The Analects of Confucius, Xunzi and Mozi, which is the representative of ancient logic research?

Xunzi (introducing the concept of big shot and big shot)

Xunzi was a Confucian thinker at the end of the Warring States Period, also known as "the master of pre-Qin thoughts" [1]. He insisted on Confucius' position of "correcting the name" and absorbed the theories of various schools, forming a rich and distinctive logic thought of pre-Qin Confucianism. In the pre-Qin context, logical thought was called "Xue Ming". The word "logic" comes from ancient Greece, and "logic" is the general name of knowledge about how to acquire and express "truth". Whether it is "Xue Ming" in pre-Qin or "logic" in ancient Greece, its background and motivation all stem from the need of "debate" [2].

From this perspective, the initial goal of this kind of learning is not so much to discover the truth as to express the truth to convince others, and the power of logic is undoubtedly the most convincing. There is a saying that logic is a science that studies the laws of rational thinking, which is inaccurate. The emergence of logic can be regarded as a sign of the relative maturity of human reason, but "logic" itself obviously cannot undertake the important task of studying the law of human rational thinking. The main content of logic research is language expression and evidential reasoning rules, and its main problems include the meaning of logic, the formation and form of concepts, the composition of judgments and evidential reasoning rules. These main problems of logic have entered the theoretical field of Xunzi.

A "name" is to "distinguish"

According to the available data, the pre-Qin "masters" analyzed many interesting logical propositions, such as "white horse is not a horse" and "mountain is flat". This is the fruit of wisdom in "a hundred schools of thought contend", although it is not a positive result, it is only a by-product, because the theme of "contention" is nothing more than how to strengthen the country and enrich the people, and how to govern the country and level the world. However, this purely logical research was denounced by Xunzi as playing with rhetoric, and what is more serious is "wrong country", corrupting discipline and poisoning the people. Xunzi said, "To be an illegal monarch is indecent, and to be blamed. It is said that playing with kindness, defending against disadvantages, arguing against uselessness, doing more and not doing more, can not be used to treat discipline; However, there is a reason for this, and its words are reasonable enough to deceive fools. It is Hui Shi and Deng Xi. " (Xun Zi Fei Shi Er Zi) The "famous scholars" represented by Deng and Hui Shi should be said to have made great contributions to the emergence of logical thought. Any modern history of China's logic can't avoid them. In fact, Xunzi admitted that they were "observant", "argumentative" and "nosy", even though he labeled them with such a big political label. Isn't it a positive evaluation of their academic efforts, especially their insight into language, rigorous debate and many things? The question here is, what is the significance of studying logical problems? Or what should be the goal of this rhetoric research?

Later generations' evaluation of "metaphysics" in Wei and Jin Dynasties is exactly the same as Xunzi's evaluation of "celebrities", and they also think that it is "nonsense and mistakes the country". This just shows a distinctive feature of China's traditional culture, that is, academic research must point to a meaningful or effective purpose, rather than simply to satisfy "curiosity" as the ancient Greeks once thought. Scholar Li Zehou called this kind of scholarship "practical rationality". He said: "Practical rationality is a philosophical summary of this empirical rationality. One of the characteristics of China's philosophical culture is that he does not recognize transcendental rationality and does not put rationality in the highest position. Rationality is only a tool, and practical rationality takes serving human survival as its ultimate goal. Not only is it not transcendental, but it is also not divorced from experience and history. " [3]

It is also an important feature of Confucianism not to admit the transcendence of leaving experience and history. Experience and history have always been interpreted by them, and the tradition that is required to be passed down through their interpretation is the purpose of all activities seeking wisdom. Of course, they did not interpret experience and history as narrow utilitarianism. They strongly oppose the excessive desire for material benefits and the jungle law of "the winner is king and the loser is the enemy". Then, what is the "tradition" that Confucianism should maintain after interpreting experience and history (this tradition is regarded as "orthodoxy", and later Confucian scholars divided it into "political unity", "orthodoxy" and "academic unity")? Chen Lai, a scholar, said: "From the discussion of the rule of modern philosophy on technical rationality, the practical wisdom of Confucianism has its own characteristics and advantages compared with Aristotle's, that is, it is the fundamental goal of human practice to adhere to moral goodness without hesitation and attach importance to human spiritual cultivation and hard practice." [4]

The so-called emphasis on "practice" and "practicality" is, in the final analysis, the emphasis on ethics and personal cultivation. Confucianism has made great efforts to explain the benefits of this "prudent" wisdom and attributed all "traditions" to moral practice. Moral practice emphasizes behavior rather than speculation, and logical problems are speculative problems. However, Confucianism did not completely oppose logic and attached importance to "correcting the name", not because it saw the importance of logical problems and the basic role of human understanding, but because it could not be done.

