Chinese philosophy. Basic concepts of Chinese philosophy From the most important Chinese philosophies 3

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CHINESE PHILOSOPHY. Chinese philosophy arose at about the same time as ancient Greek and ancient Indian philosophy, in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. Separate philosophical ideas and themes, as well as many terms that later formed the “basic composition” of the lexicon of traditional Chinese philosophy, were already contained in the oldest written monuments of Chinese culture - Shu jing (Canon [documentaries] scriptures), shi jing (Canon of poems), Zhou and (Zhou changes, or and jing – Canon of change), which developed in the first half of the 1st millennium BC, which sometimes serves as the basis for statements (especially by Chinese scientists) about the emergence of philosophy in China at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. This point of view is also motivated by the fact that the composition of these works includes separate independent texts that have a developed philosophical content, For example, Hong fan (majestic specimen) from Shu jing or Xi ci zhuan from Zhou and. However, as a rule, the creation or final design of such texts dates back to the second half of the 1st millennium BC.

The first historically reliable creator of philosophical theory in China was Confucius (551-479), who realized himself as the spokesman for the spiritual tradition "zhu" - scientists, educated, intellectuals ("zhu" later began to denote Confucians).

According to traditional dating, Laozi (6-4 centuries BC), the founder of Taoism, the main ideological movement opposed to Confucianism, was an older contemporary of Confucius. However, it has now been established that the first Taoist works proper were written after the Confucian ones, and even, apparently, were a reaction to them. Lao Tzu, as a historical person, most likely lived later than Confucius. Apparently, the traditional idea of ​​the pre-Qin (before the end of the 3rd century BC) period in the history of Chinese philosophy as an era of equal controversy of the “hundred schools” is also inaccurate, since all philosophical schools that existed at that time defined themselves through their attitude to Confucianism. .

The era ended with the "anti-philosophical" repressions of Qin Shi Huang (213-210 BC), directed precisely against the Confucians. The term "zhu" from the very beginning of Chinese philosophy meant not only and not so much one of its schools, but philosophy as a science, more precisely, an orthodox direction in a single ideological complex that combined the features of philosophy, science, art and religion.

Confucius and the first philosophers - zhu - saw their main task in the theoretical understanding of the life of society and the personal fate of a person. As carriers and disseminators of culture, they were closely associated with social institutions responsible for the storage and reproduction of written, including historical and literary, documents (culture, writing and literature in Chinese were denoted by one term - "wen"), and their representatives - scribs-shi. Hence the three main features of Confucianism: 1) in institutional terms - connection or active desire for connection with the administrative apparatus, constant claims to the role of official ideology; 2) in terms of content - the dominance of socio-political, ethical, social science, humanitarian issues; 3) formally - the recognition of the textual canon, i.e. compliance with strict formal criteria of "literaryness".

From the very beginning, Confucius' attitude was "to transmit, not to create, to believe in antiquity and love it" ( lun yu, VII, 1). At the same time, the act of transferring ancient wisdom to future generations had a culturally creative and creative character, if only because the archaic works (canons) on which the first Confucians relied were already obscure to their contemporaries and required interpretation. As a result, commentary and exegesis of ancient classical works became the dominant forms of creativity in Chinese philosophy. Even the most daring innovators strove to look like mere interpreters of the old ideological orthodoxy. Theoretical innovation, as a rule, not only was not emphasized and did not receive explicit expression, but, on the contrary, was deliberately dissolved in the mass of commentary (quasi-commentary) text.

This feature of Chinese philosophy was determined by a number of factors - from social to linguistic. Ancient Chinese society did not know the polis democracy of the ancient Greek model and the type of philosopher generated by it, consciously detached from the empirical life around him in the name of understanding being as such. Introduction to writing and culture in China has always been determined by a fairly high social status. Already from the 2nd c. BC, with the transformation of Confucianism into the official ideology, an examination system began to take shape, strengthening the connection philosophical thought both with state institutions and with "classical literature" - a certain set of canonical texts. From ancient times, such a connection was determined by the specific (including linguistic) complexity of obtaining an education and access to the material carriers of culture (primarily books).

Thanks to its high social position, philosophy was of outstanding importance in the life of Chinese society, where it has always been the "queen of the sciences" and has never become the "servant of theology." However, it is related to theology by the immutable use of a regulated set of canonical texts. On this path, which involves taking into account all previous points of view on the canonical problem, Chinese philosophers inevitably turned into historians of philosophy, and in their writings historical arguments prevailed over logical ones. Moreover, the logical became historicized, just as in the Christian religious and theological literature the Logos turned into Christ and, having lived a human life, opened a new era of history. But unlike “real” mysticism, which denies both the logical and the historical, claiming to go beyond both conceptual and spatio-temporal boundaries, Chinese philosophy was dominated by a tendency to completely immerse mythologems in the concrete fabric of history. What Confucius was going to "transmit" was recorded mainly in historical and literary monuments - Shu jing And shi jing. Thus, the expressive features of Chinese philosophy were determined by a close connection not only with historical, but also with literary thought. Philosophical works have traditionally been dominated by the literary form. On the one hand, philosophy itself did not strive for dry abstraction, and on the other hand, literature was also saturated with the "finest juices" of philosophy. According to the degree of fictionalization, Chinese philosophy can be compared with Russian philosophy. On the whole, Chinese philosophy retained these features until the beginning of the 20th century, when, under the influence of acquaintance with Western philosophy, non-traditional philosophical theories began to emerge in China.

The specifics of Chinese classical philosophy in the substantive aspect, it primarily determines the dominance of naturalism and the absence of developed idealistic theories such as Platonism or Neoplatonism (and even more so the classical European idealism of modern times), and in the methodological aspect, the absence of such a universal general philosophical and general scientific organon as formal logic (which is a direct consequence of the underdevelopment idealism).

Researchers of Chinese philosophy often see the concept of the ideal in the categories of "u" - "absence / non-existence" (especially among the Taoists) or "li" - "principle / reason" (especially among the Neo-Confucians). However, "y" at best can denote some analogue of Platonic-Aristotelian matter as a pure possibility (actual non-existence), and "li" expresses the idea of ​​an ordering structure (regularity or "lawful place"), immanently inherent in each individual thing and devoid of a transcendental character. In classical Chinese philosophy, which did not develop the concept of the ideal as such (the idea, the eidos, the form of forms, the transcendent deity), not only the “Plato line”, but also the “Democritus line” was absent, since the rich tradition of materialistic thought was not formed in a theoretically meaningful opposition clearly expressed idealism and did not independently give rise to atomism at all. All this testifies to the undoubted dominance of naturalism in classical Chinese philosophy, typologically similar to pre-Socratic philosophizing in ancient Greece.

One of the consequences of the general methodological role of logic in Europe was the acquisition by philosophical categories, first of all, of a logical meaning, genetically ascending to the grammatical models of the ancient Greek language. The very term "category" implies "pronounced", "asserted". Chinese analogues of categories, genetically ascending to mythical ideas, images of divinatory practice and economic and ordering activities, acquired primarily a natural philosophical meaning and were used as classification matrices: for example, binary - Yin Yang, or liang and- "two images"; ternary - tian, jen, di- "heaven, man, earth", or san cai- "three materials", quinary - Wu Xing- Five elements. The modern Chinese term "category" (fan-chow) has a numerological etymology, originating from the designation of a square nine-cell (9 chow) construction (according to the model magic square 3ґ3 - lo shu, cm. HE TU AND LO SHU), on which the hun fan.

The place of the science of logic (the first true science in Europe; the second was deductive geometry, since Euclid followed Aristotle) ​​as a general cognitive model (organon) in China was occupied by the so-called numerology ( cm. XIANG SHU ZHI XUE), i.e. a formalized theoretical system, the elements of which are mathematical or mathematical-figurative objects - numerical complexes and geometric structures, interconnected, however, mainly not according to the laws of mathematics, but in some other way - symbolically, associatively, factually, aesthetically, mnemonically, suggestively . As shown in the early 20th century. one of the first researchers of ancient Chinese methodology, the famous scientist, philosopher and public figure Hu Shi (1891-1962), its main varieties were the "Confucian logic", set out in Zhou and, and "Mohist logic", set out in chapters 40-45 Mo Tzu(5th–3rd centuries BC) i.e. in more precise terms, numerology and protology. The most ancient and canonical forms of self-understanding of the methodology of Chinese classical philosophy were implemented, on the one hand, in numerology Zhou and, Hong fan, tai xuan jing, and on the other hand, in protology Mo Tzu, Gongsun Longzi, Xunzi.

Hu Shih in his pioneering book Development of the logical method in ancient China(The Development of the Logical Method in Ancient China), written in 1915–1917 in the United States and first published in 1922 in Shanghai, sought to demonstrate the presence of a “logical method” in ancient Chinese philosophy, including protology and numerology on an equal footing. Hu Shih's achievement was the "discovery" in ancient China developed general cognitive methodology, but he failed to prove its logical nature, which was rightly noted already by V.M. Alekseev (1881–1981) in a review published in 1925. ) and A. Maspero (1883-1945) showed that even the teaching of the late Mohists, which is closest to logic, is strictly speaking eristic and, therefore, at best has the status of protology.

In the mid-1930s, understanding Zhou and as a logical treatise was convincingly refuted by Yu.K. Shchutsky (1897–1938). And at the same time, Shen Zhongtao (Z.D.Sung) in the book Symbols of the I Ching, or Symbols of the Chinese Logic of Change(The Symbols of the Y King or the Symbols of the Chinese Logic of Changes) in expanded form showed that numerology Zhou and can be used as a general scientific methodology, since it is a coherent system symbolic forms, reflecting the universal quantitative and structural patterns of the universe. However, Shen Zhongtao left aside the question of the extent to which this potential was realized by the Chinese scientific and philosophical tradition.

But the methodological role of numerology in the broadest context of the spiritual culture of traditional China was demonstrated at the same time by the outstanding French Sinologist M. Granet (1884–1940). The work of M. Granet Chinese thought (La pensee chinoise) contributed to the emergence of modern structuralism and semiotics, but for a long time, despite its high authority, did not find proper continuation in Western Sinology. M. Granet considered numerology as a kind of methodology of Chinese "correlative (associative) thinking".

The theory of "correlative thinking" found its greatest development in the works of the largest Western historian of Chinese science, J. Needham (1900-1995), who, however, fundamentally separated "correlative thinking" and numerology. From his point of view, the first, by virtue of its dialectical nature, served as a breeding ground for genuine scientific creativity, while the second, although a derivative of the first, hindered rather than stimulated the development of science. This position was criticized by another outstanding historian of Chinese science, N. Sivin, based on the material of several scientific disciplines showing the inherent organic nature of their inherent numerological constructions.

Radical views in the interpretation of Chinese numerology are held by Russian sinologists V.S. Spirin and A.M. Karapetyants, who defend the thesis of its full scientific character. V.S. Spirin sees in it, first of all, logic, A.M. Karapetyants - mathematics. In a similar way, Chinese researcher Liu Weihua interprets numerological theory Zhou and as the world's oldest mathematical philosophy and mathematical logic. V.S. Spirin and A.M. Karapetyants propose to abandon the term "numerology" or use it only when applied to obviously unscientific constructions. Such a distinction, of course, is possible, but it will reflect the worldview of a modern scientist, and not a Chinese thinker who used a single methodology in both scientific and non-scientific (from our point of view) studies.

The foundation of Chinese numerology is made up of three types of objects, each of which is represented by two varieties: 1) "symbols" - a) trigrams, b) hexagrams ( cm. GUA); 2) "numbers" - a) he tu, b) lo shu; 3) the main ontological hypostases of "symbols" and "numbers" - a) yin yang (dark and light), b) wu xing (five elements). This system itself is numerologised, since it is built on two initial numbers - 3 and 2.

It reflects all three main types of graphic symbolization used in traditional Chinese culture: 1) "symbols" - geometric shapes, 2) "numbers" - numbers, 3) yin yang, wu xing - hieroglyphs. This fact is explained by the archaic origin of Chinese numerology, which has performed a cultural modeling function since time immemorial. The most ancient examples of Chinese writing are extremely numerological inscriptions on oracle bones. In the future, canonical texts were created according to numerological standards. The most significant ideas were inextricably fused with iconic clichés, in which the composition, number and spatial arrangement of hieroglyphs or any other graphic symbols were strictly established.

Over its long history, numerological structures in China have reached a high degree of formalization. It was this circumstance that played a decisive role in the victory of Chinese numerology over protology, since the latter did not become either formal or formalized, and therefore did not possess the qualities of a convenient and compact methodological tool (organon). The opposite outcome of a similar struggle in Europe from this point of view is explained by the fact that here logic was built from the very beginning as a syllogistic, i.e. formal and formalized calculus, and numerology (arrhythmology, or structurology) and in its mature state indulged in complete content freedom, i.e. methodologically unacceptable arbitrariness.

Chinese protology was both opposed to numerology and strongly dependent on it. In particular, being under the influence of the numerological conceptual apparatus, in which the concept of “contradiction” (“contradiction”) was dissolved in the concept of “opposite” (“contrarality”), protological thought failed to terminologically distinguish between “contradiction” and “opposite”. This, in turn, had the most significant impact on the nature of Chinese protology and dialectics, since both the logical and the dialectic are determined through the relation to contradiction.

The central epistemological procedure - generalization in numerology and numerologized protology had the character of "generalization" ( cm. GUN-GENERALIZATION) and was based on the quantitative ordering of objects and the value-normative selection of the main one from them - the representative - without a logical abstraction of the totality of ideal features inherent in the entire given class of objects.

Generalization was associated with the axiological and normative nature of the entire conceptual apparatus of classical Chinese philosophy, which led to such fundamental features of the latter as fiction and textual canonicity.

In general, in Chinese philosophy, numerology prevailed with the theoretical underdevelopment of the "logic-dialectic" opposition, the lack of differentiation of materialistic and idealistic tendencies and the general dominance of combinatorial-classification naturalism, the absence of logical idealism, as well as the preservation of the symbolic ambiguity of philosophical terminology and the value-normative hierarchy of concepts.

In the initial period of its existence (6th–3rd centuries BC), Chinese philosophy, in the conditions of the categorical non-differentiation of philosophical, scientific and religious knowledge, was a picture of the utmost diversity of views and directions, presented as “the rivalry of a hundred schools” (bai jia zheng min ). The first attempts to classify this diversity were made by representatives of the main philosophical currents - Confucianism and Taoism - in an effort to criticize all their opponents. Chap. 6 Confucian treatise Xun Tzu(4th–3rd centuries BC) ( Against twelve thinkers, fei shih tzu). In it, in addition to the propagandized teachings of Confucius and his disciple Zi-Gong (5th century BC), the author singled out “six teachings” (liu shuo), presented in pairs by twelve thinkers and subjected to sharp criticism: 1) the Taoists Tu Xiao ( 6th century BC) and Wei Mou (4th–3rd centuries BC); 2) Chen Zhong (5th-4th centuries BC) and Shi Qiu (6th-5th centuries BC), who can be assessed as unorthodox Confucians; 3) the creator of Moism Mo Di (Mo-tzu, 5th century BC) and the founder of the independent school close to Taoism, Song Jian (4th century BC); 4) Taoist legalists Shen Dao (4th century BC) and Tian Pian (5th–4th centuries BC); 5) the founders of the "school of names" (Ming Jia) Hoi Shi (4th century BC) and Deng Xi (6th century BC); 6) the later canonized Confucians Zi-Sy (5th century BC) and Meng Ke (Mengzi, 4th–3rd centuries BC). In the 21st chapter of his treatise Xun Tzu, also, giving the teachings of Confucius the role of "the only school that has reached the universal Tao and mastered its application" (yong, cm. TI - YUN), singled out six "chaotic schools" (luan jia) opposing him: 1) Mo Di; 2) Song Jian; 3) Shen Dao; 4) legist Shen Buhai; 5) Hoi Shi; 6) the second patriarch of Taoism after Lao Tzu Zhuang Zhou (Zhuang Tzu, 4-3 centuries BC).

Approximately synchronous (although, according to some assumptions, later, up to the turn of our era) and typologically similar classification is contained in the final 33rd chapter Chuang Tzu(4-3 centuries BC) “Celestial Empire” (“Tian-xia”), where the core teaching of Confucians, inheriting ancient wisdom, is also highlighted, which is opposed by “one hundred schools” (bai jia), divided into six directions: 1) Mo Di and his student Qin Guli (Huali); 2) Song Jian and his like-minded contemporary Yin Wen; 3) Shen Dao and his supporters Peng Meng and Tian Pian; 4) Taoists Kuan Yin and Lao Dan (Lao Tzu); 5) Zhuang Zhou, 6) dialecticians (bian-zhe) Hoi Shi, Huan Tuan and Gongsun Long.

These structurally similar sixfold constructions, proceeding from the idea of ​​the unity of truth (dao) and the diversity of its manifestations, became the basis for the first classification of the main philosophical teachings as such, and not just their representatives, which was carried out by Sima Tan (2nd century BC) , who wrote a special treatise on the "six schools" (liu jia), which was included in the final 130th chapter of the first dynastic history compiled by his son Sima Qian (2-1 centuries BC) shi chi (Historical notes). This work lists and characterizes: 1) “the school of dark and light [world-forming principles]” (yin yang jia), also called “natural-philosophical” in Western literature; 2) “school of scientists” (zhu jia), i.e. Confucianism; 3) “school of Mo [Di]” (mo jia), i.e. moism; 4) the “school of names” (ming jia), also called “nominalist” and “dialectical-sophistical” in Western literature; 5) “school of laws” (fa jia), i.e. legalism, and 6) “the school of the Way and Grace” (dao de jia), i.e. Taoism. The highest rating was awarded to the last school, which, like Confucianism in the classifications from Xun Tzu And Chuang Tzu, is presented here as a synthesis of the main virtues of all other schools. Such an opportunity is created by the very principle of its naming - by belonging to a circle of persons of a certain qualification (“scientific intellectuals”), and not by adherence to a specific authority, as in the “Mo [Dee] school”, or specific ideas, as is reflected in the names of all the rest of the schools.

This scheme was developed in the classification and bibliographic work of the outstanding scientist Liu Xin (46 BC - 23 AD), which formed the basis of the oldest catalog in China, and possibly in the world and wen chih (Treatise on Art and Literature), which became the 30th chapter of the second dynastic history compiled by Ban Gu (32–92). Han shu (Book [about the dynasty] Han). The classification, firstly, grew to ten members, four new ones were added to the six existing ones: the diplomatic “school of vertical and horizontal [political unions]” (zong heng jia); eclectic-encyclopedic "free school" (tsza jia); "agrarian school" (nong jia) and folklore "school of small explanations" (xiao sho jia). Secondly, Liu Xun proposed a theory of the origin of each of the "ten schools" (shih chia) encompassing "all philosophers" (zhu zi).

