On the Philosophical Implication of Classical Poetry

There were a large number of poems in ancient China, many of which contained rich philosophical thoughts. In learning, analytical philosophy is conducive to stimulating learning interest and improving learning effect. For example, Lu You wrote:

The ancients learned nothing, and the young were not old.

What you get on paper is so shallow that you never know what you have to do.

This poem reveals the relationship between direct experience and indirect experience. It is necessary to learn book knowledge, but it is more important to combine the theoretical knowledge learned from books with practice and guide practice with theory. Another example is Li He's poem:

Looking for a chapter to extract a sentence, Xiao Yue hangs a jade bow as a curtain.

I don't see the three seas every year. Where is the autumn wind?

This poem mocks the uselessness of unrealistic and flashy articles and shows that practice is the purpose of understanding. The fundamental purpose of cognition is to apply rational cognition to practice and guide practice. That kind of cognition that does not serve practice is meaningless. Understanding of reality can promote the development of things, and vice versa.

There are also some poems that analyze phenomena and essence:

Why do Wu people complain about history when the country rises and falls?

If history overthrew the State of Wu, who would be the dead of the State of Yue?

(Tang) Luo Yin

The road to the governor is full of thorns, and extravagant sex is only in hate.

The prince of Wu is a well-deserved king of national subjugation, and Shi may not win the sixth house.

(Tang) Lu Guimeng

It takes three days to test the authenticity of jade, and it will take seven years to distinguish wood.

In the days of the Duke of Zhou, he was afraid of gossip and paid homage to the throne before Wang Mang usurped the throne.

Shi Xiang died at the beginning, but who knows the truth of his life.

(Tang) Pretend to be relaxed

This group of poems contains the principle of the relationship between phenomenon and essence. Everything has its phenomenon and essence, and the fundamental task of cognition is to raise perceptual knowledge to rational knowledge and grasp the essence and law of things through phenomena. If we only stay on the phenomenon, our understanding will be superficial and one-sided. The first two songs show that Fu Cha, the prince of Wu, was born with arrogance and was doomed to national subjugation. It is one-sided and unfair to blame or attribute the death of Wu to the understanding of history. The third song shows that the phenomenon of things can be divided into true and false. It is difficult to grasp the essence of things without distinguishing between true and false.

The philosophy of the ancients is still full of brilliance. "The endless grass on the plain comes and goes with each season. Wildfire never completely devoured them, and they grew taller again in the spring breeze. " This song "Grass" contains the profound philosophy that "new things with strong vitality cannot be strangled". Ye Shaoweng's "It's not worth going to the park": "You have to pity your dog's teeth and print your hair. Chai Fei can't leave for a long time. The spring garden can't be closed, and an apricot is out of the wall. " This is a famous sentence about spring scenery, which has been talked about since ancient times. It inspires people with the idea that all new and beautiful things have strong vitality, and no one can suppress it.

However, there is a difference between the way poets express philosophy and the way philosophers explain philosophy. As belinsky said, "Philosophers use syllogism to speak, poets use pictures and images to speak ... one uses logic to demonstrate, and the other uses pictures." Poets of ancient poetry often integrate their feelings and ideals into the description of scenery, or enlighten people, so poetry contains profound philosophy. For example, Su Shi's "Title Xilin Wall": "Looking horizontally, the ridge side becomes a peak, and the distance is different. I don't know the true face of Lushan Mountain, but toward which corner of the mountain. " On the surface, it says Lushan Mountain. However, as long as we think deeply, we can realize such a philosophy: only by observing and understanding everything comprehensively, not just at a glance, can we get a correct understanding.

According to the characteristics of philosophical poetry, to understand the philosophical beauty of ancient poetry, we must deal with the following relations: the first is emotion and reason. "Emotion" and "reason" in philosophical poems are the unity of opposites of the poet's emotion and rational concept. Many ancient poems often express their feelings through lyricism, which is reasonable and reasonable. For example, Li Shen's Weeding: "Weeding is at noon, and sweat drips down the soil. Who knows that the Chinese food on the plate is hard. " It not only expresses the poet's infinite indignation and sincere sympathy for the working people, but also tells an unchangeable truth: the material wealth of human society is created by the hard work of the working people. The second is form and god. The relationship between form and god in philosophical poetry is the relationship between artistic image and philosophy. Philosophy is the soul of artistic image, and artistic image is the ontology of philosophy. Philosophy is always born of form, inclusive by form, knowing God from form, exploring meaning in poetry and understanding the philosophical beauty of poetry. For example, Wang Zhihuan's "Dengque Building": "The mountains cover the daytime, and the ocean drains the golden river. But as long as you go up a flight of stairs, you can broaden your horizons by 300 miles. " While feeling the magnificent scenery of the rivers and mountains in Wan Li described in the poem, it contains the profound philosophy of "standing high can only see far". The third is reason and interest. The relationship between reason and interest is a special expression of the relationship between rational content and aesthetic characteristics in poetry. Excellent philosophical poems all have "interest in reason", which is both philosophical and artistic.