In the development of Zhu Xi’s “emotion” thinking, he inherited Zhang Wenqu’s “heart-solid personality” thinking, and evolved into a ethical form composed of mind, nature, and emotion. Zhu Xi’s “emotion” thinking structure constructs a unique “humanization”, “humanity” “adult”, and “saints” “what man is human”. His “emotion” thoughts are uniquely influenced in his ethical thoughts, and they cannot be regarded as the “emotional use” of the “nature body” or the “emotional distinction” of the “emotional distinction” of the “emotional oneness”. Zhu Xi’s thoughts through the convexity of “emotion” thinking, achieve the combination of man and the way of heaven, and complete the construction of the ethical thinking of “harmony between man and nature”. Therefore, the emphasis on Zhu Xi’s “emotion” thinking, the exploration of the relationship between emotions and sex, and the connection between discussions on “emotion” and “respect” and “beauty” will help us understand that Zhu Xi’s ethical thinking breaks through the existing research paradigm and doubles the essence of Zhu Xi’s ethical thinking.
Keywords: Zhu Xi, love, respect, beauty
1. Media
In the many perspectives of studying Zhu Xi, Zhu Xi’s “love” concept has gradually attracted the attention of students such as Li Zehou and Le Aiguo. Zhu Xi’s “emotion” concept can be traced to the “Doctor of the Mean” “Happiness, anger, sorrow, and joy are not yet developed, and they are all the middle, and they are the harmony of the sects.” [1] and Mencius’s “four ends” minds are like “a heart that is obsessed is the end of benevolence; a heart that is ashamed is the end of meaning; a heart that is reciprocating is the end of gift; a heart that is long and short is the end of wisdom. A person has four ends, and he has four bodies.” [2] Judging from Zhu Xi’s theoretical content, his “emotion” and “sex” are two indispensable aspects in theoretical thinking. In addition, sexual and emotional relationships will also become an unavoidable aspect to discuss Zhu Xi’s “emotion” conception. Zhu Xi said, “Nature cannot be spoken. Therefore, those who say that nature is good can only look at the goodness of their lies and obscene aspects. You can see the goodness of their nature. Just like seeing the clear water flow, you will know that the source will be clear.” [3]
After sorting out Zhu Xi’s collection of works, linguistics and other related materials, we found that “sexuality and affection” is the first perspective to understand Zhu Xi’s “characteristic theory.” At the same time, we also discovered that Zhu Xi’s “emotion” conception became clearer and clearer from the “Doctus of the Mean” and the traces of Mencius’s thoughts. Zhu Xi said, “The four ends are emotions, and nature is reason. Develop means emotions, and their roots are nature, just like seeing the shadow and knowing the form.” [4] But “The Doctrine of the Mean” and MenciusThought is not the unique source of Zhu Xi’s “emotional” thinking. When discussing Zhu Xi’s “emotion” thinking, Mo Mu once pointed out that “Li Ao’s argument for love is almost an old age. Cheng Zi’s “nature of the emotions” said that although it is not entirely said that the feelings are not good, it is easy for people to think that the character is two and not one, so Zhu Zi did not rebel against the words of “heart-solid character”.” [5] It can be seen that the “emotion” thinking of learners such as Li Ao in the late Tang Dynasty, the two Chengs and the Northern Song Dynasty, and the “emotion” thinking of Zhu Xi’s “emotion” concepts have a certain impact on Zhu Xi’s “emotion” concepts. Among them, Zhang Renqu’s thinking of “mind character” is more convex. Zhu Xi said, “Nature, emotion, and heart are only good at Mencius.” [6] Therefore, “heart-solid personality” is the second perspective of our understanding of Zhu Xi’s “characteristic theory”.
So, in the theoretical framework of understanding Zhu Xi’s mental and moral thinking, mind, nature and emotion became the three basic elements of Zhu Xi’s moral thinking. It is necessary to point out that although the “heart” in Zhu Xi’s theory has the direction of Mencius’s four-terminal heart (the direction of goodness), there is also the direction of human desire (the direction of evil). Regarding the latter, Chen Lai pointed out that the
The sexual-emotional relationship, from the perspective of sexuality, focuses on the nature of human beings or the attributes of nature, and from the perspective of emotionality, is to integrate ethics and mind into one step. Confucian philosophy not only describes the moral principles of society into human nature, but also erects the explanation of this nature on the basis of “this broad and daily mental foundation and principles”. The main position of emotion in Zhu Xi’s philosophical studies makes the theory of nature stronger by the evidence of emotional thoughts in daily use, and on the other hand, it also makes the thought of curbing lust unable to be extinguished. [7]
So, when understanding Zhu Xi’s “emotion” concept, we also need to pay attention to the perspective of “desire”, which can become a supplement to the second perspective of Zhu Xi’s “characteristics” concept, and also help us fully understand the purpose and theoretical details of Zhu Xi’s ethical thinking. Chen La’s statement here reminds Zhu Xi of the two dimensions of the relationship between sentimental, emotion and desire. That is, the “restrained desire” shown by Zhu Xi’s ethical thinking is actually the “what will do next?” of “sex” in the dimension of “emotion” and the suppression of “human desire”. “Emotion” acts as a “bridge” between “keeping nature” and “desire”. Therefore, Zhu Xi’s “love” thinking became the key to constructing the form of ethical thinking that “what people are human beings”. He himself intends to build a “humanized” or “humane” meritorious framework of “adult” and “sainthood”. His “emotion” thinking in general is just the “emotional use” of the “sexual body” or the “emotional difference” of the “one nature”, which is actually Zhu Xi’s ethical thinkingThe “emotion” level is carried out through the “emotional use” method, achieving the same state as “nature”, and then achieving the combination of man and the way of heaven, and completing the ethical thinking and conception of “harmony between man and nature” of man as man. [8] This is not the perspective of “sexual attachment” as I have learned in the past.
The two perspectives are compared, and they simply understand Zhu Xi’s “emotion” concept from the perspective of “nature is the main and emotional attachment”. Although it is suitable for Zhu Xi’s basic settings for sex and emotions, from the overall perspective of Zhu Xi’s theoretical system, this plan will be aware of our sufficient understanding of Zhu Xi’s ethical thinking. At the same time, from this perspective, Zhu Xi’s various contradictions in the system of ethical thinking cannot obtain useful solutions. In comparison, the perspective of “mind character” can become a key to our comprehensive understanding of Zhu Xi’s “emotion” thinking, and it is also a focus of our understanding of Zhu Xi’s ethical thinking. From this perspective, Zhu Xi’s “emotion” conception goes further in the level of his ethical thinking, and even achieves the sameness of sexuality and emotion in the dimension of “mind”.
Zheng, Baobao.comThe positional lunarity of “love”
Le Love in the article “Zhu Xi’s discussion on character, love and humanity” pointed out:
In Zhu Xi, although the heart, nature and emotion are different, they are not separated. “The mind is a unified personality” and a unified personality, and at the same time they are the masters of the solid personality. Therefore, “the master of the desires of the concrete people” is not “the “reason” and “nature” that exceeds the “reason” but the heart that is both rational and character. At the same time, sex and emotion are also inseparable. [9]
He continued: “Zhu Xi also specifically talked abo
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