chinese philosophy and chinese civilization

MIKHAIL L. TITARENKO

CHINESE PHILOSOPHY AND CHINESE CIVILIZATION*

The ever growing interest in Oriental civilizations and their role in the mankind’s spiritual development has become a distinctive

feature of the world humanitarian science. This interest is connected with the contemporary political science’s general trend to study the civilization factor in the evolution of nations and international relations. Animated discussions center around such problems as vitality of civilizations, correlation between the various types of local civilizations of the East and West, and the possibility to harmonize their communication. As history ever more convincingly has proven the tremendous importance of the spiritual (i.e. non-material) factor in the contemporary evolution of mankind, the ever more close attention has been drawn to the theme of Chinese civilization and its role in the world civilization process. The reason is that exactly the spiritual factor has been the major, system- forming element in the structure of Chinese civilization for the whole period of its development. Finally, according to Ren Jiyu? the interest in Oriental and, in particular, Chinese civilization quite naturally focused on the Chinese classical philosophy, being “the mirror of the Chinese civilization.”

Chinese philosophy and Chinese civilization are tightly linked into an organic whole. As a part of the spiritual culture of any nation, philosophy is a component of the whole spiritual activity undertaken by a given human community. In most countries and regions philosophy serves as an ideological, theoretical, or methodological basis of spiritual civilization. In China, from the very start of class division of the society and appearance of civilization as a comprehensive spiritual experience of the

Journal of Chinese Philosophy 23 (19%) 21-30 Copyright @ 1996 by Dialogue Publishing Company, Hondulu, Hawaii, U S A .

* Translated from Russian by Tamara Karganova.

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society, philosophy has been the key norm-setting component of all material and non-material activities of the human individual and his relations with the state, various social structures, and family.’ Moreover, philosophy in China has become a highest criteria of the whole system of social, spiritual and moral values; also, i t has determined the human individual’s relationship with nature (Heaven and Earth), state and state rulers, as well as the in-society relations o f people representing various social strata and family clans. Hence the absolute priority of ethical and political problems of the problems of ontology and gnoseology.2

Other special features of Chinese philosophy can be identified as the antropologization o f the surrounding world and the ruralization of human behavior. These result in the typically Chinese interpretation of the unity between Heaven and humans and the triple unity of Heaven-Earth-Human. The order of relations between the human individual and Heaven is solved through ethical norms, the criteria o f consistency between the given individual and his place in the social structure, as well as the social role assigned t o him by the social or natural division of labor and other functions. It appears that exactly this context should be the key to under- standing the famous sentence by Confucius on the strictlydefined social determination of the people: “ T h e ruler must be a ruler; the dignitary, a dignitary; and the son , a 5011.”~ Adding various codes of behavior to this sentence, various schools seek to provide exactly this type of unity between individuals, society and Heaven. Here Heaven serves as the supreme measure, supreme moral example, and the supreme judge that determines the consistency between individuals and their positions in the hierarchy of social relations.

Even the Shijing,b a most ancient monument of Chinese national culture, contains an integral system of views about Heaven. That approach predetermined the views of all Chinese schools of wisdom, beginning from the idea of humanity ( red) , which specifies the consistency between the individual and the criteria of Heaven and justice. Suffice it t o recall how Confui ius jesponded to the questions about the essence of humanism, “mutuality.” “Don’t d o to the others what you don’t want t o be done to

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CHINESE PHILOSOPHY AND CHINESE CIYILIZATlON 23

yourself.’4 Taoists expressed the Same idea, but their interpretations were different: The Taoist principle of naturality, being broader and more abstract, essentially seeks the same objective of providing consistency between individuals and their positions in the macrocosmos.

Similar ideas about the determining and orienting role of Heaven as the supreme model of justice, universal love and benefit for everybody were developed by Mo Die His ten principles were assigned to make possible one’s consistency with the Will of the Heaven (tian zhi ), ultimate- ly prescribed in the principle of ‘’universal love and mutual benefit.”’