This theory assumed that in the initial period of the formation of traditional Chinese culture, i.e. in the first centuries of the 1st millennium BC, officials were the bearers of socially significant knowledge, in other words, “scientists” were “officials”, and “officials” were “scientists”. Due to the decline of the "way of the true sovereign" (wang dao), i.e. the weakening of the power of the ruling house of Zhou, the centralized administrative structure was destroyed, and its representatives, having lost their official status, were forced to lead a private lifestyle and provide own existence realization of their knowledge and skills already as teachers, mentors, preachers. In the era of state fragmentation, representatives of various spheres of the once unified administration, who fought for influence on the specific rulers, formed different philosophical schools, the very general designation of which “jia” testifies to their particular character, because this hieroglyph has a literal meaning “family”.

1) Confucianism was created by people from the department of education, who “helped the rulers follow the forces of yin-yang and explained how to exercise educational influence”, relying on the “written culture” (wen) of canonical texts ( Liu and, wu jing, cm. JING-SEED; SHI SAN JING) and putting humanity (ren) and due justice (yi) at the forefront. 2) Taoism (dao jia) was created by people from the department of chronography, who “compiled chronicles about the path (dao) of success and defeat, existence and death, grief and happiness, antiquity and modernity”, thanks to which they comprehended the “royal art” of self-preservation through “purity and emptiness”, “humiliation and weakness”. 3) The “School of dark and light [world-forming principles]” was created by people from the department of astronomy who followed heavenly signs, the sun, moon, stars, cosmic landmarks and the alternation of times. 4) Legalism was created by people from the judiciary, who supplemented the administration based on "decency" (li 2) with rewards and punishments determined by laws (fa). 5) The "School of Names" was created by people from the ritual department, whose activity was conditioned by the fact that in ancient times nominal and real did not coincide in ranks and rituals, and the problem arose of bringing them into mutual correspondence. 6) Moizm was created by people from temple guards who preached thrift, “comprehensive love” (jian ai), nomination of “worthy” (xian 2), reverence for “navyam” (gui), rejection of “predestination” (ming) and “uniformity” (tun, cm. DA TUN-GREAT UNITY). 7) The diplomatic "school of vertical and horizontal [political alliances]" was created by people from the embassy department, who are able to "do things as they should and be guided by prescriptions, not verbiage." 8) The eclectic-encyclopedic "free school" was created by people from the councilors who combined the ideas of Confucianism and Mohism, the "school of names" and legalism in the name of maintaining order in the state. 9) The "agrarian school" was created by people from the department of agriculture, who were in charge of the production of food and goods, which in Hong fan assigned to the first and second of the eight most important affairs of state (ba zheng), respectively. 10) The "School of small explanations" was created by people from low-ranking officials who were supposed to collect information about the mood among the people on the basis of "street gossip and road rumors."

While evaluating the last school, which was more of a folklore than a philosophical nature and produced "fiction" (xiao shuo) as not worthy of attention, the authors of this theory recognized the nine remaining schools as "mutually opposite, but shaping each other" (xiang fan er xiang cheng) , i.e. going to the same goal in different ways and relying on a common ideological basis - six canons (liu jing, cm. SHI SAN JING). It followed from the conclusion that the diversity of philosophical schools is a forced consequence of the collapse of the general state system, which is naturally eliminated when such is restored and philosophical thought returns to the unifying and standardizing Confucian channel.

Despite the refusal to consider the “school of small explanations”, which is more of a folklore and literary (hence the other meaning of “xiao shuo” - “fiction”) than a philosophical one, in and wen chih the number of philosophical schools in ten is implicitly preserved, since further the “military school” (bing jia) is singled out in a special section, which, in accordance with the general theory, is represented by those educated by people from the military department.

The origins of this ten-term classification can be traced in encyclopedic monuments of the 3rd-2nd centuries. BC. lu shi chun qiu (Mr. Lu's springs and autumns) And Huainanzi ([Treatise] Huainan teachers). The first of them (Ch. II, 5, 7) contains a list of "ten eminent men of the Middle Kingdom": 1) Lao Tzu, "extolling compliance", 2) Confucius, "extolling humanity", 3) Mo Di, "extending moderation ", 4) Kuan Yin, "exalting purity", 5) Le-tzu, "exalting emptiness", 6) Tian Pian, "exalting equality", 7) Yang Zhu, "exalting selfishness", 8) Sun Bin, "exalting strength”, 9) Wang Liao, “exalting precedence”, 10) Er Liang, “exalting following”. In this set, in addition to Confucianism, Mohism and various varieties of Taoism, the last three positions reflect the “military school”, which corresponds to the text and wen chih.

In the final 21 chapter summarizing the content of the treatise Huainanzi carried out the idea of ​​socio-historical conditionality of the emergence of philosophical schools, described in the following order: 1) Confucianism; 2) moism; 3) the teaching of Guanzi (4th-3rd centuries BC), which combines Taoism with legalism; 4) the teaching of Yan-tzu, apparently expounded in yang tzu chun qiu (Spring and Autumn Master Yan) and combining Confucianism with Taoism; 5) the doctrine of "vertical and horizontal [political alliances]"; 6) the doctrine of "punishments and names" (xing min) Shen Buhai; 7) the doctrine of the laws of the legist Shang Yang (4th century BC); 8) own teaching imbued with Taoism Huainanzi. At the beginning of the same chapter, the teachings of Lao Tzu and Zhuang Tzu are singled out, and in the 2nd chapter - Yang Zhu (along with the teachings of Mo Di, Shen Buhai and Shang Yang repeated in the classification quartet), which as a whole forms a ten-membered set, correlating with classification and wen chih, especially the specific labeling of the “school of vertical and horizontal [political unions]” and the general linking of the genesis of philosophical schools to historical realities.

Created during the formation of the centralized Han empire, whose name became the ethnonym of the Chinese people themselves, who call themselves “Han”, the Liu Xin-Ban Gu theory in traditional science acquired the status of a classic. Further, throughout the history of China, its development continued, with a special contribution to which Zhang Xuecheng (1738–1801) and Zhang Binglin (1896–1936) made.

Chinese philosophy in the 20th century it was strongly criticized by Hu Shi, but supported and developed by Feng Yulan (1895-1990), who concluded that the six main schools were created not only by representatives of different professions, but also by different personality types and lifestyles. Confucianism was formed by scholars-intellectuals, Mohism - by knights, i.e. wandering warriors and artisans, Taoism - hermits and recluses, the "school of names" - polemical rhetoricians, "the school of dark and light [world-forming principles]" - occultists and numerologists, legalism - politicians and advisers to rulers.

Although after the creation of the Liu Xin-Ban Gu classification, schemes with even more elements arose, in particular in the official history of the Sui Dynasty (581-618) sui shu (Book [about the dynasty] Sui, 7 c.) lists fourteen philosophical schools, a really significant role in the historical and philosophical process was played by six of them, identified already in shi chi and are now recognized as such by most experts.

In this set, in terms of the duration of existence and the degree of development, Taoism is comparable to Confucianism. The term “tao” (“the way”) that determined its name is as broader than the specifics of Taoism, as the term “zhu” is wider than the specifics of Confucianism. Moreover, despite the maximum mutual antinomy of these ideological currents, both early Confucianism and then Neo-Confucianism could be called the “teaching of the Tao” (dao jiao, dao shu, tao xue), and adherents of Taoism could be included in the category of zhu. Accordingly, the term "adept of the Tao" (tao jen, dao shi) was applied not only to Taoists, but also to Confucians, as well as to Buddhists and alchemist magicians.

The most serious problem of the relationship between the philosophical-theoretical and religious-practical hypostases of Taoism is connected with the latter circumstance. According to the traditional Confucian version, at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. prevailing in the West, these are diverse and heterogeneous phenomena, which correspond to different designations: philosophy - “school of tao” (tao jia), religion - “teaching (reverence) of tao” (dao jiao). In the historical aspect, this approach suggests that initially in the 6th–5th centuries. BC. Taoism arose as a philosophy, and then by the 1st-2nd centuries, either as a result of the patronizing influence of imperial power in the late 3rd - early 2nd centuries. BC, either in imitation of Buddhism that began to penetrate China, radically transformed into a religion and mysticism, retaining only a nominal community with its original form.

In essence, this model is similar to the traditional idea of ​​the development of Confucianism, which arose in the 6th-5th centuries. BC. as a philosophy, and by the 1st-2nd centuries. AD transformed into an official religious and philosophical doctrine, which some Sinologists propose to consider as an independent ideological system (“Sinistic” or “imperial”), different from the original Confucianism. Wider than Confucianism itself, the ideological basis of this system was pre-Confucian religious beliefs and worldview ideas that Confucianism included in its own concepts.

In Western Sinology of the second half of the 20th century. the theory prevailed according to which Taoist philosophy similarly arose on the basis of the proto-Taoist religious and magical culture of the shamanic type, localized in southern China, in the so-called "barbarian kingdoms" (primarily Chu), which were not included in the circle of the Middle States, considered the cradle of Chinese civilization (hence the idea of ​​China as a Middle Empire). In accordance with this theory, pioneered by the French sinologist A. Maspero (1883–1945), Taoism is a single doctrine and its philosophical hypostasis, expressed primarily in the classical triad of texts Dao Te Ching (Canon of the Way and Grace), Zhangzi ([Treatise] Zhuang's teachers), Lezi ([Treatise] Le teachers), was a theorizing reaction to contact with the rationalistic Confucian culture, localized in the North, in the Middle States.

The fundamental difference between Taoist mystical-individualistic naturalism and the ethical-rationalistic sociocentrism of all other leading worldview systems in China during the formation and flourishing of the “hundred schools” prompts some experts to strengthen the thesis about the peripheral origin of Taoism to the assertion of foreign (primarily Indo-Iranian) influence, in according to which his Tao turns out to be a kind of analogue of Brahman and even the Logos. This view is radically opposed by the point of view that Taoism is the expression of the Chinese spirit itself, since it is the most developed form of national religion. This point of view is shared by the leading Russian researcher of Taoism E.A. Torchinov, who divides the history of its formation into the following stages.

1) From ancient times to 4-3 centuries. BC. there was a formation of religious practice and worldview models based on archaic shamanistic beliefs. 2) From the 4th–3rd centuries. BC. by 2nd–1st centuries BC. Two parallel processes took place: on the one hand, the Taoist worldview acquired a philosophical character and written fixation, on the other hand, the methods of “gaining immortality” and psycho-physiologised meditation of the yogic type, implicitly and fragmentarily reflected in classical texts, were implicitly and esoterically developed. 3) From the 1st c. BC. by 5th c. AD there was a rapprochement and merging of theoretical and practical divisions with the inclusion of the achievements of other philosophical areas (primarily numerology Zhou and, legalism and partly Confucianism), which resulted in the acquisition of an explicit form by the implicit material and the written fixation of a single Taoist worldview, the previously hidden components of which began to look like fundamental innovations. 4) In the same period, Taoism was institutionalized in the form of religious organizations of both “orthodox” and “heretical” directions, and a canonical collection of its literature began to take shape. Dao Zang (Treasury of the Tao). The further development of Taoism proceeded mainly in the religious aspect, in which Buddhism played a great stimulating role as its main "competitor".

The original Taoism, represented by the teachings of Lao Dan, or Laozi (traditional dating of life: c. 580 - c. 500 BC, modern: V - IV centuries BC), Zhuang Zhou, or Zhuang- zi (399-328 - 295-275 BC), Le Yu-kou, or Le-zi (c. 430 - c. 349 BC), and Yang Zhu (440-414 - 380- 360 BC) and reflected in the works named after them: Lao Tzu(or Dao Te Ching), Chuang Tzu, Le Tzu, Yang Zhu(ch. 7 Lezi), as well as Taoist sections of encyclopedic treatises Guan Tzu, Lü Shi Chun Qiu And Huainanzi, created the most profound and original ontology in ancient Chinese philosophy.

Its essence was fixed in the new content of the paired categories "dao" and "de 1", which formed one of the first names of Taoism as "schools of tao and de" (tao de jia) and to which the main Taoist treatise is devoted. Dao Te Ching. Tao is presented in it in two main forms: 1) lonely, separated from everything, constant, inactive, at rest, inaccessible to perception and verbal-conceptual expression, nameless, generating "absence / non-existence" (u, cm. Yu - U), giving rise to Heaven and Earth, 2) all-encompassing, all-penetrating, like water; changing with the world, acting, accessible to “passing”, perception and cognition, expressed in the “name / concept” (min), sign and symbol, generating “presence / being” (yu, cm. Yu - U), which is the ancestor of the "dark things".

In addition, the fair - "heavenly" and vicious - "human" Tao are opposed to each other, and the possibility of deviations from the Tao and its absence in the Celestial Empire is recognized. As a “beginning”, “mother”, “ancestor”, “root”, “rhizome” (shi 10, mu, zong, gen, di 3), the Tao genetically precedes everything in the world, including the “lord” (di 1 ), is described as an undifferentiated unity, a “mysterious identity” (xuan tong), containing all things and symbols (xiang 1) in the state of “pneuma” (qi 1) and seed (ching 3), i.e. “thing”, manifested in the form of a non-objective (objectless) and formless symbol, which in this aspect is emptiness-all-encompassing and equal to the all-penetrating “absence / non-existence”. At the same time, “absence/non-existence” and, consequently, Tao is interpreted as an active manifestation (“function – yun 2 , cm. TI - YUN) "presence / being". The genetic superiority of "absence/non-existence" over "presence/being" is removed in the thesis of their mutual generation. Thus, the dao Tao de jing represents the genetic and organizing function of the unity of "presence/being" and "absence/non-existence", subject and object. The main regularity of Tao is reverse, return (fan, fu, gui), i.e. circular movement (zhou xing), characteristic of the sky, which was traditionally thought of as round. As following only its own nature (Zi Ran), Tao opposes the dangerous artificiality of "tools" (Qi 2) and the harmful supernaturalness of spirits, at the same time determining the possibility of both.

"Grace" is defined in Tao de jing as the first stage of the degradation of Tao, on which the “things” born by Tao are formed and then move downward: “The loss of the Way (Tao) is followed by grace (Te). The loss of grace is followed by humanity. The loss of humanity is followed by due justice. Decency follows the loss of due justice. Decency [means] the weakening of fidelity and trustworthiness, as well as the beginning of turmoil” (§ 38). The fullness of “grace”, the nature of which is “mysterious” (xuan), makes a person like a newborn baby, who, “not yet knowing the intercourse of a female and a male, raises a childbearing ud”, demonstrating “the ultimate of the spermatic essence”, or “the perfection of the seminal spirit ( jing 3)” (§ 55).

With such a naturalization of ethics, “the grace of good” (de shan) implies the same acceptance of both good and bad as good (§ 49), which is opposite to the principle put forward by Confucius of repaying “good for good” and “directness for insult” ( lun yu, XIV, 34/36). From this follows the opposite to the Confucian understanding of the whole “culture” (wen): “The suppression of perfect wisdom and the rejection of rationality / cunning (zhi) [means] the people receiving a hundredfold benefit. The suppression of humanity and the rejection of due justice [means] the return of the people to filial piety and love of children. The suppression of craftsmanship and the renunciation of profit [means] the disappearance of robbery and theft. These three [phenomena] are not enough for culture. Therefore, it is still required to have a detectable simplicity and hidden primordialness, small private interests and rare desires ”( Dao Te Ching, § 19).

IN Chuang Tzu the tendency towards convergence of Tao with “absence / non-existence”, the highest form of which is the “absence [of even traces of] absence” (y y), has been strengthened. The consequence of this was the divergent Dao Te Ching and the then popular thesis that the Tao, not being a thing among things, makes things things. IN Chuang Tzu notions of the unknowability of Tao were strengthened: "The completion, in which it is not known why this is so, is called Tao." At the same time, the omnipresence of Tao is emphasized to the maximum, which not only “passes (sin 3) through the darkness of things”, forms space and time (yu zhou), but is also present in robbery and even in feces and urine. Hierarchically, Tao is placed above the “Great Limit” (tai chi), but already in lu shi chun qiu it is like the "ultimate seed" (zhi jing, cm. JING-SEED) is identified with both the "Great Limit" and the "Great One" (tai yi). IN Guanzi Tao is interpreted as a natural state of “seed”, “subtle”, “essential”, “spirit-like” (jing 3, ling) pneuma (qi 1), which is not differentiated by either “bodily forms” (syn 2) or “names/ concepts” (min 2), and therefore “empty-non-existent” (xu wu). IN Huainanzi"absence/non-existence" is presented as the "corporeal essence" of the Tao and the active manifestation of the darkness of things. Tao, which manifests itself in the form of "Chaos", "Formless", "One", is defined here as "contracting space and time" and non-localized between them.

The basic principles of the first Taoist thinkers are “naturalness” (zi ran) and “non-action” (wu wei), which signify the rejection of deliberate, artificial, nature-transforming activity and the desire for spontaneous following of natural nature up to complete merging with it in the form of self-identification with by the unconditional and non-purposeful Path-dao that prevails in the world: “Heaven and earth are long and durable due to the fact that they do not live by themselves, and therefore are able to live for a long time. On this basis, a perfectly wise person puts back his personality, and himself excels; throws away his personality, and he himself is preserved ”( Dao Te Ching, § 7). The relativity of all human values ​​revealed with this approach, which determines the relativistic “equality” of good and evil, life and death, ultimately logically led to an apology for cultural entropy and quietism: “A real man of antiquity knew neither love for life nor hatred for death. .. he did not resort to reason to oppose the Tao, did not resort to the human in order to help the heavenly "( Chuang Tzu, Ch. 6).

However, at the turn of the new era, the previous highly developed philosophy of Taoism appeared to be connected with newborn or emerging religious, occult and magical teachings aimed at the maximum, supernatural increase in the vital forces of the body and the achievement of longevity or even immortality (chang sheng wu si). The theoretical axiom of original Taoism - the equivalence of life and death with the ontological primacy of meonic non-existence over existing existence - at this stage of its development was replaced by a soteriological recognition of the highest value of life and an orientation towards different kinds appropriate practice from dietetics and gymnastics to psychotechnics and alchemy. In this philosophical and religious form, the entire further evolution of Taoism took place, fertilizing science and art with its influence in medieval China and neighboring countries.

One of the ideological bridges from the original Taoism to its subsequent incarnation was laid by Yang Zhu, who emphasized the importance of individual life: “What makes all things different is life; what makes them the same is death" ( Lezi, Ch. 7). The designation of his concept of autonomous existence - “for oneself”, or “for the sake of one’s self” (wei wo), according to which “one’s own body is undoubtedly the main thing in life” and for the benefit of the Middle Kingdom there is no point in “losing even a single hair”, has become synonymous with selfishness , which the Confucians opposed to Mo Di's disordered, ethical-ritual decency altruism and equally denied.

According to Feng Yulan, Yang Zhu personifies the first stage in the development of early Taoism, i.e. an apology for self-preserving escapism, which goes back to the practice of hermits who left the harmful world in the name of "preserving their purity." The sign of the second stage was the main part Tao de jing, in which an attempt is made to comprehend the immutable laws of universal changes in the Universe. In the main work of the third stage - Chuang Tzu the idea of ​​the relative equivalence of the changing and the unchanging, of life and death, self and not-self, was fixed even further, which logically led Taoism to self-exhaustion philosophical approach and stimulation of the religious attitude, which was supported by contradictory-complimentary relations with Buddhism.