Why can't Confucianism "correct its name"? The reason is that the "tradition" with "ceremony" as the core interpreted by Confucianism has been seriously destroyed and challenged in reality. Confucius thinks that his time is "the ceremony collapses and the music is bad", and advocates "self-denial and returning to the ceremony" in the name of tradition. If the "ceremony" does not collapse and the "king" exists, then in the moral demonstration governance of the "king" with enlightenment as the main means, the people's morality will return to thick and the world will be peaceful. Why do these Confucians want to "do what they know you can't do"? On the one hand, Confucians want to debate, on the other hand, they hate it. They think that debate is just nine Niu Yi hairs, which is quite tangled. The Analects of Confucius recorded a conversation between Lutz and Confucius: "Lutz said: Wei Jun takes the son as the government, and the son must learn it first? Confucius said: Be reasonable! Lutz said: Yes, yes, my son is so pedantic! Qi Zheng Qi? Confucius said: Wild, by also!

If a gentleman doesn't know, he can't be punished. Incorrect names and words are not fluent; Words are not smooth, things are not smooth; If you can't do it, you will be happy; If the ceremony and music are not prosperous, the punishment will be lost; If the punishment is not correct, the people will be at a loss.

Therefore, the name of a gentleman must be spoken, and words must be feasible. A gentleman's words are meaningless. "(The Analects of Confucius Lutz) Lutz believes that if you have the opportunity to enter politics, you should first publish an impassioned policy agenda, and then use your power to implement it. How can I "clear my name" first? Isn't this pedantic? Confucius said that Luz was a "barbarian" because he didn't know the consequences of destroying his name. The essence (content or connotation) of a name is a ceremony. The so-called "Jun Jun, minister, father, son" means that the monarch has a ceremony to be observed by his minister, the minister has a ceremony to be observed by his minister, the father has a ceremony to be observed by his father, and the son has a son. However, to "correct one's name" will inevitably involve the logical problem of the relationship between name and reality. When others question "correct one's name", they must make reasoning and proof to clarify the fallacy. In this way, the "wooden" Confucian scholars were dragged onto the debate platform.

Mencius of pre-Qin Confucianism also had the same entanglement. Gong, a student of Mencius, asked Mencius, "Outsiders call Confucius argumentative. How dare they ask? " Mencius replied: "Is it argumentative? It is a last resort. " (Mencius Teng Wengong Xia) At that time, Mencius believed that the holy king had no evil. In order to maintain the "tradition" interpreted by Confucianism, he had to stand up and argue, in order to straighten people's hearts and level the world. When I arrived at Xunzi, I simply regarded the ability of "correcting the name" and "arguing" as the basic conditions for becoming a "scholar". Xunzi said: "A gentleman must argue. Mortals can't say what they are good at, and gentlemen are embarrassed. " (Xunzi ChristianRandPhillips) The primary goal of Confucian Xunzi is to maintain the tradition of "courtesy". When the situation forces a debate, he will undoubtedly aim at this logical activity of "correcting the name". Xunzi's development of Confucianism is also reflected in his further understanding of "etiquette".

He believes that "ceremony" is formulated by saints, and its basic function is "separation". Xunzi said, "Discrimination is greater than points, points are greater than ceremony, and ceremony is greater than the holy king." (Xunzi ChristianRandPhillips) Xunzi repeatedly emphasized the significance of "fen" to the group and tried to explain that the origin of "ceremony" was due to the inevitability of "fen" from the height of historical philosophy. He said, "Where did the ceremony begin? Yue: People are born with desires, desires but not desires. It is an indisputable fact to seek the boundary without measuring it; Struggle is chaos, and chaos is poverty. The former king hated its chaos, so he divided the etiquette and righteousness to nurture people's desires and get what they want, so that the desires are inexhaustible and things do not yield to desires. The two complement each other and last forever. This is the beginning of the ceremony. "