The Legalists expressed the Same demands and norms in the more strict form of a law that was compulsory for everyone. When it was followed, it was supposed to provide for the strength and prosperity of the state and strengthen the power of .the emperor.6 Such an approach pro- ceeded from the same demand for consistency, but the Legalists identified consistency as determined by evil human nature which had to be repressed, contained, and eradicated by the society, the state and the ruler who embodied the supreme will of the state.’ The variety of approaches to the definition of human nature quite logically produced a variety of philosophical and political ideas, therefore giving another evidence of the omnipresent and universal role of philosophy in the development of Chinese civilization.

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Wise men of ancient Greece claimed that philosophy was the science of sciences. In medieval Europe and the Middle East, philosophy served theology. What makes Chinese philosophy so special is that for almost five millennia of Chinese civilization, Chinese philosophy has been motivating the entire Chinese society and nation to admire and follow philosophy as the supreme wisdom - the wisdom that has been setting the norms of

justice, correctness and consistency between the system of values and the individual (irrespective of the latter’s position in the social hierarchy). The total and universal demands of such wisdom are compulsory and can be judged orily by Heaven, while any inconsistency with these demands must be somehow eliminated and consistency restored. This has been manifest in the consistent rationalism and revolutionary resoluteness of

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Chinese philosophy: if the emperor’s actions are inconsistent with the Will of Heaven, the emperor must be removed so that the destiny of the country (mi&) can be changed cgeh). Hence, the Chinese analogue of the European notion of “revolution” (ge mind).

So, the first and major difference between philosophies of other civilizations and the Chinese philosophical culture is seen in the political, social and moral engagement of the latter. Serving the ruling policy and seeking t o provide ideological support for the edification of state power and selfconsolidation of the state, Chinese philosophy has generally been tightly interconnected with policy. In this manner, the Chinese state has acquired its own idiocratic character which has been sustained for millennia even up t o the present day.

This fact, in turn, has predetermined other special features of Chinese philosophy, that is, its adherence t o canons and norm-setting compositions that have been representing the contents of Chinese wisdom up to the early 20th century. It the teaching on canons Ging xud) that has constituted the cultural core of Chinese civilization.

This principal feature of Chinese philosophy has preconditioned another of its special properties, i.e., the dichotomic structure, or its

vertical and horizontal construction. Vettically, Chinese philosophy represents the complex of the supreme norms of wisdom as well as political and spiritual morality. This vertical dimension sets up the strict order and hierarchy of values and virtues where Heaven is the supreme model, To follow Heaven and to be in unity with Heaven is the real way of moral existence in an individual’s life. The horizontal structure of Chinese philosophy, embodied in all spheres of material and nonmater ia l life of Chinese society, is expressed in the remarkable notion of Diversity in Unity. How- ever, this diversity is based on a methodological and rational unity, i.e., on the need for consistency with the Will of Heaven, appropriate rituals, naturality, mind, and tradition.

The major elements of Chinese philosophy cited above are preconditioned mainly by the very character of Chinese civilization. As a while it has been a mainland and agricultural type of civilization where philo-

CHINESE PHILOSOPHY AND CHINESE CIVILIZATION 25

sophy, as well as other spheres of nonmaterial activities, was put to serve the landcultivating culture in a comparatively closed continental space.’ Therefore, Chinese philosophy has spiritually reflected the agrarian policy and the emperor’s power, which have left strong marks on the structure as well as the very contents of Chinese philosophy and predetermined many of its most important features that reveal its direct connection with econo- mic forms of life in China. An ample case in point is seen in the notions of time and space, which were quite closed and related only to the agrarian life style. Unlike philosophical efforts in ancient Greece and Rome, no independent study of the categories of time and space has ever been developed in China.’ In Chinese philosophy, these categories are tied up with the lunar calendar into the single whole including the four seasons and four cardinal points, centered around the agrarian individual. Philosophi- cally, this was represented in the teaching on the unity between Heaven and the individual. Therefore, there are many reasons to argue that Chinese philosophy touches on the view of the world of the agrarian individual, and major problems of ontology and gnoseology are solved in Chinese philosophy through the prism of the agrarian individual’s interests and behavior. In particular, this was manifested in the concept of the interconnection and interaction of time and space with the “five primary elements” (wu xingk), the light and dark elements, and the teaching on ether (qi ) Another noteworthy point is that Han dynasty Confucianism (2nd century BC to AD 2nd century) asserted the calendar approach as the criteria to govern the country and determine policy, culture and thinking.