The Taoist-oriented development of proper philosophical thought had another historical rise in the 3rd–4th centuries, when the “doctrine of the mysterious” (xuan xue), sometimes called “neo-daoism,” was formed. This trend, however, was a kind of synthesis of Taoism and Confucianism. One of its founders, He Yan (190-249), proposed, "based on Lao[-tzu], penetrate into Confucianism." The specificity of the doctrine was determined by the development of ontological issues that stood out from the traditional Chinese philosophy of immersion in cosmology on the one hand and anthropology on the other, which is sometimes qualified as a retreat into “metaphysics and mysticism”, and the binomial “xuan xue” is understood as “mysterious teaching”. This was done mainly in the form of comments on the Confucian and Taoist classics: Zhou Yi, Lun Yu, Tao Te Ching, Chuang Tzu, which later became classical in their own right. Treatises Zhou Yi, Tao Te Ching And Chuang Tzu in this era they were called "Three Mysterious" (san xuan).

The category “xuan” (“secret, mysterious, secret, incomprehensible”), which gave the name to the “doctrine of the mysterious”, goes back to the first paragraph Tao de jing, in which it means the supernatural "unity" (tun) of "absence / non-existence" (y) and "presence / being" (yu, cm. Yu-U). In an ancient medical treatise associated with Taoism huangdi nei jing (The Yellow Emperor's Canon of the Inner, 3rd–1st centuries BC) the processuality included in the concept of “xuan” is emphasized: “Changes and transformations are an active manifestation (yong, cm. TI - YUN). In the [sphere] of heaven it is the mysterious (xuan), in the [sphere] of the human it is Tao, in the [sphere] of the earth it is transformation (hua). Transformation gives rise to the five tastes, Tao gives rise to rationality (zhi), the mysterious gives rise to the spirit (shen). Yang Xiong (53 BC - 18 AD) put forward the category "xuan" to the center of the philosophical proscenium, dedicating his main work tai xuan ching (Canon of the Great Mystery), which is an alternative continuation Zhou and, i.e. universal theory of world processes, and interprets the Tao, "empty in form and determining the path (tao) of things", as the hypostasis of "mystery", understood as "the limit of active manifestation" (yong zhi zhi).

As the history of the “xuan” category shows, the “mystery” of the global interaction of things that it marks is concretized in the dialectic of “presence / being” and “absence / non-existence”, “corporeal essence” (ti) and “active manifestation” (yong). It was these conceptual antinomies that turned out to be the focus of attention of the "doctrine of the mysterious", in which, in turn, internal polarization occurred, due to the controversy between the "theory of glorifying absence/non-existence" (gui wu lun) and the "theory of honoring presence/being" (chun yu lun). ).

He Yan and Wang Bi (226–249), based on the definitions of Tao and the thesis “presence/being is born from absence/non-existence” in Tao de jing(§ 40), carried out a direct identification of Tao with “absence / non-existence”, interpreted as “single” (yi, gua 2), “central” (zhong), “ultimate” (ji) and “dominant” (zhu, zong) "primal essence" (ben ti), in which the "corporeal essence" and its "active manifestation" coincide with each other.

Developing the thesis Tao de jing(§ 11) about “absence/non-existence” as the basis of “active manifestation”, i.e. “use”, of any object, the largest representative of the “doctrine of the mysterious” Wang Bi recognized the possibility for absence / non-existence to act not only as a yun, but also as a ti, thus in a commentary on § 38 Tao de jing he was the first to introduce the direct categorical opposition "ti-yun" into philosophical circulation. His follower Han Kangbo (332–380) in a commentary on Zhou and completed this conceptual construction of two pairs of correlative categories by correlating presence/being with yun.

On the contrary, Wang Bi's main theoretical opponent is Pei Wei (267–300), in a treatise Chun yu lun (On honoring presence/being) who affirmed the ontological primacy of presence/being over absence/non-existence, insisted that it is the first that represents ti and everything in the world arises due to “self-generation” (zi sheng) from this bodily essence.

Xiang Xu (227-300) and Guo Xiang (252-312) took a compromise position of recognizing the identity of Tao with absence/non-existence, but denying the original generation from the last presence/existence, which eliminated the possibility of a creation-deistic interpretation of Tao. According to Guo Xiang, the really existing presence/being is a naturally and spontaneously harmonized set of "self-sufficient" (zi de) things (wu 1), which, having "its own nature" (zi xing, cm. XIN), "self-generated" and "self-transformed" (du hua).

Depending on the recognition of the all-penetrating power of absence/non-existence or the interpretation of its generation of presence/being only as the self-generation of things, "perfect wisdom" was reduced to the embodiment in its carrier (preferably a sovereign) of absence/non-existence as its bodily essence (ti u) or to "inactive" (wu wei), i.e. uninitiated, and "unintentional" (wu xin), i.e. non-setting, following things in accordance with their "natural" (zi zhan) self-movement.

The "doctrine of the mysterious", which developed in aristocratic circles, was associated with the dialogic tradition of speculative speculation - "pure conversations" (qing tan) and the aestheticized cultural style of "wind and flow" (feng liu), which had a significant impact on poetry and painting.

In the field of philosophy, the "doctrine of the mysterious" played the role of a conceptual and terminological bridge through which Buddhism penetrated into the depths of traditional Chinese culture. This interaction led to the decline of the "mysterious doctrine" and the rise of Buddhism, which could also be called "xuan xue". In the future, the "doctrine of the mysterious" had a significant impact on neo-Confucianism.

Moism

was one of the first theoretical reactions to Confucianism in ancient Chinese philosophy. The creator and the only major representative of the school named after him is Mo Di, or Mo-tzu (490-468 - 403-376 BC), according to Huainanzi, was originally a supporter of Confucianism, and then made a sharp criticism of it. Mohism differs from other philosophical currents of ancient China in two ways. specific features: theologization and organizational formality, which, together with an increased interest in the logical and methodological issues, painted it in scholastic tones. This peculiar sect of people from the lower strata of society, primarily artisans and freelance daring warriors (“knights” - xia), was very reminiscent of the Pythagorean union and was headed by a “great teacher” (ju tzu), who, according to Chuang Tzu(ch. 33), was considered "perfectly wise" (sheng) and whom Guo Moruo (1892–1978) compared to the pope. The following succession of the holders of this post is reconstructed: Mo Di - Qin Guli (Huali) - Meng Sheng (Xu Fan) - Tian Xiangzi (Tian Ji) - Fu Dun. Then at the end of the 4th c. BC, apparently, there was a disintegration of a single organization into two or three areas of “separated Moists” (be mo), headed by Xiangli Qin, Xiangfu (Bofu), Denlin. After the theoretical and practical defeat of Moism in the second half of the 3rd c. BC, due to his own disintegration and anti-humanitarian repression during the Qin Dynasty (221-207 BC), as well as Confucian prohibitions in the Han era (206 BC - 220 AD), he continued exist only as a spiritual heritage, collectively developed by several generations of its representatives, wholly attributed to the head of the school and enshrined in a deep and extensive, but poorly preserved treatise Mo Tzu.

The teachings of Mo Tzu himself are presented in ten initial chapters, the titles of which reflect his fundamental ideas: "Honoring the Worthy" ( shang xian), "Honoring Unity" ( shang tong), "Uniting Love" ( jian ai), "Attack Denial" ( fei gong), “Consumption reduction” ( Jie yoon), "Reduction of funeral [expenses]" ( ze zang), "The Will of Heaven", ( tian chih), "Spiritual Vision" ( ming gui), "Negation of Music" ( fei yue), "Negation of predestination" ( fei ming). All of them are divided into three parts similar to each other, which was a consequence of what was noted in Ch. 33 Chuang Tzu and Ch. 50 Han Feizi division of Mohists into three directions, each of which left its own version of the presentation of general provisions. In the middle of the treatise are the chapters of the "Canon" ( jing), "Explanation of the Canon" ( jing sho), each in two parts; "Big choice" ( Da qu) and "Small Choice" ( xiao qu), which are collectively referred to as the "Moist Canon" ( mo ching), or "Mohist dialectic » (mo bian), and represent a formalized and terminological text demonstrating the highest achievements of the ancient Chinese protological methodology, obtained by the 3rd century BC. BC. in the circles of the late Mohists or, according to Hu Shih's hypothesis, the followers of the "school of names". Contents of this section Mo Tzu, covering primarily epistemological, logical-grammatical, mathematical and natural science problems, due to its complexity and specific (intensional) form of presentation, it has become obscure even for the immediate descendants. The final chapters of the treatise, the latest in time of writing, are devoted to more specific issues of city defense, fortification and the construction of defensive weapons.

The main pathos of the socio-ethical core of Mohist philosophy is ascetic love of people, which implies the unconditional primacy of the collective over the individual and the struggle against private egoism in the name of public altruism. The interests of the people are mainly reduced to the satisfaction of elementary material needs that determine their behavior: “In a good year people are humane and kind, in a lean year they are inhumane and evil” ( Mo Tzu, Ch. 5). From this point of view, traditional forms of ethical-ritual decency (li 2) and music are seen as manifestations of waste. Strictly hierarchical Confucian humanity (jen), which the Mohists called "dividing love" (be ai), directed only at their loved ones, they opposed the principle of comprehensive, mutual and equal "unifying love" (jian ai), and Confucian anti-utilitarianism and anti-mercantilism, which extolled due justice (and) over benefit/benefit (li 3), - the principle of "mutual benefit/benefit" (xiang li).

The Mohists considered the deified Heaven (tian) as the highest guarantor and exact (like a compass and a square for a circle and a square) criterion of the validity of this position, which brings happiness to those who experience unifying love for people and brings them benefit / benefit. Acting as a universal “pattern/law” (fa), “blessed” (te) and “selfless” (wu sy) Heaven, from their point of view, having neither personal nor anthropomorphic attributes, nevertheless has a will (zhi 3), thoughts (and 3), desires (yu) and equally loves all living things: “Heaven desires the life of the Celestial Empire and hates her death, desires her to be in wealth and hates her poverty, desires her to be in order and hates confusion in her” ( Mo Tzu, Ch. 26). One of the sources that make it possible to judge the will of Heaven was the “navi and spirits” (gui shen) mediating between it and people, the existence of which is evidenced by historical sources, reporting that with their help “in ancient times, wise rulers put things in order in the Celestial Empire” , as well as the ears and eyes of many contemporaries.

In late Mohism, which reoriented itself from theistic to logical arguments, the omniscience of love was proved by the thesis “Loving people does not mean excluding oneself”, which implies the inclusion of the subject (“oneself”) among “people”, and the counter opposition between the apology of benefit / benefit and the recognition of due justice “desired by Heaven” and being “the most valuable in the Celestial Empire” was removed by a direct definition: “due justice is benefit / benefit”.

Struggling with the ancient belief in "celestial predestination" (tian ming, cm. MIN-PREDESTINATION), the Mohists argued that there is no fatal predestination (min) in the fate of people, therefore a person should be active and active, and the ruler should be attentive to the virtues and talents that should be honored and promoted regardless of social affiliation. According to Mo-tzu, the result of the correct interaction of the top and the bottom on the basis of the principle of equal opportunities should be universal "unity" (tun), i.e. having overcome the animal chaos and primitive turmoil of general mutual enmity, centrally controlled, like a machine, a structural whole, which is made up of the Celestial Empire, the people, the rulers, the sovereign and Heaven itself. This idea, according to some experts (Tsai Shansy, Hou Weilu), gave rise to the famous social utopia of the Great Unity (da tong), described in ch. 9 li yun("The Circulation of Decency") Confucian treatise Li chi. In connection with the special attention on the part of the representatives of the “school of names” to the category “tun” in the meaning of “identity / similarity”, the late Mohists subjected it to a special analysis and identified four main varieties: “Two names (min 2) of one reality (shi) - [ it is] tun [as] repetition (chun). Non-isolation from the whole is [this] tun [as] one-bodiedness (ti, cm. TI - YUN). Being together in a room is [this] tong [like] a coincidence (he 3). The presence of a basis for unity (tun) is [this] tun [as] kinship (ley)" ( jing sho, part 1., ch. 42). The most important conclusion from the Mohist ideal of universal "unity" was the call for anti-militarist and peacekeeping activities, which was supported by the theory of fortification and defense. To defend and propagate their views, the Mohists developed a special technique of persuasion, which led to the creation of an original eristic-semantic protology, which became their main contribution to Chinese spiritual culture.

Until the 18th and 19th centuries treatise Mo Tzu occupied a marginal position in traditional Chinese culture, a specific manifestation of which was its inclusion in the 15th century. into the canonical Taoist library Dao Zang (Treasury of the Tao), although already in mencius the opposition of Moism and Taoism (represented by Yang Zhu) was noted. An increased interest in Mohism, which arose in the late 19th - early 20th century. and supported by such prominent thinkers and public figures as Tan Sitong (1865-1898), Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925), Liang Qichao (1873-1923), Lu Xun (1881-1936), Hu Shi and others, was conditioned, in - firstly, a general tendency to see in it an ancient proclamation of utilitarianism, socialism, communism, Marxism and even Christianity, which then turned into his denunciation of Guo Moruo as a fascist-type totalitarianism, and secondly, stimulated by the collision with the West, the intensification of the search for Chinese analogues of Western scientific methodology.

legalism,

or "school of law", is formed in the 4-3 centuries. BC. the theoretical substantiation of the totalitarian and despotic government of the state and society, which was the first in Chinese theory to achieve the status of a single official ideology in the first centralized Qin empire (221–207 BC). Legist teaching is expressed in authentic treatises of the 4th-3rd centuries. BC. Guanzi ([Treatise] Guan teachers [Zhong]), shang jun shu (Ruler's Book [areas] shang [Gongsun Yana]), Shenzi ([Treatise] Master Shen [drunk]), Han Feizi ([Treatise] Han Fei's teachers), as well as less significant ones due to doubts about authenticity and content non-differentiation regarding the “school of names” and Taoism Dan Xi Tzu ([Treatise] Deng Xi's teachers) And Shenzi ([Treatise] Shen teacher [Dao]).

During the latent period of the 7th–5th centuries. BC. protolegist principles were worked out in practice. Guan Zhong (? - 645 BC), adviser to the ruler of the kingdom of Qi, apparently was the first in the history of China to put forward the concept of governing the country on the basis of "law" (fa), defined by him as "the father and mother of the people" ( Guanzi, Ch. 16), which was previously used only as a definition of a sovereign. Law Guan Zhong opposed not only the ruler, over whom he should rise and whom he should limit in order to protect the people from his unbridledness, but also wisdom and knowledge that distract people from their duties. To counteract vicious tendencies, Guan Zhong, also, apparently, the first, proposed the use of punishment as the main method of management: “when punishment is feared, it is easy to manage” ( Guanzi, Ch. 48).

This line was continued by Zi Chan (c. 580 - c. 522 BC), the first adviser to the ruler of the Zheng kingdom, according to Zuo Zhuang(Zhao-gun, 18, 6), who believed that "the path (tao) of Heaven is far, but the path of man is close and does not reach it." He broke the tradition of "judgment in conscience" and for the first time in China in 536 BC. codified criminal laws, ebb in metal (apparently, on tripod vessels) “code of punishments” (xing shu).

His contemporary and also a dignitary of the Zheng kingdom, Deng Xi (circa 545 - circa 501 BC) developed and democratized this undertaking by publishing the "bamboo [code of] punishment" (zhu xing). According to Dan Xi Tzu, he expounded the doctrine of state power as the sole implementation by the ruler through the "laws" (fa) of the correct correspondence between "names" (min 2) and "realities" (shi). The ruler must master a special “technique” (shu 2) of management, which involves the ability to “see with the eyes of the Celestial Empire”, “listen with the ears of the Celestial Empire”, “argue with the mind of the Celestial Empire”. Like Heaven (tian), he cannot be "generous" (hou) to people: Heaven allows natural disasters, the ruler does not do without the application of punishments. He should be “serene” (ji 4) and “closed in himself” (“hidden” - cang), but at the same time “majestic-powerful” (wei 2) and “enlightened” (min 3) regarding the lawful correspondence of “names” and "realities".

In the period from the 4th to the first half of the 3rd c. BC. on the basis of individual ideas formulated by predecessors, the practitioners of public administration, and under the influence of certain provisions of Taoism, Mohism and the "school of names", legalism was formed into a holistic independent doctrine, which became the sharpest opposition to Confucianism. Humanism, love of the people, pacifism and ethical-ritual traditionalism of the latter were opposed by legalism to despotism, reverence for authority, militarism and legalistic innovation. From Taoism, the Legalists drew the idea of ​​the world process as a natural Way-Tao, in which nature is more significant than culture; from Mohism, a utilitarian approach to human values, the principle of equal opportunities and the deification of power, and from the "school of names" - the desire for the right balance of "names" and "realities".

These general attitudes were concretized in the works of the classics of legalism Shen Dao (c. 395 - c. 315 BC), Shen Buhai (c. 385 - c. 337 BC), Shang (Gongsun) Yang (390 -338 BC) and Han Fei (c. 280 - c. 233 BC).

Shen Dao, originally close to Taoism, later began to preach "respect for the law" (shang fa) and "respect for the power" (zhong shi), since "the people are united by the ruler, and matters are decided by the law." The name Shen Dao is associated with the promotion of the category “shi” (“imperious force”), which combines the concepts of “power” and “strength” and gives content to the formal “law”. According to Shen Dao, "It is not enough to be worthy to subjugate the people, but it is enough to have power to subdue the worthy."

Another important legalistic category of "shu" - "technique/art [management]", which defines the relationship between "law/pattern" and "power/force", was developed by the first adviser to the ruler of the kingdom of Han, Shen Buhai. Following in the footsteps of Deng Xi, he brought into legalism the ideas of not only Taoism, but also the “school of names”, reflected in his teaching on “punishments/forms and names” (xing ming), according to which “realities must correspond to names” (xun ming ze shi). Focusing on the problems of the administrative apparatus, Shen Dao called for "elevating the sovereign and belittling officials" in such a way that they would be responsible for all executive duties, and he, demonstrating "non-action" (wu wei) to the Celestial Empire, secretly exercised control and authority.

Legist ideology reached its apogee in the theory and practice of the ruler of the Shang region in the kingdom of Qin, Gongsun Yang, who is considered the author of a masterpiece of Machiavellianism. shang jun shu. Having accepted the Mohist idea of ​​a machine-like structure of the state, Shang Yang, however, came to the opposite conclusion that it should win and, as Lao Tzu advised, stupefy the people, and not benefit them, because “when the people are stupid, they are easy to control » with the help of the law (ch. 26). The laws themselves are by no means inspired by God and are subject to change, since “the smart one makes laws, and the stupid one obeys them, the worthy one changes the rules of decency, and the worthless one is curbed by them” (ch. 1). “When the people overcome the law, confusion reigns in the country; when the law conquers the people, the army is strengthened” (ch. 5), so the authorities should be stronger than their people and take care of the power of the army. The people, on the other hand, must be encouraged to engage in the dual most important business - agriculture and war, thereby relieving them of innumerable desires.

