07chinese philosophy and chinese civilization
TRANSCRIPT
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MIKHAIL
L
TITARENKO
CHINESE PHILOSOPHY
AND
CHINESE
CIVILIZATION
The ever growing interest in Oriental civilizations and their role
in
the mankind’s spiritu al development has becom e 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. Anim ated
discussions cente r arou nd 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
man-
kind, the ever more close attention has been drawn to the theme of
Chinese civilization a nd i ts role in the world civilization process. Th e
reason is tha t exactly the spiritual factor has been th e majo r, system-
forming element in the structure of Chinese civilization for the whole
period of its developm ent. 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 cultu re of any n atio n, philo-
sophy is a component of the whole spiritual activity undertaken by a
given human com mun ity. In most coun tries and regions philosophy serves
as an ideological, theoretical, or methodological basis of spiritual civiliza-
tion . In China, from the very star t 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
b y
Dialogue
Publishing Company, Hondulu, Hawaii, U S A .
Translated from Russian by Tamara Karganova.
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CHINESE PHILOSOPHY AND CHINESE CIYILIZATlON
3
yourself.’4 Taoists expressed the Same idea, but their interpr etations
were different: T h e Taoist principle of natu rality, 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 i s ten principles were assigned to make
possible one’s consistency with t he Will of th e 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 th at was com pulso ry for everyone. When it was
followed, it was supposed t o provide fo r the stren gth and prosperity of the
state and strengthen the power of . the emperor.6 Such an approach pro-
ceeded from the same demand
for
cons istenc y, 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 suprem e will of th e 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.
f
Wise men
of
ancie nt Greece claimed that philosophy was the science
of sciences. In medieval Eu rop e and the Middle East, philosophy served
theology. What makes Chinese philosophy so special is tha t 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 hie rarc hy).
The total and universal dem ands of such wisdom are com pulso ry and can
be judged orily by Heaven, while any inconsistency with these demands
must be somehow eliminated and consistency resto red . This has been
manifest
in
the consistent rationalism and revolutionary resoluteness of
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23 M I K H A I L
L.
TITARENKO
Chinese ph ilosophy: if the emperor’s actio ns are inconsistent with the
Will of Heaven, the emperor must be removed
so
that the des t iny
of
the
count ry
(mi )
can be changed cgeh . Hence, the Chinese analogue of
the European notion of “revolution” (ge mind) .
So, the f i rst and major difference between phi losophies of other
civilizations an d t he Chinese philosophical c ulture is seen in the polit ical,
social and moral engagement of th e lat ter . Serving th e ruling policy and
seeking to provide ideological support
for
the edif icat ion of state power
and selfc onso lidati on of th e state, Chinese philoso phy has generally
been tightly interconnected with policy. In th is manner, the Chinese
state has acquired i ts own idiocrat ic character which has been sustained for
millennia even up t o the present da y.
This
fact , in t ur n, has pred eterm ined other special features of
Chinese philosophy, that is, i ts adherence to canons and norm-set t ing
compositions th at have been representing t he con ten ts of Chinese wisdom
u p
to
the ear ly 20 th cen tury . I t the teaching
on
canons Ging
xud
that
has constituted the cultural core of Chinese civilization.
This principal feature of Chinese phi losophy has precondit ioned
another of i ts special propert ies, i .e . , the dichotomic structure,
or
i ts
vertical an d horizontal con struc tion. Vettically, Chinese philosop hy re-
presents the complex of the supreme norms of wis dom as well as political
and spiritual mor ality. This vertical dimension sets up th e 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 l ife. Th e horizont al structure o f Chinese philo-
sophy , embodied in all spheres of material an d n on m at er ia l l ife of Chinese
society, is expre ssed in the remarkable noti on o f Diversity in Unit y. How-
ever, this diversity is based on a methodologic al an d ratio nal un ity, i .e.,
on the need for consistency with the Will of Heaven, appropriate ri tuals,
natural ity , mind, and t radi t ion.
The major elements
of
Chinese philosophy cited above are precon-
ditioned mainly by the very character
of
Chinese civilization. As a while
it has been a mainlan d an d agricultural typ e of civilization where philo-
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CHINESE PHILOSOPHY AND CHINESE CIVILIZATION
25
sop hy, as well as other spheres of no nm ate rial activities, was put to serve
th e landcultivating culture in a comparatively closed con tinen tal space.’
Therefo re, Chinese philosophy has spiritually reflec ted the agrarian policy
and the emperor’s pow er, which have left stron g marks o n the structure as
well as the very co ntents of Chinese philosophy and pred eterm ined m any
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 th e notions
of time and space, which were quite closed and related on ly
to
the agrarian
life style. Unlike philosophical effo rts in a ncie nt Greece and Rom e, no
indepen dent stud y of the categories o f time a nd space has ever been deve-
loped in China.’