The concrete character of time and space in human dimensions has predetermined the specific pattern of natural sciences in ancient China, and produced an original method of natural studies. The essence of these studies can be drawn up in the following five attitudes:

Concentration of attention on the integral, universal and comprehensive, rather than on individual factors

2. Concentration of attention on the condition, process and evolution of time and qi as well as movement of objects, rather than on

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static objects; 3 . Attention to the potentials (potential usefulness) and properties

rather than specific structure and composition of an object. Things were viewed as being caught up in the continuous evolution from one condition into the other, hardly suggesting the stability of things,

Attention to the usefulness of a thing as a whole and its ability to reciprocate as a whole, rather than focusing on the individual properties of a thing; hence, the emphasis on the importance of additional information and the possibility of using a thing in the conditions of equilibrium and tranquility;

Lack of attention on various models, forms and vectors of the motion of things through numerical measurement, calculations, induction of knowledge and information. Attention to the trends of movement and the development of things, mainly by analogy.

Another typical feature of Chinese philosophy is its recognition of the existence of the surrounding world, symbolically and comprehensive- ly named as Heaven, Earth, and the whole mass of things (wan wum) All of these exist by following a certain way (faon) and are consistent with a certain order (deo; lip). So, such notions of European philosophy as ”being” and “non-being” have acquired in Chinese philosophy the different nuances of “existence“ (youq) and “lack of existence” (wuf). Therefore, it is not incidental that the question of whether the outside world exists and whether it is the source of human knowledge usually has not been a subject of discussion or philosophical speculations in Chinese culture.” There the subject of speculation has been different. How are we to interpret the ways of this world’s development? What are the dialectics of the world s existence and nonexistence? Are those categories eternal?

The initial norm-setting character of Chinese wisdom has preconditioned another special feature. In China the dialectics of the appearance and development of a thing, its transitions into other things, and their

death have acquired a symbolically numerological expression. These are presented in the form of the problem of correlating many numbers that

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were formalized first in the form of trigrams, and then into the hexagrams of the Book of Changes (Yijing)'."

The notion of circulation in the surroundin world, too, has acquired a special character in China. In the perception of Chinese wise men every- thing in the world is interconnected, interdependent and co-subordinated. The five primary elements and the two opposites of yin' and p n g U give birth to one another and overcome one another, while selfdevelopment of the material, substantial and spiritual element of qi is evident. As Heaven represents the supreme comprehensive unity of the world, the Great Limit (Tuiji') represents the supreme limit of development. Once that limit is reached, a new cycle of development of the entire world of things starts again.

The organic link between Chinese philosophy and the entire Chinese civilization was amply manifested in the special ways and culture of thinking that, in at least some sense, have been preconditioned by the character script. Chinese characters introduce the component of additional sign information and identify the essential association of the given notion or term. In European languages the word is a formal sign of some essence that is identified only by a set tradition of the silent public agree- ment within some social, ethic or cultural community, whde in the Chinese language, apart from such conditional traditionalism, every simple or complex term/sign bears some certain image information that deci- phers this sign. Characters, initially depicting and symbolizing some objects or relations, as well as the modern word-notions including the translated or aboriginal abstract categories, decipher to an equal extent the meaning of any notion at the imagecharacter level."