Management of people should be based on an understanding of their vicious, selfish nature, the criminal manifestations of which are subject to severe punishments. “Punishment gives birth to strength, strength gives birth to power, power gives birth to greatness, greatness (wei 2) gives birth to grace/virtue (te)” (ch. 5), therefore “in an exemplarily ruled state there are many punishments and few rewards” (ch. 7). On the contrary, eloquence and intelligence, decency and music, grace and humanity, appointment and promotion lead only to vice and disorder. The most important means of combating these "poisonous" phenomena of "culture" (wen) is recognized as war, which inevitably implies iron discipline and general unification.

Han Fei completed the formation of legalism by synthesizing the system of Shang Yang with the concepts of Shen Dao and Shen Buhai, as well as introducing some general theoretical provisions of Confucianism and Taoism into it. He developed the connection between the concepts of “tao” and “principle” (li 1), which was outlined by Xun Tzu and most important for subsequent philosophical systems (especially Neo-Confucian), “Tao is that which makes the darkness of things such that determines the darkness of principles. Principles are signs (wen) that form things. Tao is that by which the darkness of things is formed. Following the Taoists, Han Fei recognized for Tao not only a universal formative (cheng 2), but also a universal generative-revitalizing (sheng 2) function. Unlike Song Jian and Yin Wen, he believed that Tao could be represented in a "symbolic" (xiang 1) "form" (xing 2). The grace (de) that embodies the Tao in a person is strengthened by inaction and lack of desires, because sensory contacts with external objects waste the “spirit” (shen) and “seed essence” (ching 3). From this it follows that in politics it is useful to maintain quiet secrecy. We must surrender to our nature and our predestination, and not teach people humanity and due justice, which are as inexpressible as intelligence and longevity.

The next extremely short historical period in the development of legalism became for him historically the most significant. Back in the 4th c. BC. it was adopted in the state of Qin, and after the conquest of neighboring states by the Qin and the emergence of the first centralized empire in China, it acquired the status of the first all-Chinese official ideology, thus ahead of Confucianism, which had great rights to it. However, the illegal celebration did not last long. Having existed for only a decade and a half, but leaving a bad memory of itself for centuries, struck by utopian gigantomania, cruel servility and rationalized obscurantism, the Qin empire at the end of the 3rd century. BC. collapsed, burying under its rubble the formidable glory of legalism.

Confucianism, by the middle of the 2nd c. BC. achieved revenge in the official orthodox field, effectively taking into account previous experience through the skillful assimilation of a number of pragmatically effective principles of the Legalist doctrine of society and the state. Morally ennobled by Confucianism, these principles were implemented in the official theory and practice of the Middle Empire until the beginning of the 20th century.

Even in spite of the persistent Confucian idiosyncrasy on legalism, in the Middle Ages the prominent statesman, reforming chancellor and Confucian philosopher Wang Anshi (1021-1086) included in his socio-political program small misdemeanors"), about the encouragement of military prowess (at 2), about the mutual responsibility of officials, about the refusal to recognize the absolute priority of "ancient" (gu) over modernity.

At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. legalism attracted the attention of reformers, who saw in it a theoretical justification for limiting the imperial omnipotence by law, consecrated by official Confucianism.

After the fall of the empire, in the 1920s–1940s, the “etatists” (guojiazhui pai) began to propagate the Legist apologetics of statehood, and, in particular, their ideologist Chen Qitian (1893–1975), who advocated the creation of “neolegism”. Kuomintang theorists led by Chiang Kai-shek (1887–1975) held similar views, declaring the legist nature of state planning of the economy and the policy of "people's welfare".

In the People's Republic of China, during the "criticism of Lin Biao and Confucius" campaign (1973–1976), the Legists were officially declared progressive reformers who fought conservative Confucians for the victory of emerging feudalism over obsolete slavery, and the ideological predecessors of Maoism.

School of Names

and the related more general tradition of bian ("eristic", "dialectic", "sophistry") in the 5th-3rd centuries. BC. accumulated in the teachings of its representatives protological and "semiotic" problems, partially touched upon in the Taoist theory of sign relativism and the verbal inexpressibility of truth, in the Confucian concept of "correcting names" (zheng ming) according to the order of things, in the Mohist, science-oriented systematics of terminological definitions and in methodological constructions of legalism connected with judicial practice.

First of all, thanks to the efforts of the philosophers of the “school of names”, as well as the later Mohists who were influenced by them and who combined Confucianism with the legalism of Xun Tzu, an original protological methodology was created in China, which in the 5th-3rd centuries. BC. a real alternative to the ultimately victorious numerology.

The leading representatives of the school were Hoi Shi (4th century BC) and Gongsun Long (4th-3rd centuries BC), however, from the numerous writings of the first of them, which, according to Chuang Tzu, could fill five wagons, now only a few sayings have been preserved, scattered over ancient Chinese monuments and collected mainly in the final 33rd chapter Chuang Tzu. According to these data, Hoi Shi appears to be the author of paradoxes designed to demonstrate the similarity (or even identity) of entities that differ in name, due to which he is considered the founder of the trend that asserted “the coincidence of similar and different” (he tong yi). Proceeding from this attitude, according to which "the whole darkness of things is both similar and different", Hoi Shi introduced the concepts of "great one", which is "so big that it has nothing outside", and "small one", which is "so small that has nothing inside." Following Zhang Binglian and Hu Shih, they are sometimes ontologically interpreted as representing space and time, respectively.

Unlike Hoi Shi, the Gongsun Long treatise, which bears his name, has survived to this day and, being mostly authentic, is the main source representing the ideas of the "school of names". hardness and whiteness" (li jian bai) as fixable different names different qualities of a single thing. Gongsun Lun, like Hoi Shi, and sometimes together with him, is attributed a number of paradoxical aphorisms. Some of them are reminiscent of the aporias of Zeno of Elea: “In the swift [flight] of an arrow there is a moment of absence of both movement and stop”; “If a stick [length] of one chi is taken away daily from half, it will not be completed even after 10,000 generations.” According to Feng Yulan, Hoi Shi preached universal relativity and variability, while Gongsun Long emphasized the absoluteness and permanence of the world. He united their method of argumentation based on the analysis of the language. In its development, Gongsun Long advanced much further than Hoi Shi, trying to build a “logical-semantic” theory that syncretically connects logic and grammar and is called upon to “correct names (min 2) and realities (shi 2) to transform the Celestial Empire.” Being a pacifist and a supporter of "comprehensive love" (jian ai), Gongsun Long developed the eristic aspect of his theory, hoping to prevent military conflicts through evidence-based persuasion.

The world, according to Gongsun Lun, consists of separate "things" (wu 3), which have independent heterogeneous qualities, perceived by various senses and synthesized by the "spirit" (shen 1). What makes a "thing" such is its existence as a concrete reality that must be uniquely named. The ideal of unambiguous correspondence between “names” and “realities” proclaimed by Confucius led to the emergence of the famous thesis of Gongsun Long: “A white horse is not a horse” (bai ma fei ma), expressing the difference between “names” “white horse” and “horse”. According to the traditional interpretation, coming from Xun Tzu, this statement denies the relation of belonging. Modern researchers often see in it: a) the denial of identity (the part is not equal to the whole) and, accordingly, the problem of the relationship between the individual and the general; b) the assertion of the non-identity of concepts based on the difference in their content; c) ignoring the volume of concepts in the accentuation of content. Apparently, this thesis of Gongsun Long testifies to the correlation of "names" not according to the degree of generality of concepts, but according to the quantitative parameters of denotations. Gongsun Long viewed the signs as naturalistically as the objects they represented, reflecting his aphorism "A rooster has three legs", implying two physical legs and the word "leg".

In general, the problem of reference was solved by Gongsun Lun with the help of the most original category in his system “zhi 7” (“finger”, nominative indication), interpreted by researchers in an extremely diverse way: “universal”, “attribute”, “attribute”, “definition”, "pronoun", "sign", "meaning". Gongsun Long revealed the meaning of "zhi 7" in paradoxical characteristics: the world as a whole multitude of things is subject to zhi 7, since any thing is available for nominative indication, but this cannot be said about the world as a whole (Celestial Empire); defining things, zhi 7 are at the same time determined by them, because they do not exist without them; the nominative indication itself cannot be nominatively indicated, and so on. The study of the treatise Gongsun Long with the help of a modern logical apparatus reveals the most important features of the cognitive methodology of ancient Chinese philosophy.

In addition to citations and descriptions in Chuang Tzu, Le Tzu, Xun Tzu, Lü Shi Chun Qiu, Han Fei Tzu and other ancient Chinese monuments, the teaching of the "school of names" is reflected in two special treatises, entitled by the names of its representatives Dan Xi Tzu And Yin Wenzi, which, however, raise doubts about their authenticity. Nevertheless, they somehow reflect the main ideas of the "school of names", although (unlike the original Gongsun Longzi), with a significant admixture of Taoism and legalism. Thus, using the simplest logical and grammatical techniques (“the art of saying” - yang zhi shu, “the doctrine of dual possibilities”, i.e. dichotomous alternatives - liang ke sho), in aphoristic and paradoxical Dan Xi Tzu the doctrine of state power is expounded as the sole implementation by the ruler through laws (fa 1) of the correct correspondence between “names” and “realities”. With the help of the Taoist antinomy of the mutual generation of opposites, the treatise proves the possibility of supersensory perception, superintelligent cognition (“seeing not with the eyes”, “hearing not with the ears”, “comprehending with the mind”) and the realization of the omnipresent Tao through “non-action” (wu wei 1). The latter implies three superpersonal "arts" (shu 2) - "seeing with the eyes of the Celestial Empire", "listening with the ears of the Celestial Empire", "reasoning with the mind of the Celestial Empire" - which the ruler must master. Like Heaven (tian), he cannot be "generous" (hou) to people: Heaven allows natural disasters, the ruler does not do without the application of punishments. He should be “serene” (ji 4) and “closed in himself” (“hidden” - cang), but at the same time “authoritative-autocratic” (wei 2) and “enlightened” (min 3) regarding the lawful correspondence of “names” and "realities".

School of dark and light [world-forming principles] specialized in natural-philosophical-cosmological and occult-numerological ( cm. XIANG SHU ZHI XUE) issues. The pair of fundamental categories of Chinese philosophy "yin yang", included in its name, expresses the idea of ​​the universal duality of the world and is concretized in an unlimited number of binary oppositions: dark - light, passive - active, soft - hard, internal - external, lower - upper, female - male, earthly - heavenly, etc. The time of occurrence and the composition of the representatives of this school, originally astrologer astrologers and natives of the northeastern coastal kingdoms of Qi and Yan, have not been precisely established. Not a single extended text of this school has survived; its ideas can be judged only by their fragmentary presentation in Shi chi, Zhou yi, Lu-shi chun qiu and some other monuments. The central concepts of the "school of dark and light [world-forming principles]" - the universal dualism of the forces of yin yang and the cyclical interactions of the "five elements » , or phases (wu xing 1) - wood, fire, soil, metal, water - formed the basis of the entire ontology, cosmology and, in general, the traditional spiritual culture and science of China (especially astronomy, medicine and the occult arts).

Probably until the middle of the 1st millennium BC. the concept of yin yang and the "five elements » , expressing various classification schemes - binary and fivefold, developed in separate occult traditions - "heavenly » (astronomical-astrological) and "terrestrial » (mantico-economic). The first tradition was primarily reflected in Zhou and, implicitly - in the canonical part i ching and explicitly in the comments and zhuan also called ten wings (Shi and). The most ancient and authoritative embodiment of the second tradition is the text Hong fan, which is sometimes denied the standard dating of the 8th c. BC. and refer to the work of representatives of the "school of dark and light [world-forming principles]" and specifically Zou Yan (4-3 centuries BC). The specificity of both traditions and the monuments reflecting them is their reliance on "symbols and numbers" (xiang shu), i.e. universal spatial-numerical models of world description.

In the second half of the 1st millennium BC, having acquired a philosophical status, these concepts merged into a single doctrine, which is traditionally considered the merit of the only known major representative of the “school of dark and light [world-forming principles]” - Zou Yan, although in the surviving universally recognized There are no obvious traces of the concept of yin yang in the evidence of his views.

Zou Yan spread the concept of "five elements » on the historical process, represented by a circular change of their primacy as "five graces » (at de, cm. DE), which greatly influenced official historiography and the ideology of the new centralized empires of Qin and Han (3rd century BC - 3rd century AD) in general. Among ancient Chinese thinkers, the numerological idea of ​​the division of the Celestial Empire into 9 regions (jiu zhou) in the form of a nine-cell square, which was used since ancient times as a universal world-descriptive structure, was generally accepted. Mencius in connection with the development of the utopian-numerological concept of "well fields" (ching tian), or "well lands" (ching di), which was based on the image of a piece of land (field) in the form of a nine-cell square with a side of 1 li ( more than 500 m), clarified the size of the territory of the Chinese (“middle”) states (Zhong Guo). According to him, it "consists of 9 squares, the side of each of which is 1000 li" ( mencius, I A, 7). Zou Yan, on the other hand, declared this nine-cell territory (Zhong Guo) the ninth part of one of the nine world continents and, accordingly, the entire Celestial Empire. Substituting the Mencius numerical data into his scheme produces a square with a side of 27,000 li.

This numerological ternary-decimal value (3 3 ґ10 3) was transformed into the formula for the size of the Earth "within the four seas: from east to west - 28,000 li, from south to north - 26,000 li", contained in encyclopedic treatises of the 3rd-2nd centuries . BC. lu shi chun qiu(XIII, 1) and Huainanzi(Ch. 4). This formula no longer looks like a speculative numerological construction, but a reflection of the actual size of the globe, since, firstly, it corresponds to the actual oblateness of the Earth at the poles, and secondly, it contains numbers that are strikingly close to the values ​​of the earth's axes from east to west and from south to the north: here the average error slightly exceeds 1%. In the Western world, the fact that the "width" of the Earth is greater than its "height" was already stated in the 6th century. BC. Anaximander, and Eratosthenes (about 276–194 BC) calculated close to the true dimensions of the Earth. Perhaps there was an exchange of information between the West and the East, since Zou Yan was a native of the Qi kingdom, which developed maritime trade and, accordingly, foreign relations, and his scheme is ecumenical in nature, generally atypical for China, and especially of that time.

For the first time as a single teaching covering all aspects of the universe, the concepts of yin yang and the "five elements » presented in the philosophy of Dong Zhongshu (2nd century BC), who integrated the ideas of the "school of dark and light [world-forming principles]" into Confucianism, thus developing and systematizing its ontological-cosmological and methodological basis. In the future, the natural-philosophical component of the “school of dark and light [world-forming principles]” found a continuation in the Confucian tradition of canons in “new writings » (jin wen) and neo-Confucianism, and religious-occult - in the practical activities of fortunetellers, soothsayers, magicians, alchemists and healers associated with Taoism.

Military school

developed a philosophical doctrine of military art as one of the foundations of social regulation and expression of general cosmic laws. She synthesized the ideas of Confucianism, Legalism, Taoism, "the school of dark and light [world-forming principles]" and Moism. IN Han shu, in chapter and wen chih its representatives are divided into four groups of experts: strategies and tactics (quan mou), disposition of troops on the ground (xing shi), temporary and psychological conditions of war (yin yang), combat techniques (ji jiao).

The theoretical foundation of this school is the Confucian principles of attitude to military affairs, set out in Hong fan, lun yue, Xi ci zhuang: military action is the last on the scale of state affairs, but a necessary means of suppressing unrest and restoring "humanity" (ren 2), "due justice" (and 1), "decency" (li 2) and "compliance" (zhan).

The most important works representing the ideas of the “military school” are Sun Tzu(5th-4th centuries BC) and wu tzu(4th century BC). Together with five other treatises, they were combined into Heptateuch of the military canon (Wu jing qi shu), the provisions of which formed the basis of all the traditional military-political and military-diplomatic doctrines of China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam.

Compound Heptateuch of the Military Canon finally determined only in the 11th century. It includes treatises created from the 6th century. BC. to the 9th c. AD: liu tao (six plans), Sun Tzu[bean fa] (Sun teacher [about the art of war]), wu tzu[bean fa] (teacher [about the art of war]), Sima fa(Sima rules), san lue (Three strategies), Wei Liaozi, ([Treatise] Wei Liao teachers), Li Wei-gong wen dui (Dialogues [Emperor Taizong] with Wei Prince Li). In 1972, another fundamental treatise of the "military school" was found in the PRC, which was considered lost by the middle of the 1st millennium - sun bin bin fa (Sun Bin's military laws).

The worldview of the “military school” is based on the idea of ​​the cyclical nature of all cosmic processes, which are the transition of opposites into each other according to the laws of interconversion of the forces of yin yang and the circulation of the “five elements”. This general course of things is the way of "returning to the root and returning to the beginning" ( wu tzu), i.e. dao. Representatives of the "military school" put the concept of Tao at the basis of all their teachings. IN Sun Tzu Tao is defined as the first of the five foundations of military art (along with the "conditions of Heaven and Earth", the qualities of a commander and law-fa 1), consisting in the unity of the willed thoughts (and 3) of the people and the leaders. Since war is seen as "the path (tao) of deceit", the tao is associated with the idea of ​​selfish selfishness and individual cunning, which was developed in late Taoism ( yin fu jing). According to wu tzu, Tao pacifies and becomes the first in a series of four general principles of successful activity (the rest are “due justice”, “planning”, “demanding”) and “four graces” (the rest are “due justice”, “decency / etiquette”, “humanity ").

IN social life opposites also operate, in it “culture” (wen) and the opposition “militancy” (wu 2), “education” (jiao) and “management” (zheng 3) are interdependent; in some cases, it is necessary to rely on the Confucian “virtues” (de 1): “humanity”, “due justice”, “decency”, “trustworthiness” (xin 2), and in others - on the legalistic principles opposite to them: “legality” ( fa 1), “punishability” (syn 4), “usefulness/profitability” (li 3), “cunning” (gui). The military sphere is an important area of ​​state affairs, and the main thing in military art is victory without a fight, and one who does not understand the harmfulness of war is not able to understand its “usefulness / profitability”. In such a dialectic, “rulers of the destinies (min 1) of the people” are well-versed - talented and prudent commanders who, in the hierarchy of victorious factors, follow the Tao, Heaven (tian), Earth (di 2) and ahead of the law (fa 1), and therefore (as and according to the teachings of the Mohists) should be revered and not depend on the ruler.

School of vertical and horizontal [political unions], existed in the 5th-3rd centuries. BC, included theorists and practitioners of diplomacy, who worked as advisers to the rulers of the kingdoms that fought among themselves. They gained the greatest fame in this field in the 4th century BC. Su Qin and Zhang Yi, whose biographies, as chapters 69 and 70, were included in the shi chi. The first of them sought to substantiate and create a coalition of states located along the “vertical” (zong) south-north in order to resist the strengthening of the Qin kingdom, in which the Legalist ideology prevailed. The second tried to solve a similar problem, but only in relation to the states located along the "horizontal" (heng) east-west, in order, on the contrary, to support Qin, which eventually prevailed and, having overcome its competitors, created the first centralized empire of Qin in China. This political and diplomatic activity determined the name of the school.

