Western humanism of humanism

According to the previous explanation, there are differences in the characteristics and efficacy of humanism in different stages of development in western culture, but the chances of its establishment are surprisingly consistent. This is what Tang Junyi said: "It rises because of the desire to govern or resist a certain cultural bias", and it is by no means from people's own consciousness. Of these two approaches, the former takes the external anti-explicit view into humanism, while the latter takes the internal subject enlightenment into humanism. The former can't open the door of "moral subject"; The latter can open the door of "moral subject". However, only by opening the door of "moral subject" can real humanism reach the form of comprehensive photography and become the highest principle of leading cultural life. Therefore, the failure to knock on the door of "moral subject" is the biggest feature of western humanism in all stages, and it is also the fundamental reason for its limitation.

the reason why western humanism can't open the door of moral subject is closely related to the way of thinking in western culture. As I said before, western culture is dominated by "god-based" or "material-based". As far as "God-based" is concerned, it is to empty or even revoke human subjectivity and deliver everything to the supreme God. Therefore, the more religious you are, the more you have to dispel your subjectivity and "throw yourself in front of God and completely convert to God". Here, of course, there is no problem of opening the subject; As far as "object-oriented" is concerned, the mind of western culture is all about grasping the principle of foreign objects. In this way, if we want to grasp the principle of object-oriented, the most important function of the subject is "reason", and the reason holds foreign objects and turns to activities. If the subject is confined to the intellectuality of holding external things, he can only do his best to observe, analyze and reason. Can't open the door of the subject, transcendentally analyze and criticize the various abilities of the subject. Therefore, the door of the subject is still closed here. However, as far as western humanism is concerned, although it believes in clamoring to return to "humanism", from the final practical results, as mentioned above, it has not really returned to "humanism", or it has not really opened the "human". As far as the form of humanism it presents is concerned, it is actually still on the "material basis", at most it is only a special "material basis". In other words, they just regard "people-oriented" as a special "material-oriented", which of course cannot open the door of "people". From this point of view, no matter "god-based", "material-based" or so-called "people-oriented", they have achieved something from the aspect of "object", and they can't be folded back to stand on the aspect of "subject" and knock on the door of subject to see what they have achieved. In western culture, it is Kant, as the finisher and conqueror of enlightenment, who can really touch the door of subject. Kant came back from the object, and revealed the subject's ability to achieve knowledge, morality and aesthetics with three major criticisms. His Copernican turn in these three aspects made him not only reveal the intellectual subject on the basis of the "abstract intellectuality" put forward by the enlightenment thought. In this sense, he is the finisher of the Enlightenment. Moreover, it further examines the limits of intellectual subject, thus further revealing moral subject and aesthetic subject. In this sense, he is the conqueror of enlightenment thought. However, Kant is, after all, a pure philosopher. He reveals all kinds of subjects through transcendental criticism, and he wants to get rid of the existential feelings inherent in life. This is a pure and abstract philosophical thinking. This is suitable for critical philosophy, but it is not suitable for humanism, because humanism, as mentioned earlier, must lie in life and open a "substantial" intermediary field. However, the subject revealed by Kant's transcendental criticism cannot avoid its abstraction, and the various subjects he revealed are only the logical perfection of knowledge. In other words, he just put all kinds of subjects as knowledge in his semantic system to analyze, verify the limits and clarify the boundaries. In this way, all kinds of subjects are only conceptual and formal in Kant's place, so we say that Kant only "touched" the door of the subject. However, if humanism is to become the highest principle of leading cultural life, it cannot enter through Kant's conceptual subject door. Because all concepts have certain connotations and extensions, this means that any concept has certain limitations. However, humanism, as the leading principle of cultural life, can't have such restrictions, and it should be "the foundation of all construction and all achievements", which is the basic view of modern neo-Confucianism on humanism. Therefore, Tang Junyi said: "Humanism will not only be hostile to all" doctrines "containing truth, but also he (it) just affirms the relative values of various" doctrines "in various fields of human culture." That is to say, the real humanism is to construct people's own culture based on people, not one of philosophical theories, so it should integrate and melt all valuable thoughts and cultures. The question is: where is the starting point of humanism? To find this starting point, we can't take the external anti-explicit way of understanding taken by western humanism in various stages, because, as mentioned above, they have not really returned to the subject of "man"; We can't take Kant's transcendental criticism to reveal all kinds of subjects, because as mentioned above, these subjects can't complete the ideal form of humanism because of their formal and conceptual limitations. In this way, if we want to find the starting point of humanism, we can only take the road of life, introspection and internal evidence in China culture. Mencius said, "What makes a man different from an animal?" (Mencius Li Lou). China culture is to highlight this "hope" in people's concrete life, so as to open its inner human life and the humanistic world of life. This "hope" not only ensures the meaning of being human, but also opens the life of a real person. However, this "Ji Xi" is different from the concept of "personality" put forward by German humanists in the 18th century, such as Goethe, with the help of Plato's "rational model". It is a spiritual entity that is realized by inner life and life. This spiritual entity can be called "body of nature" according to Mencius' theory of good nature, or "body of mind" according to Wang Yangming's theory of conscience. In fact, they are all "moral subjects". China culture has always affirmed that there is a moral subject in people's life who can be self-determined. As long as we make efforts to exercise self-restraint, this subject will naturally appear in the realm of life. Therefore, Confucius said, "Is benevolence far away? I want benevolence, and I am benevolent. " ("The Analects of Confucius"), "Benevolence depends on oneself, but on others" ("The Analects of Yan Yuan"); Mencius also said, "Compassion is benevolent; Shame and evil heart, righteousness also; Respect, courtesy; The heart of right and wrong is also wise. Benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, and wisdom are not from outside, but I am also inherent, and I think about it. Therefore, if you ask, you will get it, and if you give up, you will lose it "("Mencius Gaozi "). In China culture, the moral subject (mind or body) presented through the cultivation of personality is the real "people-oriented", and the humanistic world is opened by this "basis". It is precisely because the humanistic world is opened by the moral subject that it is not a system of justice, but a spiritual realm and even a "strong" attitude towards life ("strong" means "being healthy, and a gentleman is constantly striving for self-improvement"), which is not what western humanism can do. Therefore, Tang Junyi said: "When translating China's Humanism into humanism, he was wronged in connotation." China's humanism is to absorb all truths and melt all values in the spiritual realm opened by the moral subject, that is, in this spiritual realm, all truths and values will not be paranoid and harmful. To borrow Zhuangzi's words, this is: "It is based on the original, grand and magnificent, deep and profound, and it is based on the Sect." ("Zhuangzi Tianxia").