The Chinese script and the 'Chinese mode of thinking ' are closely connected with a certain methodology of a specifically Chinese analysis of things and phenomena which is quite different form the European analysis. Lu XunW and Mao Zedong' qualified this mode of thinking as the "Chinese drugstore method." The specifics of this Chinese mentality have predetermined as well the principle approach of Chinese culture to foreign culture. The latter can be perceived by Chinese people and incor-

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porated into their mass consciousness only after the given phenomenon of foreign culture has passed through a stage of “transformation” in the entrails of the Chinese wisdom, i.e., when it shall have been “sinified. ’

Due consideration of these specifics in the Chinese mode of thinking and its expression through character script is absolutely necessary addressing the so-called “modernization” of Chinese culture in general and of Chinese philosophy in particular. This problem is currently the focus of active discussion within and outside China,” and many various and sometimes diametrically opposite views are heard in the disputes. The question is most often posed in the following way: can Chinese philosophy be “self-modernized,” or does it need some principal “injections” on the part of Western philosophical culture?

It appears that the problem should be solved through preservation of the whole treasury of traditional Chinese philosophy, as well as through the enrichment of the latter by the achievements of contemporary philosophical reflection in the West. No mechanical “combinations” of Western and Oriental cultures would produce any positive results. In order to understand all complexities and diversities of mutual rapprochement and communication between the Chinese and Western cultures, it will suffice to recall the specific categories within Chinese philosophy - the set of categories that sometimes does not have direct analogues within European and American cultures.

Finally, let me express the hope that the joint efforts of Chinese philosophers and sinologists of other countries will provide a new impulse for Chinese philosophy to develop as an inalienable part of the single and diversified world philosophy - no doubt for the benefit of both Chinese and Western cultures.

INSTITUTE OF FAR EASTERN STUDIES RUSSIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES


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NOTES

Zhang Dianiany. Zhongguo wenhua yu Zhongguo zhexu8 (Chinese Culture and Chinese Philosophy ) Beijing, 1986, pp. 1 -1 1. Titarenko, M.L. Afterword to the Istoriya kitaiskoifilosofii. [Hisroly of Chinese Philosophy]. Moscow, 1989, pp. 526-530, Titarenko M.L., Bourov. V.G. Filosofiya drevnego Kitaya. Vstoup- leniye k antologii “Drevnyaya kitaiskaya fdosofiya”. [Philosophy of Ancient China, Preface to Ancient Chinese Philosophy].

Lun Yun. Zhuzi quan jiab. Beijing, 1956, Vol. 1, Chapter 12, ‘Tan ~uan’’ ;~ 1 I . Op. cit ., ‘Wei Lingong”pd 23. Titarenko, M.L. Dreunekitaiskiifilosof Mo Di, yego shkoh i ucheni- ye. [Ancient Chinese Philosopher Mo Di, His School and Teaching] . Moscow, 1985. Perelomov, L.S Confutsiansrvo i legism v politicheskoi istorii Kitaya. [Conficianism and Legalism in China’s Political Hisro~y] . Moscow, 1981. Feoktistov, V.F. Filosofskiye i obshchesrvennopoliticheskiye vzglyady Sun-zi. [Philosophical and Socio-Political vies of Sun zi] , Moscow, 1976. Metodologicheskiye problemy izucheniya istorii filosofii zarubezh - nogo Vostoka [Methodology Problems in the Study of the History of the Forem Oriental Philosophy]. Moscow, 1987, pp. 68-70: Loukyanov, VE. Duo “Knigi peremen”. [Tao o f the Book of Changes]. Moscow, 1993. For reference, see Endnote 8. Loukyanov, A.E , Op. cit. Malyavin,V.V.Zhuangci. Moscow, 1988, p. 823. Cheng Zhungyingae, ‘How the Chinese Philosophy Is To Recon- structed.” in Chinese Culture and Chinese Philosophy. Beijing,

MOSCOW, 1972, Vol. 1, pp. 5-77.

1986, pp. 549-550.

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CHINESE GLOSSARY

chinese philosophy and chinese civilization

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