As described in Chap. 49 Han Feizi(3rd century BC), “adherents of the “vertical” rally many of the weak in order to attack one strong one, and adherents of the “horizontal” serve one strong one in order to attack the crowd of the weak.” The arguments of the first are presented in Han Feizi as moralistic: “If you do not help the small and do not punish the big, then you will lose the Celestial Empire; if you lose the Celestial Empire, you will expose the state to danger; and if you endanger the state, you will humiliate the ruler,” the argument of the latter is pragmatic: “If you do not serve the great, then the attack of the enemy will lead to misfortune.”

The theoretical basis of such an argument was a combination of the ideas of Taoism and Legalism. In Su Qin's biography shi chi it is reported that he was inspired to his activities by reading the classic Taoist treatise yin fu jing (The Canon of Secret Destiny), in which the universe is presented as an arena of general struggle and mutual "robbery".

IN shi chi it is also said that Su Qin and Zhang Yi studied under an enigmatic figure called Guiguzi, the Nawei Gorge Master, about whom little is known and who is therefore sometimes identified with more specific figures, including Su Qin himself.

The pseudonym Guiguzi gave the title to a treatise of the same name attributed to him, which is traditionally dated to the 4th century BC. BC, but, apparently, it was formed or even written much later, but no later than the end of the 5th - beginning of the 6th century. Guiguzi- the only surviving work that more or less fully expresses the ideology of the "school of vertical and horizontal [political unions]".

Theoretical basis Guiguzi- the idea of ​​the genetic-substantial origin of all things - a single Tao, material ("pneumatic" - qi 1) and "principled" (li 1), but "bodily" (sin 2) not formalized initial state of which is called "refined spirit" ( shen ling). The highest regularity of Tao is the circulating ("reverse" and "reversing" - fan fu) transition from one opposite to another (bitsy). The opposite phases of the main structures of the universe - Heaven (tian) and Earth (di 2), yin and yang, "longitudinal-vertical" (zong) and "transverse-horizontal" (heng) - are summarized in the original categories of "opening" (bai) and "closing" (he 2), which, together with a similar pair of "li" (synonymous with "bai") and "he 2" from Zhou and (Xi ci zhuan, I, 11) go back to the mythological image of the gate, philosophically and poetically comprehended in Tao de jing(§ 1, 6) as a symbol of the innermost bosom of the all-begetting mother nature. Universal and constant variability according to the "opening - closing" model serves to Guiguzi theoretical substantiation of the legalistic principles of political pragmatism and utilitarianism, combined with complete autocracy. The proposed practice of manipulating people on the basis of prior encouragement and revealing their interests is designated by the term "uplifting pincers" (fei qian). But "to know other people, you must know yourself." Therefore, mastery of oneself and others involves "reaching the depths of the heart (xin 1)" - "the master of the spirit." "Spirit" (shen 1) is the main among the five "pneuma" of a person; the other four are “mountain soul” (hun), “downhill soul” (po), “seed soul” (jing 3), “will” (zhi 3). According to Guiguzi, names (min 2) are “born” from “realities” (shi 2), and “realities” from “principles” (li 1). Jointly expressing sensuous properties (cng 2), "names" and "realities" are interdependent, and "principles" are "born" from their harmonious "beautification" (de 1).

agricultural school

little is known now, since the works of its representatives have not been preserved. From fragmentary reports about it, it follows that the basis of its ideology was the principle of the priority of agricultural production in society and the state as the most important factor in ensuring the livelihoods of the people. Some substantiations of this principle developed by the "agrarian school" are set out in separate chapters of encyclopedic treatises of the 4th-3rd centuries. BC. Guanzi(ch. 58) and lu shi chun qiu(XXVI, 3-6).

In the catalog created by the Confucians and wen chih the main orientation of the "agricultural school" is recognized as consistent with the Confucian view of the importance of the production of food and consumer goods, reflected in Hong fan from canon Shu jing and in the saying of Confucius from Lun Yuya. However, in an earlier classical Confucian treatise mencius(III A, 4) sharply criticized the ideas of the most famous representative of the "agrarian school" Xu Xing (3rd century BC).

Xu Xing is presented as a "southern barbarian with a bird's voice" who seduced the unstable Confucians with demagogic heresy. The true “way” (tao) he preached required that all people, down to the rulers, combine their activities with self-sufficiency and self-service, doing agricultural work and cooking. Mencius rejected this position, showing that, firstly, it contradicts the basic principle of civilization - the division of labor, and secondly, it is practically unrealistic, since it is violated by its spokesman himself, wearing clothes not sewn by him, using tools not made by him, and etc.

Such an apology for subsistence farming, direct exchange of goods, determining prices by quantity rather than quality of goods, and in general social equalization associated with the "agrarian school" allowed Hou Weil and Feng Yulan to hypothesize that its representatives participated in the creation of a social utopia Yes tun (Great Unity).

free school

represents philosophical direction, represented either by eclectic works of individual authors, or collections compiled from texts of representatives of various ideological directions, or encyclopedic treatises intended to be compendiums of all contemporary knowledge.

Determining the general guidelines of this school, the canonologist of the 6th–7th centuries. Yan Shigu noted the combination in it of the teachings of Confucianism and Moism, the “school of names” and Legalism. However, the special role of Taoism is also generally recognized, due to which the “free school” is sometimes qualified as “late” or “new Taoism” (xin dao jia).

Encyclopedic treatises of the 3rd-2nd centuries became classic examples of the creations of the "free school". BC. lu shi chun qiu (Spring and autumn Mr Lu [Buwei]) And Huainanzi ([Treatise] Huainan teachers).

According to legend, the content completeness of the first of them after the completion of work on the text in 241 BC. guaranteed a prize of a thousand gold coins to anyone who is able to add to it or subtract it even by one word. The authors also followed the orientation towards such comprehensiveness. Huainanzi, largely based on the vast (more than two hundred thousand words) content lu shi chun qiu.

The forerunner of both works was a 4th-century text similar in ideological and thematic diversity and size (about 130,000 words). BC. Guanzi ([Treatise] Guan teachers [Zhong]), which presents the widest range of knowledge: philosophical, socio-political, economic, historical, natural sciences and others, drawn from the teachings of various schools.

Subsequently, the hieroglyph “tsza” (“mixed, heterogeneous, combined, motley”), which is part of the name of the “free school”, began to designate the bibliographic heading “Miscellaneous” along with the classical headings: “Canons” (jing), “History” (shi), “ Philosophers" (tzu), and in modern language became a formant of the term "magazine, almanac" (tsza-zhi).

Confucianism.

Both in the “axial time” of the birth of Chinese philosophy, and in the era of “the rivalry of a hundred schools”, and even more so in subsequent times, when the ideological landscape lost such a magnificent diversity, Confucianism played a central role in the spiritual culture of traditional China, therefore its history is pivotal for the entire history of Chinese philosophy, or at least that part of it that begins with the Han era.

From its inception to the present, the history of Confucianism in its most general form is divided into four periods, and the beginning of each of them is associated with a global socio-cultural crisis, the way out of which Confucian thinkers invariably found in theoretical innovation, clothed in archaic forms.

First period: 6th–3rd centuries BC.

Primordial Confucianism arose in the “axial time”, in the middle of the 1st millennium BC, when China was torn apart by endless wars that separate decentralized states waged against each other and against “barbarians” who attacked from different sides. Spiritually, the early Zhou religious ideology was decomposing, undermined by relics of pre-Zhou (Yin) beliefs, neo-shamanistic (proto-Taoist) cults and other cultural trends brought to the Middle States by their aggressive neighbors. The reaction to this spiritual crisis was the canonization by Confucius of the ideological foundations of the early Zhou past, captured in classical texts. wu jing (Pentacanony, cm. SHI SAN JING), and the result is the creation of a fundamentally new cultural education - philosophy.

Confucius put forward the ideal of a state system in which, in the presence of a sacredly elevated, but practically almost inactive ruler, the real power belongs to the zhu, combining the properties of philosophers, writers, scientists and officials. From its very birth, Confucianism was distinguished by a conscious social and ethical orientation and a desire to merge with the state apparatus.

This desire was consistent with the theoretical interpretation of both state and divine (“heavenly”) power in family-related categories: “the state is one family”, the sovereign is the Son of Heaven and at the same time “father and mother of the people”. The state was identified with society, social ties - with interpersonal ones, the basis of which was seen in the family structure. The latter was derived from the relationship between father and son. From the point of view of Confucianism, the father was considered "Heaven" to the same extent that Heaven is the father. Therefore, “filial piety” (xiao 1) in a canonical treatise specially dedicated to it Xiao ching was elevated to the rank of "root of grace/virtue (de 1)".

Developing in the form of a kind of socio-ethical anthropology, Confucianism focused its attention on man, the problems of his innate nature and acquired qualities, position in the world and society, abilities for knowledge and action, etc. Refraining from his own judgments about the supernatural, Confucius formally approved the traditional belief in the impersonal, divine-naturalistic, “fateful” Heaven and the ancestral spirits (gui shen) mediating with it, which later largely determined the acquisition of the social functions of religion by Confucianism. At the same time, Confucius considered all sacred and ontological-cosmological issues related to the sphere of Heaven (tian) from the point of view of significance for a person and society. He made the focus of his teaching the analysis of the interaction between the "internal" impulses of human nature, ideally covered by the concept of "humanity" (jen 2), and "external" socializing factors, ideally covered by the concept of ethical-ritual "decency" (li 2). The normative type of a person, according to Confucius, is a “noble man” (jun tzu), who has known heavenly “predestination” (min 1) and “humane”, combining ideal spiritual and moral qualities with the right to a high social status.

Compliance with the ethical and ritual norm li 2 Confucius also made the highest epistemoprakseological principle: “One should neither look, nor listen, nor speak inappropriate 2”; "By expanding [one's] knowledge of culture (wen) and tightening it with the help of li 2 , one can avoid violations." Both ethics and gnoseopraxeology of Confucius are based on the general idea of ​​universal balance and mutual correspondence, which in the first case results in “ Golden Rule"morality (shu 3 - "reciprocity"), in the second - in the requirement of correspondence between nominal and real, words and deeds (zheng ming - "correcting names"). The meaning of human existence, according to Confucius, is the affirmation in the Middle Kingdom of the highest and universal form of the socio-ethical order - the "Way" (tao), the most important manifestations of which are "humanity", "due justice" (and), "reciprocity", "reasonableness" (zhi 1), "courage" (yong 1), "[respectful] caution" (ching 4), "filial piety" (xiao 1), "brotherly love" (ti 2), "self-respect", "fidelity" (zhong 2), "mercy" and others The specific embodiment of Tao in each individual being and phenomenon is "grace/virtue" (de 1). The hierarchical harmony of all individual de 1 forms the universal Tao.

After the death of Confucius, his numerous students and followers formed various directions, which by the 3rd century. BC, according to Han Fei, there were already at least eight: Zi Zhang, Zi Si, Yan Hui, Meng Zi, Qi Diao, Zhong Liang, Xun Tzu and Yue Zhang. They also developed explicit ethical and social ( Da xue, xiao jing, comments on Chun qiu), and implicit ontological-cosmological ( jung yoon, Xi ci zhuan) representations of Confucius. Two holistic and opposite to each other, and therefore subsequently recognized as orthodox and unorthodox, respectively, interpretations of Confucianism in the 4th-3rd centuries. BC. suggested Mencius (Meng Ke) and Xunzi (Xun Kuan). The first of them put forward the thesis about the original “goodness” of human “nature” (sin 1), which “humanity”, “due justice”, “decency” and “reasonableness” are inherent in the same way as a person has four limbs (ti, cm. TI - YUN). According to the second, human nature is inherently evil, i.e. From birth, she strives for profit and carnal pleasures, therefore, these good qualities must be instilled in her from the outside through constant training. In accordance with his initial postulate, Mencius focused on the study of the moral-psychological, and Xun-tzu, the social and epistemoprakseological side of human existence. This discrepancy also affected their views on society: Mencius formulated the theory of “humane government” (ren zheng), based on the priority of the people over the spirits and the ruler, including the right of subjects to overthrow the vicious sovereign; Xun Tzu compared the ruler with the root, and the people - with the leaves and considered the task of the ideal sovereign to "conquer" his people, thereby approaching legalism.

Second period: 3rd c. BC. - 10th c. AD

The main stimulus for the formation of the so-called Han Confucianism was the desire to restore the ideological supremacy lost in the struggle against the newly formed philosophical schools, primarily Taoism and Legalism. The response was also retrograde in form and progressive in essence. With the help of ancient texts, first of all Zhou change (Zhou and) And majestic sample (Hong fan), the Confucians of this period, led by Dong Zhongshu (2nd century BC), significantly reformed their own teaching, integrating the problems of their theoretical competitors into it: the methodological and ontological Taoists and the Yin-Yang school, the political and legal - Mohists and Legists .

In the 2nd century BC, in the Han era, Confucius was recognized as the “uncrowned king”, or “true ruler” (su wang), and his teaching acquired the status of an official ideology and, having defeated the main competitor in the field of socio-political theory - legalism, integrated a number of his cardinal ideas, in particular, recognized a compromise combination of ethical and ritual norms (li 2) and administrative and legal laws (fa 1). Confucianism acquired the features of a comprehensive system thanks to the efforts of the "Confucius of the Han era" - Dong Zhongshu, who, using the relevant concepts of Taoism and the yin-yang jia school ( cm. YIN YANG), developed in detail the ontological and cosmological doctrine of Confucianism and gave it some religious functions (the doctrine of the "spirit" and "will of Heaven"), necessary for the official ideology of a centralized empire.

According to Dong Zhongshu, everything in the world comes from the “original principle” (“original cause” - yuan 1), similar to the “Great Limit” (tai chi), consists of “pneuma” (qi 1) and obeys the unchanging Tao. The action of the Tao is manifested primarily in the successive dominance of the opposing forces of yin yang and the circulation of the "mutually generating" and "mutually overcoming" "five elements" (wu xing 1). For the first time in Chinese philosophy, the binary and fivefold classification schemes - yin yang and wu xing 1 - were brought together by Dong Zhongshu into a single system covering the entire universe. "Pneuma" fills Heaven and Earth like invisible water, in which man is like a fish. He is a microcosm, to the smallest detail similar to the macrocosm (Heaven and Earth) and directly interacting with it. Like the Mohists, Dong Zhongshu endowed Heaven with a “spirit” (shen 1) and a “will” (and 3), which it, without speaking or acting (wu wei 1 , cm. WEI-ACT), manifests through the sovereign, "perfectly wise" (sheng 1) and signs of nature.

Dong Zhongshu recognized the existence of two types of fateful "predestination" (min 1): "great predestination" coming from nature and "changing predestination" coming from man (society). Dong Zhongshu presented history as a cyclical process consisting of three stages (“dynasties”), symbolized by colors - black, white, red and virtues - “devotion” (zhong 2), “respect” (xiao 1), “culture” (wen ). From here, He Xiu (2nd century) derived the historiosophical "doctrine of the three eras", popular up to the reformer Kang Yuwei (19th - early 20th century).

An important stage in the development of Confucianism was Dong Zhongshu's holistic ontological and cosmological interpretation of the social and state structure, based on the doctrine of the mutual "perception and response of Heaven and man" (tian ren gan ying). According to Dong Zhongshu, not “Heaven follows Tao”, as in Lao Tzu, but “Tao comes from Heaven”, being a link between Heaven, Earth and man. A visual embodiment of this connection is the hieroglyph "van 1" ("sovereign"), consisting of three horizontal lines (symbolizing the triad: Heaven - Earth - Man) and a vertical line crossing them (symbolizing Tao). Accordingly, the comprehension of Tao is the main function of the sovereign. The foundation of the social and state structure is made up of “three foundations” (san gan), derived from the unchanging, like Heaven, Tao: “The ruler is the foundation for the subject, the father for the son, the husband for the wife.” In this heavenly "way of the sovereign" (wang dao), the first member of each pair marks the dominant yang force, the second the subordinate yin force. Such a construction, close to the position of Han Fei, reflects the strong influence of legalism on the socio-political views of Han and later official Confucianism.

In general, in the Han era (end of the 3rd century BC - beginning of the 3rd century AD), “Han Confucianism” was created, the main achievement of which was the systematization of ideas born from the “golden age” of Chinese philosophy (5–3 centuries BC), and textual and commentary processing of Confucian and Confucianized classics.

A reaction to the penetration of Buddhism into China in the first centuries AD. and the associated revival of Taoism became the Taoist-Confucian synthesis in the "doctrine of the mysterious (hidden)" (xuan xue). One of the founders and the most prominent representative of this doctrine, as well as the dialogic tradition of speculative speculations associated with it - “pure conversations” (qing tan) was Wang Bi (226-249).

In an effort to substantiate Confucian views on society and man with the help of Taoist metaphysics, and not the natural philosophy of his predecessors, the Confucians of the Han era, Wang Bi developed a system of categories that later had a significant impact on the conceptual apparatus and concepts of Chinese Buddhism and Neo-Confucianism. He was the first to introduce the fundamental opposition ti - yun in the meaning: "corporal essence (substance) - active manifestation (function, accident)". Based on the definitions of Tao and the thesis “presence/being (yu) is born from absence/non-existence (y 1)” in Tao de jing(§ 40), Wang Bi identified Tao with "non-existence" (wu 1), interpreted as "one" (yi, gua), "central" (zhong 2), "ultimate" (ji 2) and "dominant" (zhu, zong) “primordial essence” (ben ti), in which the “corporeal essence” and its “manifestation” coincide with each other ( cm. Yu - U). Wang Bi understood the supremacy of the universal Tao as lawful, not fatalistic, interpreting both Tao and “predestination/fate” (min 1) with the category “principle” (li 1). He considered “principles” as constitutive components of “things” (y 3) and contrasted them with “deeds/events” (y 3). The variety of unpredictable phenomena, according to Wang Bi, is also due to the opposite (fan, cm. GUA) between their "corporeal essence" and "sensory properties" (qing 2), natural basis (zhi 4, cm. WEN) and aspirations, being realized primarily in time.

Wang Bi interpreted the teaching Zhou and as a theory of temporal processes and changes, having determined that the main elements of the treatise - the symbolic categories gua - are "times" (shi 1). However, the general procedural patterns fixed in gua are not reducible to specific images and cannot serve as a basis for unambiguous predictions - “calculations of the lot” (suan shu). This is a philosophical interpretation of the doctrine Zhou and was directed against its mantic interpretation in the previous numerological (xiang shu zhi xue) tradition and was further continued by the neo-Confucian Cheng Yi (11th century). In neo-Confucianism, the interpretation of the category li 1 proposed by Wang Bi was also developed, and the provision on the dichotomy of li 1 and shi 3 was developed in the teaching of the Buddhist school of Huayan.

The gradual growth of both the ideological and social influence of Buddhism and Taoism caused a desire to restore the prestige of Confucianism. The forerunners of this movement, which resulted in the creation of neo-Confucianism, were Wang Tong (584-617), Han Yu (768-824) and his student Li Ao (772-841).