In order to cure the cultural bigotry and abuse, humanism in various stages in the West has constructed a justice system externally and explicitly. As a result, although this bigotry and abuse have been overcome, another bigotry and abuse have been unconsciously born. The key point is that they have never found the sprout point of culture. Take China culture as an example: if the subject of morality is not opened, culture can't be perfected by people's own consciousness. The result is: "You can learn more from yourself", but you can't "prepare for the beauty of heaven and earth and call it the capacity of the gods" (Zhuangzi Tianxia). The key to China's humanism is that it has opened a moral subject of "grand and bold, profound and bold", so everything here can be "prepared in the beauty of heaven and earth, called the capacity of the gods". How can it be so? It is because all the cultural achievements of mankind are gradually developed by this moral subject, which is "grand and ambitious, deep and bold" according to its own consciousness. In this way, the cultural achievements of human beings are not the subjective construction of "observing how to be good", but the moral subject as the cultural basis flows out qualitatively. Here, Mou Zongsan once had a wonderful solution. In his view, China culture lies in the moral subject realized by life and life itself. It is a round wheel and also a central point, or "Tao pivot". If people can't get it all here, the round wheel can also be opened up and down, inside and outside, plus or minus, which is all kinds of cultural systems and philosophies in the world.

1. Once the subject of morality becomes the master of life, God can also be internalized. If people can't improve their lives with this internalization, they will crouch under the authority of God's omniscient, all-powerful and all-good from the perspective of human negativity (such as sin) and finiteness. This is the form of Christianity.

2. Internal and external opening. The moral subject is "grand and bold, deep and bold", which shows that the culture department is opened up from the inside out by this subject. However, if people only stand at a certain point outside, they can see their relative objectivity and independence, and thus develop into culture or philosophy. For example, as far as cosmology is concerned, "leave the center of subjectivism and go to objectivism to establish the objectively constructed cosmology"; As far as ontology is concerned, "leave the center of subjectivism and go back to the body of objective and independent being itself, and establish the ontology of objective self." ..... Stand up in the face of reality, empty yourself, have no nature, have no essence, but completely serving in reality is human nature and human nature. ". All kinds of cosmology, ontology (or ontology) in western culture are about the same, which, in the words of the Book of Changes, is the beginning of "the day after tomorrow will serve heaven". However, if these kinds of cosmology and ontology (or ontology) want to seek their final basis, they must overcome the moral subject and reach the agreement of "nature is contrary to nature" before they can finally stand on their heels.

