The concrete embodiment of China's traditional philosophy in modern society

China's traditional philosophy, as the core content of China's traditional culture, has its own distinctive features in both ideological content and ideological form. These characteristics are manifested in various aspects such as cosmology, dialectics, epistemology, methodology, outlook on life, ethics, values and aesthetics.

First, pay attention to realistic political ethics and ignore natural religion.

Derk Bodde of the United States published a paper entitled "The Dominant Ideas in the Formation of China Culture" in the 4th issue of the Journal of the American Oriental Society, Volume 62, published in 1944. The article said: "China people do not regard religious concepts and activities as the most important and fascinating part of their lives ... The spiritual basis of China culture is ethics (especially Confucian ethics), isn't it? This really reveals that China culture is also a major feature of China's philosophy. In the history of China, in the contention of a hundred schools of thought, most people are concerned about realistic political ethics, eager to be an official in politics, with the aim of governing society and educating people. It has always been the ideal goal of China culture, and it has always been the goal of China intellectuals to cultivate one's morality and govern the country. In China's philosophy, political philosophy and ethical philosophy are the most developed and rich in content. In the educational history of China, this kind of political ethics has always been the most important educational content. In contrast, the content of natural philosophy in China's philosophy is poor, and few people focus on natural research in the contention of a hundred schools of thought. Because of this, China is short of talents in traditional culture and science. Although there were many inventions in practical technology in ancient China, the scientific principles behind these technologies were rarely revealed clearly. Similarly, China's philosophy doesn't care about religion, and he has no enthusiasm for religion that is far from reality. China people's religious belief is ungodly. One can worship the gods of many religions at the same time, but no matter what gods one worships, it is for the gods to protect their actual interests. Therefore, China people do not have religious feelings like Christians, Muslims and Hindus, and their religious life is dispensable. It is precisely because of this cultural spirit that China did not have a Western-style scientific revolution in history, nor did it fall into the dark ages of the West. Instead, it has always stood among the nations of the world as a country of morality and etiquette.

Second, advocate the unity of heaven and man and oppose the opposition between heaven and man.

On the relationship between man and nature, the mainstream of China's philosophy is the unity of man and nature. China's philosophy holds that man and nature are a whole, and nature is the condition for human survival, and all the needs of human survival are provided by nature. Therefore, human beings must be inseparable from nature, must rely on nature, and maintain harmony with nature. In the contention of a hundred schools of thought, most people emphasize that all human activities should conform to nature, the laws of nature, the inherent nature and characteristics of nature, make rational use of natural products, adapt to the limitations of nature on human beings, and finally achieve human goals within the scope permitted by nature. From the contrast between man and nature, China's philosophy holds that natural forces are extremely powerful, and man is just a thing in nature, insignificant. Therefore, people must not go against the sky, or they will be condemned by heaven. In the history of China's philosophy, although the idea of win-win between man and nature has been put forward from time to time, it has not become the mainstream of China's history and the spiritual force leading China people's behavior. Generally speaking, China's philosophy disapproves of the opposition between man and nature. He clearly realized that if the relationship between man and nature is not handled properly, it will inevitably lead to natural and man-made disasters. Throughout the history of China, the achievements of agriculture, water conservancy, architecture and various handicrafts are permeated with this ideal concept of conforming to nature, and few material inventions are sharply opposed to nature.

Third, pay attention to the formation of the universe and ignore the composition of the universe.

On the ontological thought, China's philosophy always pays attention to the question of where everything in heaven and earth came from, but seldom pays attention to the question of how everything in heaven and earth came from, which makes China's philosophical ontology obviously show the characteristics of universe generation. Taiji theory holds that everything in the world originated from Taiji and evolved from Taiji differentiation. The theory of Taoism advocates that Tao gives birth to one, two, three and three things, and holds that Tao is the beginning of heaven and earth and the mother of all things before heaven and earth; The theory of reason-based emphasizes that reason comes first in things, reason comes first, there is no reason for heaven and earth, there is no reason for everything, and everything in heaven and earth comes from reason; Heart-based theory advocates that there is nothing outside the heart, nothing outside the heart and unreasonable outside the heart. Everything in the world is in the heart, bred by the heart; The theory of primordial qi holds that primordial qi is the foundation of all things in the world, and primordial qi generates all things in the world through gathering and dispersing. The essence of fate view is a creationism, and creationism is also a generative theory in essence, just a generative theory with will. Fate can neither be controlled nor changed. It definitely stipulates the generation and destination of all things in the world. Other cosmology, such as the Taoist theory of Taiyi and the theory of water and land in the tube, also belong to the category of generative theory. In ancient China, there was only one unique theory of five qualities, which claimed that everything was composed of five basic elements, namely, the mixture of earth, gold, wood, water and fire. It's a pity that this thought didn't get further play in the history of China's thoughts, but it died out after Qin and Han Dynasties and didn't become the mainstream of China's cosmology.

Fourth, emphasize intuition and ignore logical argument.