Third period: 10th–20th centuries

The emergence of neo-Confucianism was caused by another ideological crisis, due to the confrontation of official Confucianism with a new competitor - Buddhism, as well as Taoism transformed under its influence. In turn, the popularity of these teachings, especially in their religious and theological incarnations, was determined by the socio-political cataclysms that took place in the country. The response of the Confucians to this challenge was the promotion of original ideas with references to the founders of their teachings, primarily Confucius and Mencius.

Neo-Confucianism set itself two main and interrelated tasks: the restoration of authentic Confucianism and the solution with its help, based on an improved numerological methodology, of a complex of new problems put forward by Buddhism and Taoism.

Unlike original Confucianism, Neo-Confucianism is based mainly on the texts of Confucius, Mencius and their closest students, and not on proto-philosophical canons. His new approach embodied in the formation Quaternary (sy shu), which most adequately reflects the views of these first Confucian philosophers. During the period of the formation of neo-Confucianism, the normative form thirteencanony (Shi san jing) the ancient proto-philosophical classics were also covered. The first place in it was taken by the methodological "organon" - Zhou and, which outlines numerological ideas, fully explicated (including by means of graphic symbols) and developed in neo-Confucianism. Neo-Confucians actively developed ontological, cosmological and epistemological-psychological problems, much less developed in the original Confucianism. Borrowing some abstract notions and concepts from Taoism and Buddhism, neo-Confucianism assimilated them through ethical interpretation. The moral dominant of Confucianism in neo-Confucianism turned into ethical universalism, within which any aspect of being was interpreted in moral categories, which was expressed through consistent mutual identifications of human (“humanity”, “[individual] nature”, “heart”) and natural (“Heaven ”, “predestination”, “grace/virtue”) entities. Modern interpreters and successors of neo-Confucianism (Mou Zongsan, Du Weiming and others) define this approach as "moral metaphysics" (dao-te de xing-er-shang-xue), which is at the same time theology.

The Neo-Confucian ideology began to be created by the "three masters of the doctrine of the principle" - Sun Fu, Hu Yuan (end of the 10th - 11th centuries) and Shi Jie (11th century), for the first time it acquired a systematic and thematically comprehensive form in the works of Zhou Dunyi (1017 - 1073). The leading trend in neo-Confucianism was the direction of its followers and commentators, namely the school of Cheng Yi (1033-1107) - Zhu (1130-1200), originally opposed to the official ideology, but canonized in 1313 and retained such a status in China until the beginning of the 20th century.

According to the extremely lapidary treatise of Zhou Dunyi tai chi tu sho, (Explanation of the Plan of the Great Limit) the whole diversity of the world: the forces of yin yang, the “five elements” (wu xing 1, in the treatise are called “five pneuma” - wu qi), four seasons and up to the “darkness of things” (wan wu), as well as good and evil (shan - e), "five constancy" (wu chang, called "five natures" - wu xing 3) and up to the "darkness of deeds" (wan shi, cm. LI-PRINCIPLE; Y-THING; WEI-ACT), - comes from the "Great Limit" (tai chi). That, in turn, follows the "Boundless", or "Limit of absence / non-existence" (wu chi). The term "wu chi", which allows a double understanding, arose in the original Taoism ( Dao Te Ching, § 28), and the correlative term “tai chi” in Confucianism ( Xi ci zhuan, I, 11). The generative function of the “Great Limit” is realized through mutually conditioning and replacing each other “movement” and “rest” (ching 2, cm. DONG - JING). The latter has priority, which coincides with the principles and formulas of the original Taoism ( Dao Te Ching, § 37; Chuang Tzu, Ch. 13). For a person, the agentless and motionless essence of the universe, that is, “wu chi”, manifests itself as “authenticity / sincerity” (cheng 1). This category, which combines ontological (“the path of Heaven”, DAO) and anthropological (“the path of man”) sense, was put forward by the first Confucians (in Mencius, Zhong Yune, Xunzi, 4-3 centuries BC), while Zhou Dunyi in Tong shu (book of penetration) took center stage. Determining the highest good (zhi shan) and "perfect wisdom" (sheng 1), "authenticity/sincerity" ideally requires "the supremacy of peace" (zhu jing), that is, the absence of desires, thoughts, deeds. The main theoretical achievement of Zhou Dunyi is the reduction of the most important Confucian categories and related concepts into a universal (from cosmology to ethics) and extremely simple, based primarily on Zhou and worldview system, within which not only Confucian, but also Taoist-Buddhist issues were covered.

Zhu Xi interpreted the connection between the “Great Limit” (tai chi) and the “Infinite / Limit of Absence” described by Zhou Dunyi (wu chi, cm. tai chi; Yu - Wu) as their essential identity, using for this purpose developed by Cheng Yi the concept of a universal global "principle / reason" (li 1). Tai chi, according to Zhu Xi, is the totality of all li 1 , the total unity of structures, ordering principles, patterns of the entire “darkness of things” (wan wu). In each specific "thing" (at 3), i.e. object, phenomenon or deed, tai chi is present in full, like the image of the moon - in any of its reflections. Therefore, without separating from the real world as an ideal entity, the "Great Limit" was defined as "formless and placeless", i.e. nowhere localized as an independent form. The fullness of its presence in “things” makes the main task of a person their “reconciliation”, or “classifying comprehension” (ge wu), which consists in “perfect [disclosure] of principles” (qiong li). This procedure of "bringing knowledge to the end" (zhi zhi) should result in "sincerity of thoughts", "straightness of the heart", "perfection of the personality", and then - "straightness of the family", "orderliness of the state" and "balance [of the whole] Celestial » (formulas Da xue), since whether 1 combines the features of a rational principle and moral standard: "the real principle has no evil", "the principle is humanity (jen 2), due justice (i 1), decency (li 2), reasonableness (zhi 1)". Each “thing” is a combination of two principles: a structural-discrete, rational-moral “principle” (li 1) and a substrate-continuous, vital-sensory, mental, morally indifferent pneuma (chi 1). Physically they are inseparable, but logically does 1 take precedence over qi 1 . Taking Cheng Yi's distinction between "extremely root, completely original nature" (ji ben qiong yuan zhi xing) and "pneumatic matter nature" (qi zhi zhi xing), linking them to li 1 and qi 1 respectively, Zhu Xi finally formed the concept from the very beginning. -general “good” human “nature” (syn 1), which has secondary and specific modes, which are characterized by “good” and “evil” to varying degrees.

The teachings of Cheng Yi - Zhu Xi were supported by the foreign Manchu Qing dynasty (1644-1911), which ruled in the last period of the imperial history of China. In the 1930s, it was modernized by Feng Youlan (1895–1990) into the "new doctrine of principle" (xin li xue). Similar attempts are now being actively made by a number of Chinese philosophers living outside the PRC and representing the so-called post-Confucianism, or post-neo-Confucianism.

The main competition for this trend in neo-Confucianism was the school of Lu Jiuyuan (1139-1193) - Wang Yangming (1472-1529), which ideologically prevailed in the 16-17 centuries. The rivalry between the Cheng-Zhu and Lu-Wang schools, which defended, respectively, sociocentric objectivism and personacentric subjectivism, which is sometimes qualified by means of the opposition "the doctrine of the principle" (li xue) - "the doctrine of the heart" (hsin xue), spread to Japan and Korea, where , as in Taiwan, in updated forms continues to this day. In the struggle of these schools, the opposition of externalism (Xun-tzu - Zhu Xi, who only formally canonized Mencius) and internalism (Mengzi - Wang Yangming), which was initial for Confucianism, was revived at a new theoretical level, which took shape in neo-Confucianism in opposite orientations to the object or subject , the external world or the inner nature of a person as a source of comprehension of the “principles” (li 1) of everything that exists, including moral norms.

All Lu Jiuyuan's reasoning was permeated with the general idea of ​​such an isomorphic unity of subject and object, in which each of them is a complete analogue of the other: "The universe is my heart, my heart is the universe." Since the "heart" (blue 1), i.e. the psyche of any person, according to Lu Jiuyuan, contains all the "principles" (li 1) of the universe, any knowledge can and should be introspective, and morality - autonomous. The idea of ​​the absolute self-sufficiency of each individual also determined Lu Jiuyuan's neglect of doctrinal scholarship: “Six canons should comment on me. Why should I comment on the six canons?” Confucian orthodoxy criticized these views as Ch'an Buddhism in disguise. For his part, Lu Jiuyuan saw Taoist-Buddhist influence in Zhu Xi's identification of the Confucian interpretation of the "Great Limit" (tai chi) with the Taoist doctrine of "Infinite/Limit of Absence" (wu chi).

Like Lu Jiuyuan, Wang Yangming also saw in the Confucian canons ( cm. SHI SAN JING) is nothing more than exemplary material evidence of the absolute truths and values ​​contained in the soul of every person. The fundamental thesis of this teaching is: “the heart is the principle” (xin chi li), i.e. Li 1 - the structure-forming beginnings of everything that exists - are initially present in the psyche. The "principles" to be revealed by "reconciling things" (ge wu) are to be found in the subject himself, and not in an external world independent of him. The concept of "li 1" stood in Wang Yangming on a par with the ethical ideals of "due justice" (i 1), "decency" (li 2), "trustworthiness" (xin 2), etc. Wang Yangming reinforced this position with the authority of the Confucian canons, interpreting them accordingly.

A specific element of Wang Yangming's system of views is the doctrine of "coinciding unity of knowledge and action" (zhi xing he yi). It involves the understanding of cognitive functions as actions, or movements, and the interpretation of behavior as a direct function of knowledge: knowledge is action, but not vice versa. This doctrine, in turn, defines the essence of the main category of Wang Yangming's teaching - "prudence" (liang zhi). His thesis of "bringing wisdom to the end" (zhi liang zhi) is a synthesis of the concepts of "bringing knowledge to the end" (zhi zhi) from the Confucian canon Da xue and “prudence” (translation options are “innate knowledge”, “natural knowledge”, “ intuitive knowledge”, “pre-experimental moral knowledge”, etc.) from mencius. "Prudence" - "what [a person] knows without reasoning", in mencius parallel to the concept of "well-being" (liang neng), covering "what [a person] is capable of without learning." For Wang Yangming, “prudence” is identical to “heart” and has a wide semantic range: “soul”, “spirit”, “cognition”, “knowledge”, “feelings”, “will”, “consciousness” and even “subconsciousness”. It is self-originating and without prerequisites, supra-individual, inherent in everyone and at the same time intimate, cannot be transferred to others; is identified with the inexhaustible and infinitely accommodating "Great Void" (tai xu), conditions all knowledge and cognition; is the focus of "heavenly principles" (tian li), the basis of an innate moral sense and moral duty. Thus, the Confucian thesis of “bringing knowledge to the end”, which in the Zhuxian tradition was interpreted as a call for the maximum expansion of knowledge (to the “exhaustion of principles” - qiong li), Wang Yangming interpreted with the use of the category of “prudence” and the position of “coinciding unity knowledge and action” as the most complete embodiment of the highest moral ideals.

The epistemological views of Wang Yangming found a condensed expression in the “four postulates” (si ju zong zhi): “The absence of both good and evil is the essence (literally: “body” - ti 1 , cm. TI - YUN) hearts. The presence of good and evil - such is the movement of thoughts. The knowledge of good and evil is wisdom. Doing good and eliminating evil is the alignment of things.” Prior to Wang Yangming, Neo-Confucians offered solutions to the question of the "heart" and its activities, focusing mainly on the resting, unmanifested "essence of the heart." This strengthened the position of the schools that preached meditation, withdrawal into oneself. In contrast to this trend, Wang Yangming, justifying the unity of “substance and function” (ti-yong), “movement and rest” (tung-jing), “non-manifestation [of the spiritual state] and manifestation” (wei fa – and fa), etc. etc., made a conclusion about the need for active practical activity and the perniciousness of leaving life.

He rejected the concept of consciousness of the Buddhist Chan school, believing, in particular, that the demand for liberation from "attachment" to the phenomenal world and a return to the indistinguishability of good and evil leads to detachment from social and ethical duties and attachment to the egoistic "I". Ascending to the disciple of Huineng (638–713), Shenhui (868–760), the concept of “lack of thought” as the return of the spirit to the original state of “calmness” is untenable, since “prudence” cannot but “be aware” even in a dream. Huineng's doctrine of "instant enlightenment" - spontaneous comprehension of one's own "Buddha nature", according to Wang Yangming, is based on "vacuum emptiness" (kun xu) and is not associated with real spiritual progress - "bringing knowledge to the end", "making thoughts sincere" and "correction of the heart." At the same time, the teachings of Wang Yangming and Ch'an Buddhism have many points of contact, including a common setting for a purposeful change in the psychology of adherents, a resonant interaction between the minds of a teacher and a student.

From the two main trends in neo-Confucianism, the Cheng-Zhu and Lu-Wang schools, two narrower currents separated from the very beginning: representatives of the first showed increased attention to natural philosophical problems and numerological ( cm. XIANG SHU ZHI XUE) constructions (Shao Yong, 11th century; Cai Jiufeng, 12th–13th centuries; Fang Yizhi, Wang Chuanshan, 17th century), representatives of the second emphasized the social and utilitarian significance of knowledge (Lu Zuqian, Chen Liang, 12 c.; Ye Shi, 12th-13th centuries; Wang Tingxiang, 15th-16th centuries; Yan Yuan, 17th - early 18th century).

In the 17th–19th centuries the dominant teachings of Cheng-Zhu and Lu-Wang were attacked by the "empirical" school, which emphasized the empirical study of nature and the critical study of classical texts, taking the textual criticism of Han Confucianism as a model, due to which it received the name "Han teaching" (han xue). The forerunner of this trend, now also called the "teaching of nature" or "concrete teaching" (pu xue), was Gu Yanwu (1613-1682), and the largest representative was Dai Zhen (1723-1777). The further development of neo-Confucianism, starting with Kang Yuwei (1858-1927), is associated with attempts to assimilate Western theories.

Gu Yanwu advocated the study and restoration of "authentic" Confucianism ("teachings of the wise" - sheng xue) in the oldest orthodox interpretation developed in the Han era. In this regard, he advocated the introduction of new, higher standards of accuracy and usefulness of knowledge. The need for empirical validity and practical applicability of knowledge in the general ontological plan, Gu Yanwu concluded from the fact that “there is no place for Tao outside of tools (qi 2)”, i.e. outside the concrete phenomena of reality. "The way-teaching (tao) of the wise" he defined two formulas of Confucius from Lun Yuya: "expansion of knowledge in culture (wen)" and "preservation of a sense of shame in one's actions", thus uniting epistemology with ethics. In contrast to Huang Zongxi (1610–1695), in the dilemma “laws or people”, Gu Yanwu considered the human factor to be decisive: the abundance of legal norms is detrimental, because it obscures morality. "Rightening of people's hearts and improvement of morals" can be achieved through free expression public opinion- “Frank discussions” (qing yi).

Dai Zhen developed the methodology of "[philologically] evidence-based research" (kao ju), basing the explication of ideas on the analysis of the terms expressing them. He expounded his own views in textual commentaries on the Confucian classics, opposing them to the commentaries of previous Confucians distorted, in his opinion, by Taoist-Buddhist influences.

The main trend of Dai Zhen's theoretical constructions is the desire to harmonize the most general conceptual oppositions as a reflection of the universal and harmonious integrity of the world. coming from Xi ci zhuang(commentary part Zhou and) and the opposition, fundamental for neo-Confucianism, of the “above-form” (xing er shang) dao to the “under-form” (xing er xia) “tools” (qi 2), he interpreted as a temporary, and not a substantial, difference in the states of a single “pneuma” (qi 1): on the one hand, constantly changing, “generating generations” (sheng sheng) according to the laws of the forces of yin yang and the “five elements” (wu xing 1) and, on the other hand, already taking shape in many specific stable things. Dai Zhen substantiated the inclusion of the “five elements” in the concept of “tao” by defining the last term, which has the lexical meaning “way, road”, using the etymological component of the hieroglyph “dao” - a graphic element (in another spelling - an independent hieroglyph) “xing 3” ( “movement”, “action”, “behavior”), which is included in the phrase “wu xing 1”. The “[individual] nature” (xing 1) of every thing, according to Dai Zhen, is “natural” (zi zhan) and is determined by “goodness” (shan), which is generated by “humanity” (ren 2), is ordered by “decency” (li 2 ) and is stabilized by "due fairness" (and 1). Cosmologically, "good" manifests itself in the form of Tao, "grace" (de 1) and "principles" (li 1), and anthropologically - in the form of "predestination" (min 1), "[individual] nature" and "capabilities" (cai ).

Dai Zhen opposed the early (Song Dynasty, 960-1279) Neo-Confucian canonization of "principles" against "feelings" (qing 2) and "desires" (yu), arguing that "principles" are inseparable from "feelings" and "desires". ".

A “principle” is that unchanging thing that is specific to the “[individual] nature” of every person and every thing, the highest object of knowledge. Unlike previous neo-Confucians, Dai Zhen believed that "principles" are not explicitly present in the human psyche - the "heart", but are revealed through in-depth analysis. The ability of people to know, according to Dai Zhen, differ like fires with different intensity of glow; these differences are partly offset by training. Dai Zhen substantiated the priority of the empirical-analytical approach both in knowledge and in practice.

The fourth period

- the last and incomplete, which began in the 20th century. Post-Confucianism that arose at that time was a reaction to global catastrophes and global information processes, expressed, in particular, in the rooting of heterogeneous Western theories in China. For their innovative rethinking, post-Confucians again turned to the old arsenal of Confucian and neo-Confucian constructions.

The last, fourth form of Confucianism is most different from all the others, primarily because extremely alien spiritual material has fallen into the sphere of its integrative intentions.

Since the end of the 19th century the development of Confucianism in China is somehow connected with attempts to assimilate Western ideas(Kang Yuwei) and the return from the abstract problems of Sung-Ming neo-Confucianism and Qing-Han textology to the specific ethical and social themes of the original Confucianism. In the first half of the 20th century, especially in opposition to the teachings of Feng Yulan and Xiong Shili, the intra-Confucian opposition of externalism and internalism, respectively, revived at a higher theoretical level, combining neo-Confucian and partly Buddhist categories with knowledge of European and Indian philosophy, which allows researchers to talk about the emergence in this is the time of a new, historically fourth (after the original, Han and neo-Confucian) form of Confucianism - post-Confucianism, or rather, post-neo-Confucianism, based, like the two previous forms, on the assimilation of foreign and even foreign cultural ideas. Modern Confucians, or post-Neo-Confucians (Mou Zongsan, Tang Junyi, Du Weiming and others), see in the ethical universalism of Confucianism, which interprets any layer of being in a moral aspect and gave rise to the “moral metaphysics” of Neo-Confucianism, see an ideal combination of philosophical and religious thought.

In China, Confucianism was the official ideology until 1912 and dominated spiritually until 1949; today a similar position has been preserved in Taiwan and Singapore. After the ideological defeat in the 1960s (the campaign of "criticism of Lin Biao and Confucius"), since the 1980s, it has been successfully reanimated in the PRC as a carrier of a national idea waiting to be demanded.