3, positive and negative. From the moral subject's practice of benevolence to perfection, everything is flat and everything is implemented, that is, the so-called Confucian realm of "prospering in poetry, standing in ceremony and becoming happy" However, if people only see the metaphysical device in this flat place, it is easy to observe the life of the universe from the negative perspective and from the "empty" and "nothing" aspects. From the aspect of "nothingness", it is said that "nothingness" has the persistence of the matter relative to the matter, artificial and unnatural, and it shows the realm of natural inaction, which is Taoism; From the aspect of "emptiness", it is said that "emptiness" is due to the self-nature of circulation, and it is called Buddhism.

finally, if the moral subject practices benevolence to perfection, then "raising his head and raising his eyes is all about knowing the body and seeing it" means "the world belongs to benevolence". However, if people can't stop here, they don't know that they are "knowing the body and seeing it", but only see the physiological activity of "lifting their heads and lifting their eyes". If so, it is science to study only the physiological activity itself.

The above, including religion, philosophy and science, are all developed by moral subjects. Only in this way can humanism truly be the foundation of all achievements. Only in this way can humanism truly become a comprehensive system, which is not opposed to all cultures containing truth and value, and can be adapted and become the leading principle of leading cultural life. Because of this, Fang can say that the only way to complete the whole connotation of humanism is to open the door of "moral subject"

However, the above-mentioned division and divergence of Mou Zongsan is a theoretical explanation and a theoretical analysis of "moral subject" as the foundation of culture. Humanism, as mentioned above, must lie in life and life itself to open a substantial intermediary field. Man's inner existence lies in life, and the substantial intervening fields of life mainly include: the satisfaction of desire (happiness), the prayer of religion and the pleasure of beauty (aesthetics). True humanism must mean these three aspects, so as to internalize the "God-based" and "Material-based" and truly return to the "human-based". This is the real "extremely bright and moderate". This paper will mainly discuss how China's humanism initiated by "moral subject" shows and has profound connotation on the issue of "happiness". Although the word "humanity" is inherent in China culture (Yi Zhuan: "Look at astronomy, observe the changes of time, look at humanity, and turn it into the world." ), but Humanism is the translation of the word humanism in western culture, and some people have translated it into humanism. The so-called "people-oriented" is relative to "material-oriented" and "spiritual-oriented" in western culture. However, the dominant position of western culture is "material-based" and "spiritual-based", the former achieving science and metaphysics (philosophy); The latter achieved religious belief. Humanism only does some work between "object" and "god-based". It is in this sense that Tang Junyi said: "The' humanism' in the West is almost due to the desire to govern or resist a certain cultural bias." It is precisely because of this that Mou Zongsan said: "In the western academic tradition, humanism is not the mainstream. Moreover, it is also lurking there, and it is hidden from time to time, so it has never been revealed and completed its own system, thinking that it is the backbone of leading its cultural life. " That is to say, although humanism is a concept put forward in western culture, it can't be fully embodied in the development of humanism in western culture because the "human" is masked by "material" and "spiritual". Then, in the view of modern neo-Confucianism, what are the limitations and shortcomings of humanism in the development of western culture?

the development of humanism in western culture can be divided into Cicero's humanism, Renaissance humanism and 18th century German humanism. There may be differences in the specific contents of humanism in these three stages, but in terms of their basic characters, none of them can take on the mission of leading the life of western culture, which is due to their * * * nature. Because they have their insurmountable limitations and shortcomings. With regard to the limitations and shortcomings of western humanism, Mou Zongsan has made a detailed analysis and explanation in his article The Completion of Humanism.

First of all, look at humanism in Cicero's period: the concept of humanism was not established in Greece, but was established in Rome in Cicero's period, so Cicero was the first person to realize the content and value of humanism in western cultural history. The reason why he has this kind of conscious consciousness, Mou Zongsan thinks: "It is because Rome was originally a barbaric nation", so Cicero's humanistic consciousness "just means that the savage and uneducated nation began to realize its own barbarism, its purity was the deficiency of naked primitive life, and it reflected on its own poverty and wanted to live a cultured life. ..... Cicero's humanism is fulfilling this responsibility. " However, this responsibility is only implemented on the basis of "freedom, rationality and aesthetic feeling in real life, which is a broad sense of life sentiment"