In the way of thinking about various things, all schools of China's traditional philosophy show the characteristics of attaching importance to intuitive understanding rather than logical argumentation. For example, Confucianism emphasizes three provinces, Taoism advocates meditation, and Buddhism advocates enlightenment. Neo-Confucianism advocates human effort, tacit understanding and understanding. The intuitive thinking of China's traditional philosophy has the characteristics of wholeness, emphasizing the unity of knowledge, emotion and meaning and the unity of truth, goodness and beauty, which is manifested in the holistic spiritual realm of the unity of heaven and man, the integration of scene and knowledge. Here, we do not advocate the analysis of heaven and man, emotion and scenery, knowledge and action, nor do we advocate the logical demonstration of their similarities and differences, but advocate the overall grasp of their interrelationships. As for how to realize this intuitive holistic thinking, China's traditional philosophy shows two basic methods: analogy and tacit understanding. Because the whole and the part are similar, similar and interlinked, China people do not use logical, analytical and deductive methods to grasp the object, but use intuitive and analogical methods to understand individual things, and then use analogical methods to gain a whole and comprehensive understanding of the object world. Everything is endless and diverse. How can we reveal the essence behind it? China's philosophy emphasizes the expressiveness and unacceptability of the ontological world, so to grasp the essence, language is expressible, logic is powerless, and we can only understand it intuitively. This characteristic of thinking is fully manifested in all schools of China's philosophy.

Fifth, emphasize the way of wisdom and ignore the study of knowledge.

China's philosophy emphasizes the way of wisdom on the relationship between wisdom and knowledge, while the learning of knowledge is regarded as secondary. The fundamental purpose of philosophy of practice is not to increase knowledge, but to improve the realm. Otherwise, the pursuit of knowledge is not only useless, but even hinders the understanding of the universe and lifestyle. Laozi once said: The more you learn, the farther you may be from the Tao. The so-called "Tao" in China's philosophy sometimes refers to the essence and laws of the universe and life, and sometimes refers to the most fundamental wisdom about everything. And "learning" is concrete knowledge, concrete things are endless, and the knowledge about concrete things is endless. If people pursue specific knowledge, it will never be exhausted, so they will not be able to master the "Tao" about the universe as a whole. But we can't grasp the whole of cosmic life, and we can't know the eternal meaning of cosmic life. Zhuangzi once said: The time of life is limited, but the specific knowledge is infinite. It is impossible to pursue infinite knowledge with limited life. On the contrary, in order to grasp the way of life in the universe, we can't do it by seeking knowledge, it needs another way. Knowledge can be acquired by learning methods, and knowledge of the state and principle of a thing can be acquired by learning one thing at a time. However, to understand the holistic and essential Tao of cosmic life, we can only rely on the way of practice, repeatedly feel it in an unspeakable holistic way, and repeatedly verify it through inner intuition and factual experience. Only in this way can we understand and grasp the Tao. Of course, the value of understanding and grasping the whole and essential life style of the universe is obviously higher than the understanding of specific things.

Sixth, emphasize balance and harmony, while ignoring contradictions and confrontation.

China's philosophy recognizes the change and development of the world, all things and their internal differences, and does not deny the two-point theory. This can prove that there is no shortage of dialectical thoughts in China's philosophy, and some dialectical thoughts are very profound and original. The first premise of dialectics is to admit contradiction and two-point theory. Without this premise, there is no dialectics, and the existence of everything in the world cannot be explained. The dialectics of China's philosophy emphasizes the reconciliation of contradictions and advocates the balance between two points in the two-point theory. We don't advocate two opposites, but oppose the confrontation of contradictions. Confucian doctrine of the mean is a typical dialectics of balance theory and a typical contradiction view of harmony theory. This dialectical thought has been the mainstream in the history of China's thought. Although the pre-Qin Legalists strongly advocated the contradictory struggle, it did not become the dominant thought of China because it did not conform to the historical reality of China. Taoist dialectics is rich, but Taoism pays attention to natural inaction, pays attention to harmony without dispute, is more negative than Confucianism, and naturally opposes contradictions and opposites. Buddhism is also rich in dialectics, but Buddhism believes that the world is false or empty, persuading people to see through the world of mortals and give up all desires, and the final outcome of its dialectics must also be to resolve contradictions. Balance theory is an affirmation of reality, and harmony theory also has positive significance in dealing with specific contradictions. However, this dialectics completely cancels the power source of the development of things, thus denying the eternal development and change of the world.

Pay attention to routine rather than abstract reasoning.

Philosophy is a highly abstract knowledge. As far as the theoretical form of pure philosophy is concerned, its conceptual category transcends specific things. The reason why philosophy has extensive guidance and permeability is that it has a high degree of generality and abstraction. For western philosophy, when developing its theoretical system, it usually starts with the basic concepts and principles of philosophy, logically deduces another category from one category and logically deduces another principle from one principle. Although concrete examples should be cited to illustrate the significance of this theory, its pure formal characteristics are extremely distinct as far as its system is concerned. China's philosophy does not attach importance to pure formal construction, but discusses it from the facts of daily life, and demonstrates it on the basis of facts instead of pure reasoning. China's philosophy holds that reason lies in concrete things. Without concrete things, philosophy does not exist. Dealing with daily interpersonal affairs is the most important training effort to improve personality and the main way to practice moral responsibility, but it is useless to simply reason. This is what Shao Yong pointed out in the Song Dynasty: "Not born but not separated from daily life." Shao Yong's poems say that the truth contained in daily affairs can only be grasped through repeated understanding of daily activities, which is by no means understood by abstract reasoning. If you want to be reasonable, you must work hard on specific things. Being able to understand and handle daily affairs is the best proof of understanding.