Literature:

Petrov A.A. An Outline of Chinese Philosophy. - In the book: China. M. - L., 1940
Yang Yun-go. History of ancient Chinese ideology. M., 1957
Selected Works of Progressive Modern Chinese Thinkers(1840–1897 ). M., 1960
Go Mo-jo. Philosophers of ancient China. M., 1961
Bykov F.S. The Origin of Socio-Political and Philosophical Thought in China. M., 1966
ancient chinese philosophy, tt. 1–2. M., 1972–1973
Burov V.G. Modern Chinese philosophy. M., 1980
Kobzev A.I. Wang Yangming's Teachings and Classical Chinese Philosophy. M., 1983
History of Chinese philosophy. M., 1989
Vasiliev L.S. Problems of the Genesis of Chinese Thought. M., 1989
ancient Chinese philosophy. Han era. M., 1990
Kobzev A.I. The doctrine of symbols and numbers in Chinese classical philosophy. M., 1994
Dumoulin G. History of Zen Buddhism. India and China. St. Petersburg, 1994
Chinese philosophy. encyclopedic Dictionary. M., 1994
Anthology of Taoist Philosophy. M., 1994
Torchinov E.A. Taoism. St. Petersburg, 1998
Feng Yulan. Short story Chinese philosophy. SPb., 1998
Great thinkers of the East. M., 1998
Rubin V.A. Personality and power in ancient China. M., 1999



As a religious and philosophical system, Taoism 21 originated in the 6th-5th centuries BC. It became one of the three main religions of China and entered the San Jiao ("spiritual teaching") as the main alternative to Confucianism and Buddhism. The semi-legendary personality Lao Tzu is considered the founder of Taoism. “It is possible that “Lao Tzu” is not a generic but a philosophical name of a sage. Literally, it means "old sage" 22 . The history of its formation is conventionally divided into three stages. At the first stage (from ancient times to the 4th-3rd centuries BC), religious practice and worldview models were formed on the basis of archaic shamanistic beliefs. The second stage (IV-III-II-I century) is associated with the development of two parallel processes. On the one hand, Taoism acquired a philosophical character and a written fixation of the Taoist worldview, and on the other hand, the methods of “gaining immortality” and psychophysiological meditation of the yogic type, one way or another reflected in classical texts, were implicitly developed. At the third stage (1st century BC -5th century AD) there was a convergence and merging of theoretical speculations and religious practice with the inclusion of the achievements of other philosophical trends in China and the formation of a unified Taoist worldview 23 .

The most important canons of the Taoist teaching are set forth in the fundamental treatise compiled by the followers of Lao Tzu "Tao Te Ching" 24 . The treatise became the main work of the philosophical teaching "Tao de jia" 25 .

From the 3rd century AD, namely from the reign of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Taoist pantheon of deities began to take shape. One of the main deities of the pantheon was declared the founder of Taoism, Lao Tzu. A great contribution to the development of the popularity of Lao Zi as a sacred person was made by the authoritative preacher Zhang Ling (34-156 AD), who lived in the era of the same ruling dynasty under Emperor Shundi (125-144 AD). He founded the sect "Udoumi Dao" 26 . Adherents of the sect revered Lao Tzu as a great teacher.

In 184, the Yellow Turban Rebellion took place in China. This uprising was led by another preacher of Taoism, the founder of the Taiping Dao sect 27 Zhang Jiao. Supporters of Udoumi Dao also took part in this uprising. During the period of the Southern and Northern Dynasties (4th-6th centuries AD), Taoism was divided into two main branches: the "Way of the northern heavenly mentors" and the "Way of the southern heavenly mentors". Under Emperor Xuanzong (712-756) of the Tang Dynasty (618-906), Taoism took the form of a state religion. The Taoist writings "Laozi", "Zhuangzi", "Letszy" began to be called "true canons", in each district a Taoist temple had to be built. Emperor Zhenzong (998-1022) of the Song Dynasty ordered the compilation and editing of a new Tao Zang, the Taoist canon.

The formation of Taoism as a religious system was greatly influenced by Buddhism, which entered China from India in the 2nd century AD. in the form of the Mahayana. Chinese Buddhism was especially popular in large cities - metropolitan centers. “In the III-IV centuries around ... Luoyang and Chang'an there were 180 Buddhist monasteries, temples, and by the end of the V century in the state of Eastern Jin there were already 1800 of them with 24 thousand monks. Buddhism has had a huge impact on Chinese culture. This was especially evident in art, literature, and architecture. It was the Buddhist monks who invented the art of woodcutting, i.e. typography, reproduction of the text with the help of matrix boards with mirror hieroglyphs carved on them ... the Buddhist system of yogis, the ideas of hell and paradise were accepted by the Chinese people” 28 . In the 6th-10th centuries Buddhism reached its highest development in China 29 .

During this period, Taoist monasticism was also formed. However, during the reign of the Mongol Yuan Dynasty (1279-1367), Taoism, and with it Taoist monasticism, underwent certain difficulties. A number of Taoist writings were destroyed. When the Chinese throne was occupied by the national Ming dynasty (1368-1644), Taoism was revived again, but under the next Manchu Qing dynasty (1644-1911), it gradually ceased to play an important role in the spiritual life of China. At the same time, in 1957, the "All-China Association of Taoism" was created, which was closed during the Chinese Cultural Revolution and revived in 1980. This Association operates in China to this day.

The established institute of Taoist monasticism united tens and hundreds of thousands of Taoist monks in monasteries. The main Taoist monastery was the Beijing Baiyun Guan Monastery (White Cloud Monastery) 30 . The main occupation of the monks and priests was an extremely diverse religious activity. They cast out evil spirits, traded in spells and amulets, determined the best places for building graves and buildings, auspicious days and hours for any important business, and also performed the main rites of Taoism, among which special attention was paid to the main rites of the life cycle, namely birth, wedding , funeral. Today, in Taoist temples, the main practice continues to be the practice of shamans-mediums, predictors of the future, and so on.

The most important provision of Taoism is the concept of "Tao". This word designates such categories as universal law,

the foundation and end of all things. Tao is eternal and nameless, incorporeal and formless, inexhaustible and endlessly in motion. It means rule, order, meaning, law, etc. All nature, the whole world is the result of the actions of the Tao. However, the Tao presupposes the independence of human actions. A person can deviate from the Tao, creating his own artificial Tao, which serves the interests of the rich. This artificial Tao, manifested in the creation of social institutions that separate people, as well as in the pursuit of knowledge, destroys the natural world order.

Therefore, in Taoism there is a call to not doing anything in life. It is denoted by the concept of "wu wei" - a call for inconsistency with nature, the denial of expedient activity. “Following the principle of non-action, a wise ruler organizes the Celestial Empire, governs the state. Taoism considers everything that exists in the Universe as a whole, striving for the harmonization of contradictions. Man - microcosm, like the universe, is eternal: with the death of his physical body, the spirit dissolves in the world "pneuma" ("primordial energy") 31 .

In the teachings of Taoism, nature does not know inequality and oppression, does not imply the existence of state institutions. Consequently, it is necessary to abandon all the benefits of the development of civilization, namely from highly productive tools to writing. The essence of the concept of absolute Tao is reduced to the statement that life is an illusion, and death is a return to Tao - the true being of an immortal body.

In accordance with the idea of ​​immortality, one of the main occupations of the Taoist cult was medicine, alchemy and magic. Taoist treatises contain detailed descriptions of how to make the elixir of immortality. It is believed that talismans, amulets, magical texts contribute to the achievement of immortality. “Immortality is achieved by merging with Tao as a source of life through religious contemplation, breathing and gymnastic training, sexual hygiene, alchemy, etc. The human spirit does not have a material form and therefore is likened to Heaven. The human body is a form, and therefore it is likened to the Earth. The connecting link is the vital energy, and its ability to thicken and dissipate” 32 .

Shamanism, witchcraft, astrology and demonology are intertwined in the Taoist teaching about the immortality of the body. Worship of the gods appeared, the main of which were the three gods of happiness: Fu-sin - the god of wealth; Shou-sin - the god of longevity; Lu-sin is the god of giving children. According to the concept of Taoism, the immortality of the body, which is achieved through special plant and mineral potions and special psychophysical training, is of three types. Heavenly immortality is achieved through the transformation of the body when it moves to heaven. Earthly immortality is when bodies do not fly to heaven, but live in "sacred mountains" and "cave skies." The third immortality is simple, associated with the liberation of the spirit from the corpse, that is, associated with holiness, resurrection after death 33 .

An important point of Taoism is the posting: tuganzhai and huanluzhai. The traditional New Year is also celebrated lunar calendar. The He Qi festival is secretly celebrated. During this holiday Taoists consider themselves absolutely free from all sexual prohibitions and restrictions 34 .

Thus, Taoism has many faces. He certainly influenced Chinese culture. His writings preserved “recipes for medicines, descriptions of the properties of metals and minerals. In many ways, the discoveries of the compass, paper, gunpowder, porcelain, silk, etc. belong to the works of Taoist scientists.” 35 .

Religious and philosophical Taoism preaches the principle of life - passivity. In addition to religious and philosophical Taoism, there is folk Taoism, which includes folk beliefs and various superstitions. The exact number of contemporary adherents of Taoism is unknown. However, by about the end of the 20th century, the most active Taoists numbered about 20 million people.

Approaching from the most general positions, we can say that an accurate and complete understanding of the meaning of the categorical apparatus of a particular philosophical system is equivalent to understanding it as such. If this approach is supplemented with historical analysis, then it turns out that an accurate - historically and logically - and complete description of the system of philosophical categories can most directly become a historical-philosophical compendium. One of the evidence of this is the attempts of some philosophers to present philosophical and historical-philosophical knowledge in the dictionary form. Suffice it to recall the Dictionary by P. Bayle, the Encyclopedia by J.L. D "Alamber and D. Diderot, "Philosophical Lexicon" by S.S. Gogotsky, "Pocket Dictionary" of Petrashevists. But many explanatory encyclopedic, i.e. not specifically philosophical, Chinese dictionaries can serve as a much more striking example.

The lexicon of traditional Chinese philosophy is very specific. First of all, it is distinguished by the ambiguity of its composition. In the most general terms, it has three levels of existence with different quantitative characteristics.

In a broad sense, this lexicon, due to its autochthonous nature and the ultimate intracultural organic nature of homogeneous development, practically coincides with the natural language, of course, in its written and literary, and therefore rather artificial, version - wenyan. The latter circumstance explains, in particular, why it is so often necessary to know the philosophical meanings of the vocabulary used in them to understand Chinese non-philosophical texts.

In a narrower sense, the lexicon of traditional Chinese philosophy is a collection of terms ranging from a few thousand (see below for Wu Yi data on 2,600 terms) to several hundred. One of the editions of the most popular explanatory-encyclopedic dictionary "Tsy hai" includes 217 entries on this topic. The lexical composition of the intermediate level is determined quite conditionally, depending on the degree of detail chosen to reflect the linguistic features of the centuries-old philosophical tradition. For example, in the authoritative "Great Philosophical Dictionary" ("Zhexue da Qidian"), 1147 terminological articles are presented, thus showing an average value in relation to the indicated limits of 217 and 2600 units.

Finally, in the narrowest sense, which interests us above all, in which this lexicon coincides with the lexicon of traditional Chinese culture, it is a rather strictly and objectively defined structure, the quantitative characteristics of which can be judged by the following figures. In the middle of the 30s of the XX century. the well-known historian of Chinese philosophy Zhang Dai-nian wrote an essay on the conceptual system of Chinese philosophy (first published in 1958). In this system, concepts were divided into three classes (cosmology, anthropology, epistemology), which, in turn, were divided into nine categories. The latter covered 46 positions formed by 64 terms. In the 1980s, Zhang Dai-nian conducted even more specialized research in this direction and in 1989 published a work that includes about 90 terms in 60 positions.

A similar work that we started in 1981 corresponded to general trend in Chinese philosophical thought. It was at the beginning of the 1980s that Chinese scientists launched a broad discussion of the composition and meaning of the main concepts and categories of Chinese philosophy, which, in particular, resulted in the formation of a list of more than 60 terms, which was announced in the central press. On the basis of this list, in the main specialized journal on the history of Chinese philosophy, Zhongguo zhexue shi yanjiu, a section entitled “Accessible explanation of the main categories and concepts in the history of Chinese philosophy” (“Zhongguo zhexue shi zhuyao fanchou he gainyan jian shi”) was opened, within which From issue to issue, articles about individual categories and concepts were published.

In the wake of common interest, leading Chinese experts began to present their views on this subject, presenting them in the form of both small articles and solid monographs. For example, a brief outline of the system of categories of traditional Chinese philosophy, expressed in 46 hieroglyphs, was proposed by Tang Yi-chie (1981). In 1987, Ge Rong-jin published a comprehensive dictionary of 20 articles covering about 40 terms. And in 1989, Zhang Li-wen published an extensive monograph, in 25 paragraphs of which (Ch. 3-5) more than 40 categories were systematized.

In Western Sinology, the main role in the discussion of the problem under consideration was played by Chinese scholars. One of the leading historians of Chinese philosophy working in the West, Chen Yung-tsze (Chan Wing-tsit), in 1952 put forward for discussion the corresponding set, consisting of 115 characters in 77 positions. Another outstanding specialist, J. Needham, in 1956 proposed a more compact set of fundamental scientific terms of traditional Chinese culture, consisting of 82 characters in 80 positions. In 1986, the Chinese scholar Wu Yi published the first part of his dictionary of the most important terms in Chinese philosophy, consisting of 50 positions expressed in single-valued characters. The second part of this dictionary was supposed to include 100 positions expressed by hieroglyphic combinations, and this entire 150-member set was singled out by the author from the general dictionary of 2600 Chinese philosophical terms.

IN domestic literature interest in a systematic study of the categories and basic concepts of traditional Chinese philosophy and culture arose independently and synchronously with a similar phenomenon in the PRC in the early 80s. The most important results of this process were the publications: in 1983 - materials of the "round table" "On the problem of categories of traditional Chinese culture" and in 1994 - the encyclopedic dictionary "Chinese philosophy".

The first of these editions reflected a discussion about the systematized list of basic concepts and categories of traditional Chinese philosophy and culture compiled by the author of these lines, consisting of 140 terms in 100 positions. The dictionary entries of the second edition highlight 97 relevant terms.

In addition, it should be noted compiled by G.A. Tkachenko as a textbook and published in 1999 the dictionary-reference book "Culture of China", which describes 51 terms denoting categories and the most important concepts.

All the given figures are quite consistent with the classification sets fundamental for Chinese culture, which include from 60 to 120 units. Among them, the following stand out especially: 1) known from the 13th century. BC. 60 pairs of cyclic signs of two types - 10 "heavenly stems" (tian gan) and 12 "earthly branches" (di chih); 2) known from the 1st floor. I millennium BC (and possibly existing in the 2nd millennium BC) 64 hexagrams (liu shi si gua) “Zhou yi”, or “I jing”; 3) 81 numbers of the multiplication table (jiu jiu); 4) 120 positions of the system of five elements (wu xing) and the canon of 120 "bodily signs of signs" (zhao zhi ti), mentioned in "Zhou li" (III, 42). The figures of the same order also characterize the derivative classification schemes: 100 (98 or 96) categories of the first part (ch. 40) and 81 (82) category of the second part (ch. 41) of the “Canon” (“Jing”) “Mo-tzu” , 120 categories § 11 (10) of the commentary "Sho gua zhuan" to "Zhou Yi", 81 tetragrams of Yang Xiong, etc.

These artificial classification systems are correlated with the natural language system of classifiers, or counting words, the number of which in the Chinese language has fluctuated from 80 to 140 units over the past one and a half to two thousand years (M. Coyaud, 1973).

Together with counting words, these sets cover the numerical amplitude from 60 to 140 units. This classification level is obviously associated with the number 100, and it can be denoted by the formula 100±40. In turn, it is derived from a more general classification level associated with a basic anthropic number of 10 and corresponding to the formula 10±2. The next is the level associated with the number 1000, which A.M. Karapetyants considers it to be decisive for the list-maximum of categories of traditional Chinese culture and which correlates with the above-mentioned list-maximum of terminological articles (1147) in the “Volume on the History of Chinese Philosophy” of the “Great Philosophical Dictionary” (“Zhe Xue Da Qidian”). As I showed in a special study of the theoretical foundations of Chinese taxonomy in the monograph "The Doctrine of Symbols and Numbers in Chinese Classical Philosophy", the classification level corresponding to the formula 100 ± 40 is the third, central, and therefore the most significant step in the most general, five-term (i.e. correlated with five elements) taxonomic system.

Revealing the exact and complete meaning of the main categories of Chinese philosophy, the nature of their relationship, their semantic transformations in the process historical development philosophical thought, as well as establishing their relationship with the main categories of other forms of spiritual activity, or, in other words, finding out whether the main categories of Chinese philosophy are the main categories of Chinese culture - these are the main problems that await solution. Their solution is, of course, an insufficient, but a necessary preliminary condition for an adequate understanding of at least the phenomenon of Chinese philosophy, and possibly of the entire Chinese culture as a whole (if, following many prominent researchers, such as Feng Yu-lan, one recognizes the special role of philosophy in life Chinese society, where not only has she always been the "queen of the sciences", but she has never become the "servant of theology").

In addition, the philosophical thought of traditional China, in the process of independent, long and continuous development, which developed very specific means of self-expression, in particular, an original system of categories, continues to play the role of a paradigm for the philosophical language in modern China, thereby exerting a certain influence on the philosophical and socio-political concepts.

Speaking about existing approaches to solving these problems, it makes sense to start with the simplest. Among Russian sinologists, the idea has long been widespread that the study of categories should be preceded by a fairly complete study and translation of the most important ideological texts in which they appear. But since this was still very, very far away, the solution of this problem was pushed back to an indefinite future. It must be said that the prevalence of this point of view largely determined the obvious belatedness in the very formulation of this problem and, as a result, the poor knowledge of the system of categories of Chinese philosophy and culture.

In our opinion, the situation is just the opposite: the study and translation of the most important ideological texts into toto must be preceded by a systematic study of the categorical apparatus underlying them. Here one should also make an ascent from the abstract to the concrete - from general categorical definitions to the specific meaning of the corresponding hieroglyphs in specific texts. Otherwise, understanding the meaning of the latter becomes as difficult as it is difficult to understand the meaning of a phrase without realizing what its keywords mean.

The question of the role of precise fixation of the semantics of categories (which includes all the main and secondary features of the concepts expressed by them, all their broad and narrow meanings, and taking into account etymology and historical evolution) is followed by an even more important question - about the very nature of these categories, or, so to speak, oh quality their semantics. It is so important that the answer to it can be a decisive argument in the debate about whether Chinese philosophy can be considered philosophy in the strict sense of the word. Doubts about this, as you know, have been expressed for a long time. They are alive even now.

In Russian Sinology, the notion that the categories of traditional Chinese philosophy are quasi-concepts, fundamentally indefinable images, metaphors, the highest meaning of which is "poetic enigmatism", i.e. a kind of analogue of variables in mathematics (a comparison used, for example, by Liu Ts "un-yan) and Zhang Dai-nian), a representation that means nothing less than depriving traditional Chinese philosophy of the status of philosophy ( what Hegel insisted on at one time) and transferring it to the position of either “philusia”, or a component of the “sinistic complex” (as suggested by H.G. Krill), or simply pre-philosophy and paraphilosophy (as A.N. Chanyshev suggests).