In
Chinese philosophy, these categories are tied up with
the lunar calendar
into
the single whole including the four seasons and
fou r cardinal poin ts, cente red arou nd the agrarian individual. Philosophi-
cally, this was represented in th e teaching o n the un ity betw een Heaven
and the individual. Therefore, there are m an y reasons t o argue that
Chinese philosophy touches on the view of the world of the agrarian ind i-
vidual, and major problems of ontology and gnoseology are solved in
Chinese philosophy throu gh the prism o f the agrarian individual’s intere sts
and behavior. In particular, this was manifested in th e concept of the
interconnection and interaction of time and space with the “five primary
elements” w u x ingk) , the light an d dark elements, an d the teaching on
ether
qi
Ano ther no tew orth y point is tha t Han dyn asty Confucianism
(2 nd centu ry 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 produc ed an original method of natu ral stud ies. Th e essence of these
studies can be drawn u p in the following five attit ud es:
Concentration of attention on the integral, universal and com-
prehensive, rather th an o n individual facto rs
2. Concentration of attention o n the condition, process and
evolution of time and qi as well as movement of objects, rather than on
1.
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26
M I K H A I L L TITARENKO
static objects;
3 .
Attention
to
th e potentials (pote ntial usefulness) and properties
rather than specific structure and composition of an o bje ct. Things were
viewed as being caught up in the continu ous evolution from one cond ition
into th e o the r, hardly suggesting the stability of thing s,
Attention to the usefulness of a thing as a whole and its ability
t o reciprocate as a w ho le, rather tha n focusing on the individual properties
of a thing ; hen ce, th e emphasis on the importance of additional informa-
tion 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 me asure me nt, calculations, indu ction
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 w ay ( f a o n ) nd are con sistent with
a
certain order
deo;
ip). So such notions of European philosophy as
”being” and “non-being” have acquired in Chinese philosophy the dif-
ferent nuances of “existence“ ( you q) and “lack of existence” (wu f).
The refore , it is not incidental that th e question o f wheth er the outside
world exists and w hethe r it is the source of hu ma n kno wled ge usually has
not been
a
subject of discussion or philosophical speculations in Chinese
cultur e.” There the subject of speculation has been diffe ren t. How are
we to interpret the ways of th is world’s deve lopm ent? What are the
dialectics
of
the world s existence and none xis tence? Are those categories
eternal?
The initial norm-setting character
of
Chinese wisdom has precon-
ditioned another special feature. In China the dialectics of the ap pearance
and development of a thing, its transitions into other things, and their
death have acquired a symbolically numerological expressio n. These are
presented in the form of the problem of correlating m an y num bers that
4 .
5
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CHINESE PHILOSOPHY A N D CHINESE CIVILIZATION 27
were formalized first in the form of trigrams, and then in to the hexagrams
of the
Book
of
Changes (Yijing)'.
The notion of circulation in the surroundin world, to o, has acquired
a special character
in
China. In the perc eption of Chinese wise men every-
thing in th e world is interconnected, interdependent and co-subordinated.
The five primary elements and the tw o opposites of yin' and p n g U give
birth to one another and overcome on e another, while selfdev elopm ent of
the material, substantial and spiritual element of
q i
is evident. As Heaven
represents the supreme comprehensive un ity o f the wo rld, the Gre at
Lim it (Tuiji') represents the supreme lim it of development. Once that
limit is reached, a new cycle of development of the entire world of things
sta rts 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 intro duc e the com pon ent
of
addition-
al sign information and identify the essential association of the given
notion or term.
In
European languages the word
is
a form al sign of some
essence that is identified only by a set trad ition of the silent public agree-
ment within some social, ethic
or
cultural community, whde in the
Chinese language, apart from s uch condition al 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 t o an equal exten t the
meaning of any n otion at the image character level.
Th e Chinese script and the 'Chinese mode of think ing 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 m od e of thinking as
the Chinese drugstore me thod . The specifics of
this
Chinese mentality
have predetermined as well the principle app roac h of Chinese cultu re to
foreign c ulture . The latter can be perceived by Chinese people and inco r-
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1 .
2 .
3 .
4.
5
6 .
7 .
a .
9 .
10.
11.
12.
13.
NOTES
Zhang Dianiany.
Zhongguo wenhua yu Zhongguo zhexu8 Chinese
Cultureand 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, 19 56, Vol. 1, Chapter 12 ,
‘ T a n ~ u a n ’ ’ ; ~
I .
Op
it ., ‘Wei Lingong”pd 23.
Titarenko, M.L. Dreunekitaiskiifilosof Mo Di, yego shkoh i ucheni-
ye. [Ancient Chinese Philosopher
Mo
Di, His
chool
and Teaching]
Moscow, 1985.
Perelomov, L.S
Confutsiansrvo i legism
v
politicheskoi istorii
Kitaya. [Conficianism and Legalism in China’s Political Hisro~y]
Moscow, 198 1.
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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MIKHAIL L. TITARENKO
CHINESE GLOSSARY