(On Xun Gigi Lai) People live in groups, and "group" inevitably requires "division", and "division" inevitably produces "ceremony"; On the other hand, with "ceremony", people have "points" and can "group". "Rites" and "points" interact. The understanding of "ceremony" based on historical philosophy also promoted Xunzi's further confirmation of logical meaning. When there is no holy king, the world is in chaos, and the Confucian "name correction" is to "distinguish". From the point of view of the name rectification itself and its purpose, the word "fen" in the name rectification has two meanings: first, from the logical activity of the name rectification, "fen" means "difference" and "difference", and second, from the purpose of the name rectification, the word "fèn" has two meanings. These two meanings closely link pure logical activities with moral practice, that is, to determine birthright through "distinction". Of course, the word "fé n" here also contains a general meaning. Therefore, scholar Wang Dianji said: "The logical form of famous sayings in China's history basically conforms to the principle of ethical norms;" Logic serves the ideological category of ethical good and evil. " [5]

Types of "Names" and Methods of "Naming"

Only by understanding Xunzi's basic attitude towards logical activities and distinguishing the meaning of logic can we truly understand the boundary of Xunzi's logical thought. On the one hand, Xunzi refuted the study of pure logic, on the other hand, he had to learn from their research results, thus expounding a set of logical thoughts aimed at moral practice.

Xunzi's logical thought is embodied in Zhengmingpian.

Wang Xianqian commented on Xunzi: "It was the time when Gong Sunlong and Hui Shi changed their names, taking right as wrong and pretending to correct their names." [6]

Xunzi first tried to divide the types of "names": "The name of the former king: the name of punishment comes from Shang, the name of title comes from Zhou, and the name of writing comes from Li". Those who add scattered names to everything are all from the period when summer became a popular song, and the exotic customs in the distance are all because of it. Xunzi's classification of "name" embodies his thought of limiting the attribution of logical activities to ethical and political scope. He divided "name" into "accusation", "title", "literary name" and "scattered name", which obviously did not conform to the strict rules of logical classification, but it was consistent with his consistent view on logical meaning. This can be seen more clearly than this passage in Yin Wenzi on the Avenue. Yin Wenzi said: "There are three names and four forms of dharma. In the name of life, Fiona Fang is black and white; Second, in the name of reputation, good and evil are high and low; The name of love is the name of love, and so is the love and hate of the virtuous and the foolish. As long as the law remains unchanged, the monarch and his subjects will go up and down; Second, it is also true that secular laws can be despised and different; Third, the law of governing the public, celebrating punishment; Fourth, the law is flat and the law is heavy. "From a purely logical point of view, the division of Yin Wenzi is more reasonable than that of Xunzi. However, from the point of view that the purpose of logic is to distinguish clearly, Xunzi logically promoted the theoretical rigor of Confucianism on "cultivation" Xunzi's "name of punishment", "name of nobility" and "name of literature" are all names of nobility and humble rank, which are all related to good and evil; "Parting people" is the name of all things, which is related to right and wrong. Xunzi further said that people's names, such as "sex", "affection" and "false", also belong to the "scattered names" about everything, and the "scattered names" about people are an important basis for people's moral cultivation. Xunzi attributed these names about people to "scattered names", and its theoretical intention was to construct his own political and ethical theory about "ceremony" on the basis of relative certainty.

The question of right and wrong is always more objective than that of good and evil.

This passage also contains a very important significance, that is, all "names" are created by "Wang", even "scattered names" should be created by "Wang" according to customs and habits, thus establishing the absolute position of "Wang" in creating "names", which is repeatedly emphasized in the whole chapter. The Confucian activity of "correcting the name" is nothing more than correcting the name confused by people at that time to the name formulated for Wang. The privilege of "Wang" in naming is a constraint on "freedom of speech" to some extent, which is likely to evolve into "discourse hegemony" under the centralized system. Of course, Xunzi believes that the source of the naming right of "Wang" is not "political power", but "Wang is also a person who tries his best to control it" (Xunzi reveals the secret). However, history proves that this kind of worry is not superfluous.

In The Name of the King, Xunzi discussed three questions about "making a name": "Today there is no holy king, the name is slow to keep, the word is strange, the name is chaotic, the shape is unclear, and even the law-abiding officials, reciting the number of Confucianism, are also chaotic. When there is a king, there is something to do with the old name and something to do with the new name. However, what you do is famous, different from what you have, and it is the fulcrum of fame. " As for why he should be famous, Xunzi said: "The old knowers named it to show the truth, to show the nobility above, and to distinguish the similarities and differences below. The distinction between nobility and inferiority is the distinction between similarities and differences. If so, the ambition is self-evident and there is nothing to worry about. This is also famous. " The purpose of "name" is to "distinguish between noble and low, and debate similarities and differences." On the one hand, it shows that Xunzi's understanding of logical meaning is aimed at "distinguishing differences", on the other hand, it also tries to unify the noble and the common and different, so as to show the certainty of ethical and political theory. This point has been discussed before, so I won't go into details.