Representatives of the diametrically opposite position of A.M. Karapetyants and V.S. Spirin believe that the categories of Chinese philosophy have a rational, moreover, concrete scientific content and, accordingly, tend to logically ordered forms of their description, including precise and formalizing methods. They came to their conclusions on the basis of original research, which essentially opened up a new direction in Sinology, the full significance of which is still difficult to assess. On the contrary, these general propositions of the representatives of the first position are well known (especially in Western Sinology) and thus unoriginal. Of course, originality is by no means a guarantee of truth. And in this case, the point is not in it, but in the fact that both positions in their rational form have solid empirical grounds, although they seem to be mutually exclusive.

The situation is complicated by the fact that the "metaphorists" tend to reproach the "logicists" for trying to destroy the "butterfly of the poetic heart", or the butterfly of Chuang Tzu, by piercing it with the deadly points of scientific herbarium pins. At the same time, however, an ignoratio elenchi (substitution of the thesis) occurs: from philosophical categories or categories of culture, reasoning is implicitly transferred to culture in general and further to the living spiritual experience of its bearers, for which scientific objectification can really be disastrous. To avoid this logical fallacy, it should be agreed not to confuse one with the other. The categories of philosophy and culture are a kind of coordinate system within which the "variables" of people's living spiritual experience are realized, and both together make up the spiritual culture as a whole. Chinese thinkers were quite clearly aware of the difference between free spiritual searches (“eparchy” of Taoism) and the rigid framework of cultural categories (“eparchy” of Confucianism), comprehending the latter in the images of mutually perpendicular warp and weft threads. A - jing wei ("Zuo zhuan", Zhao, 28th year) and the net - wang, without which any fishing is useless and even dangerous, but which, in the absence of free thought, can confuse ("Lun Yu", II, 15). Of course, this frame can be considered something of secondary importance, seeing the primary task in comprehending the “soul” of a particular culture. But to achieve this goal, scientifically based reconstruction of the framework of culture is indispensable.

These two confronting positions, naturally freed from internal contradictions, can nevertheless be united by a "peace agreement", and various principles of "reconciliation" are possible here. Zhang Dai-nian pointed to one of them, referring to the authority of Han Yu (8th-9th centuries), who in the famous essay "Yuan dao" ("Appeal to the [beginning] of the Way") distinguished between ren (humanity) and yi (duty-justice), on the one hand, and tao (Way) and de (quality-grace) on the other, as "established names", or "certain concepts" (ding min), and "empty positions" ( xu wei) respectively. In other words, Zhang Dai-nian interprets Han Yu in such a way that among the categories and basic concepts of traditional Chinese philosophy, some are “real” (shizhi), terms with a very definite meaning, while others are “formal” (xingshi), “empty matrices” (kun gezi), i.e. nothing more than variables that take the most various meanings. This is a compromise on the “horizontal level”, “paid for” by drawing a line of demarcation between two types of philosophical categories and concepts. But such a rather unpleasant epistemologically unpleasant procedure can be avoided if we take the problem in a “vertical section”. With the preservation of the “uniformity” and the recognition of the “non-voidness” of the categories, the mutual inconsistency of the two described polar positions can be eliminated in the synthesizing awareness of the symbolic nature of the terms of traditional Chinese philosophy. Moreover, this philosophy itself considered it precisely the symbols (xiang), and not words and scriptures, capable of exhaustively expressing the highest ideas (i) (“Xi ci zhuan”, I, 12). Next, it is necessary to find out not only what the categories of Chinese philosophy are, but also how they are related to each other. Two opposite points of view are possible in the first (categories are metaphors or full-fledged concepts) and in the second (categories are a structural whole or a spontaneously historically formed unsystematic set) case. Together, they suggest four theoretically possible variants of the category: - 1) a system of concepts, 2) an unstructured set of concepts, 3) a system of metaphors, 4) an unstructured set of metaphors. All these options are worthy of theoretical reflection.

In order not to limit ourselves to just posing problems, I would like to briefly express some of my own thoughts on this matter. I believe that the categories of Chinese philosophy are also categories of Chinese culture, and they should be understood as symbols that obviously imply different levels of interpretation, including metaphorical, concrete scientific, and abstract philosophical levels of interpretation. The most important factors in the formation of categories as symbols are their formation: 1) on the basis of polysemantic words of the native language, and not foreign terminological borrowings (as it was in Europe starting from Roman philosophy), 2) within the hieroglyphic, artificial sign system - wenyan, - thoroughly imbued with polysemanticism, 3) in the depths of the classification culture, 4) with the help of “correlative (categorical, associative) thinking” and 5) general cognitive numerological (xiangshuzhi-xue) methodology.

As a result of a long and continuous historical development on the basis of a single linguistic substrate and within a single cultural tradition, these symbols have developed into a coherent system that preserves the homomorphism of the structure at all levels of interpretation. In the conceptual aspect, the symbolic universality of ideological texts explains the phenomenon of universal classificationism (the symbol serves as a representative of a potentially infinite number of different entities belonging to all possible layers and spheres of being), in the pragmatic aspect, the absence, from my point of view, of a strict, formal distinction between extremely metaphorized (poetic ) and demetaphorized (logical-mathematical) texts. Their common unique feature is a structural-numerological ordering, extending in parallel to both the content plane and the expression plane. In other words, if, for example, we are talking about the triad "heaven, earth, man" and five elements, then the very construction of the phrases of this text will have a ternary-five periodicity (not only in the length of the phrases, but also in their number).

As a working definition of the category of traditional Chinese culture, I propose the following: it is the most general (in the terminology of the Mohists “all-pervading” - yes) concept that has a single-character hieroglyphic equivalent, which is in a systemic (classification) connection with concepts traditionally considered basic in Chinese philosophy, and having symbolic correlates at all levels of spiritual and cultural activity, i.e. in science, art, everyday consciousness, traditional forms of life, etc. It makes sense to emphasize the importance of such a sign as the presence of a single-character hieroglyphic equivalent. If you try hard, you can probably find in some Chinese philosopher, for example, the concept of matter, but it is absolutely impossible to find a term in traditional Chinese philosophy that would mean exactly matter as such, i.e. matter in general, and nothing else. There is no such term. Therefore, the concept of matter, if we agree with the proposed definition, cannot be qualified either as a category of traditional Chinese philosophy or as a category of traditional Chinese culture. The categories so familiar to us as “being”, “creation”, “ideal”, “moral”, “organic”, etc., cannot be considered as such.

It follows that the starting point in the study of Chinese categories should not be ideal entities (concepts), which are often the product of a priori given by our own culture, but material objects - hieroglyphic terms. In connection with what has been said, the question also arises: where should one start - with the most general or the most specific (having no Western equivalents) categories? But maybe in this case it's the same thing? Without prejudice to the answer, let me refer to the opinion of some prominent Western authors, generalized by G.S. Pomerants (under the pseudonym G.S. Solomin) in the abstract “Understanding the terms of Chinese culture” (1978): “One of the important cultural problems is the understanding of a different culture in the concepts inherent in the latter. Acquaintance with a foreign language begins with the translation of individual terms corresponding to individual subjects. Literally untranslatable turns, idioms are relegated to the background, they are eliminated in the adapted texts. Approximately this adapted was the idea of ​​the great cultures of Asia by the beginning of the 20th century. What absolutely did not fit into European norms was removed from rational schemes into the realm of exotic or archaic. In modern cultural studies, the task of transferring the center of gravity to the study of idioms is put forward. An approximate understanding of the terms (zhen-humanity, guna-quality, etc.) gives way to the question of understanding the integrity of culture, without which none of its particulars is understandable.

Finally, another serious problem is the question of the internal division of many categories into subsets according to belonging to different philosophical schools. Did each school have its own specific categorical apparatus, or did they all use one common one? In the extreme expression, the latter point of view turns into a rejection of any classification of categories and even of consideration of each of them separately. But the first point of view is more popular. Indeed, at first glance it seems natural, for example, to consider Tao and Te as specific categories of Taoists, and qi and tai chi as Confucians. However, if you think about it, to assert this is tantamount to a statement that the category "matter" is a specific element of the language of materialists, and the category "idea" is a specific element of the language of idealists. Both these and the indicated Chinese categories are elements of a single general philosophical language for their culture (a single general philosophical terminology) and in themselves do not determine the specifics of any philosophical school. Interestingly, in the genetic aspect, it is the idealists who hold the palm in the use of the category "matter" (Plato, Aristotle) ​​and, conversely, the materialists - in the use of the category "idea" (Anaxagoras, Democritus). In the same way, the “Confucian” terms qi and tai chi as philosophical categories were introduced into circulation precisely by the Taoists (“Guanzi”, “Tao de jing”, “Zhuangzi”), and the “Taoist” terms dao and de - by the Confucians ( "Lun Yu"). The latter explains, in particular, one of the "mysteries" of the history of Chinese philosophy. If we consider Tao and Te to be specifically Taoist categories, then it is not clear why they eventually, having combined into a pair, began to designate “morality” in the modern language, because it is known that Taoism, in contrast to ethicized Confucianism, was oriented towards ontological issues. But the Confucian origin of these categories makes clear their ultimate fate. In general, the category of Tao played such an important role in Confucian constructions that these latter were qualified by contemporaries as the "doctrine of Tao" - Tao-jiao ("Mo-tzu"), and neo-Confucianism was called the "teaching of Tao" - Tao-Xue. Similarly, the role of qi in the theory and practice of Taoism throughout its history can hardly be overestimated.

The assertion that the very words qi and tai chi, tao and de determine the specifics of the language of Confucians and Taoists, respectively, does not stand up to criticism. It suffices to cite some elementary statistical data to make sure that "Taoist" terms in Confucian texts can occur more often than in "Taoist" ones, and vice versa. Of course, until special and sufficiently large-scale studies are carried out, it is not worth asserting that such a division does not exist at all. But, perhaps, it does not apply to the terms themselves, but only to their differing meanings, i.e. were representatives of one school more inclined to use a certain term in one sense, and representatives of another - in another? One way or another, this issue needs further analysis and development.

It is worth emphasizing that today it is by no means the need for a special study of the categories of Chinese philosophy and culture (it is undoubted) that is subject to discussion, but only how this problem should be solved. And in order not to be unfounded, as a working material and a starting point for further research, I propose a synoptic list of the main concepts and categories of traditional Chinese philosophy and culture, the original version of which was first published in the materials of the above-mentioned "round table" (NAA. 1983, No. 3, pp. 86-88).

Synoptic list of the main concepts and categories of traditional Chinese philosophy and culture

I.Methodology
1.上 shan top, start, 3, 30, 50	2. 下 Xia bottom, end 30, 50, 98
3. 本 ben root, essential, proper 1, 5, 42, 48, 52, 85	4. 末 mo apex, accidental 6
5. 内 her internal, immanent 3, 42	6. 外 wai external, transcendent 4, 7, 42
7. 正 zheng correct 6, 13, 70, 75, 81, 85, 86	8. 反 fan reverse, reflection, counter 21, 40, 77
9. 同 tun identity, similarity, unity; 異 and difference 11, 19, 21, 43, 67, 70	10. 一 And one, unity; 多 before much; 二（兩） er(liang) duality; 萬 van(all) darkness, ten thousand 17, 18, 22, 24, 36, 37, 43
11. 類 lay gender, class 9, 19, 84	12. 數 shu number, lot calculation 13, 19, 58, 72, 73
13. 方 fan way, square, side; 員 yuan circle 7, 12, 22, 72, 73	14. 法 F law, pattern 19, 32, 73, 75, 90, 91
15. 經 ching core, canon, vertical; 緯 wei ut O k, apocrypha, horizontal 32, 39	16. 權 quan weighing, power, right, adaptation, transient; 勢 shi power, environment 32, 40, 75, 85
17. 參 （三 ） sleigh trinity 10, 59	18. 伍 （五 ） at five 10, 79
19. 象 xiang symbol, image 9, 11, 12, 14, 20, 32, 50	20. 卦 gua divinatory grapheme, tri-, hexagram 19
21. 矛盾 mao dun opposite-contradiction 8.9
II. Ontology
22. 道 dao path, regularity, theory, logos, method 10, 13, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30, 32, 36+37, 38, 60, 64, 73, 74, 90, 91	23. 德 de quality, grace, virtue; 刑 syn punishment 33, 60, 79, 84, 88, 91
24. 太極 tai chi Great limit; 無極 wu chi unlimited, limit of absence 10, 22, 36+37
25. 有 Yu presence-being 22, 54, 66	26. 無 at absence-non-existence 22, 55, 66 (+66)
27. 自然 zi ran naturalness, spontaneity; 使然 shi jan conditioning 22,30, 84+74
28. 宇 yu space 30	29. 宙 zhou time 30, 68
30. 天 tian sky, time, nature, deity; 地 di ground 1, 2, 22.27, 28, 29, 58, 60, 68, 98	31. 人 jen person, other; 己 ji sam 51, 52, 53, 89, 97, 98, 100
32. 理 whether principle, structure, reason; 欲 yu passion 14, 15, 16, 19, 22, 53, 60, 64, 66, 84, 86, 90, 91	33. 氣 qi pneuma, spirit, energy, matter 23, 35, 51, 54, 57, 60, 65, 78, 79, 80
34. 機 chi organism-mechanism, driving spring (of nature) 44	35. 器 qi tool item, ability 22, 33, 49, 53, 59, 84
36. 陰 yin negative strength 10 (+37), 18+79 (+37), 22 (+37), 24 (+37), 38 (+37)	37. 陽 yang positive strength 10 (+36), 18+79 (+36), 22 (+36), 24 (+36), 38 (+36)
38. 易 And change, easy 22, 36, 37, 40, 41	39. 常 vat persistence 15, 40, 41
40. 變 bian change 8, 16, 38, 39	41. 化 hua transformation 38, 39, 54, 55, 64, 74
42. 中 zhong center, middle, balance; 庸 young immutability, routine 3, 5, 6, 56	43. 和 heh harmony; 合 heh coincidence, agreement 9, 10, 45, 77
44. 動 dun movement, act 34, 79	45. 靜 ching peace 43
46. 因 yin cause; 果 th corollary 77, 85	47. 故 gu reason, premeditation 80
48. 體 ti body-essence, part, subject 3, 50, 52, 56, 65, 85	49. 用 young application-function 35, 74, 89
III. "Biology" and Anthropology
50. 形 syn body-form; 色 ce color, view, Maya 1, 2, 19, 48, 56, 65, 84	51. 神 shen spirit, divine; 鬼 gui nav, damn 31, 33, 57, 94
52. 身 shen body-personality, subject 3, 31, 48, 56, 68, 84, 100	53. 物 at thing-object 31, 32, 35, 56, 65, 78, 84, 85
54. 生 sheng life, birth 25, 33, 41, 58	55. 死 sy death 26, 41
56. 心 blue heart-psyche, core 42, 48, 50, 52, 53, 60, 78, 80	57. 精 ching soul seed, essence 33, 51, 78, 81
58. 命 min predestination, fate 12, 30, 54, 60, 84	59. 才 cai talent, strength 17, 35, 60, 62, 72, 94
60. 性 syn(individual) nature, quality, gender 22, 23, 30, 32, 33, 56, 58, 59, 88	61. 情 qing property, sensuality 76, 78
62. 能 nan ability, potency 59	63. 所 co position, place 78, 88
IV.Culturology
64. 文 wen writing-culture, civil; 武 at military 22, 32, 41, 72, 82, 83, 84, 88, 90	65. 質 zhi natural basis, matter; 樸 pu simplicity, originality 33, 48, 50, 53, 69, 85
66. 為 wei case, to be; 事 shea act 25, 26+66, 32, 79	67. 爭 zheng struggle; 讓 jean compliance 9
68. 世 shea century, world, generation 29, 30,52,94	69. 俗 su morals, light, vulgar; 清 qing purity 65, 90
70. 公 gong general, social, altruistic 7, 9, 93, 95	71. 私 sy private, selfish
72. 藝 And art-mastery 12, 13, 59, 64	73. 術 shu technique, technology 12, 13, 14, 22
74. 教 chiao teaching, enlightenment, religion 22, 27 (+84), 41, 49, 100	75. 政 zheng control; 治 zhi order; 亂 luan turmoil 7, 14, 16, 78
V. Epistemology and Praxeology
76. 感 gan perception 61	77. 應 in response 8, 43, 46
78. 知 zhi(co)knowledge, mind 33, 53, 56, 57, 61, 62, 75, 80, 84, 89, 90, 91, 94	79. 行 syn action, deed, series, element; 言 yang word; 說 sho docrine 18, 23, 33, 36+37 (+18), 44, 66
80. 意 And thought, meaning; 志 zhi will; 言 yang word 33, 47, 56, 78	81. 誠 chen authenticity, sincerity 7, 26, 57, 85, 86, 92
82. 史 shea history-chronicle 64	83. 記 chi memory-write 64
84. 名 min name-concept, glory; 分 fen share 7, 11, 23, 27 (+74), 32, 35, 50, 52, 53, 58, 64, 78	85. 實 shea reality, result; 虛 xu void 3, 7, 16, 46, 48, 53, 65, 81, 86, 87, 92
86. 真 zheng truth; 偽 wei fake 7, 32, 81, 85	87. 是 shea Truth; 非 faye lie 85
VI. Ethics and aesthetics
88. 善 shan good, good, kalokagatiya, beautiful, skill; 美 mei beauty; 惡 e ugly, evil 23, 60, 62, 64, 94	89. 仁 jen humanity 31, 49, 78, 90, 91, 94
90. 礼 whether decency, etiquette, ritual 14, 22, 23, 32, 64, 69, 78, 89	91. 義 And debt-justice; 利 whether benefit-benefit 14, 22, 23, 32, 78, 89, 92
92. 忠 zhong honesty, loyalty; 信 blue reliability 78, 81, 85, 90, 91	93. 恕 shu reciprocity 7, 70
VII. "Sociology"
94. 聖 sheng wise, holy; 愚 yu stupid 51, 59, 68, 78, 88, 89, 96	95. 王 van sovereign; 霸 ba despot 70, 98
96. 君子 jun zi noble husband; 子 tzu son, lord, philosopher; 小人 xiao ren insignificant person 82, 94
97. 士 shea serviceman, scientist 31	98. 民 min people-people 2, 30, 31, 95, 99
99. 國 th state 98	100. 家 chia clan-family, school 31, 52, 74

The numbers indicate links to other positions in the table.

Compiling a list of the main concepts of the Chinese philosophical tradition, you can set yourself various tasks. One can proceed from the presumption of a single universal set of categories, considering them a priori characteristics of either an object (like Aristotle) ​​or a subject (like Kant). On the contrary, it is possible, in the Spenglerian way, to seek in Chinese culture in general and philosophy in particular something specifically non-European and even anti-European. There is nothing unnatural in either approach, they only reflect different tasks and, accordingly, use different description languages. Both approaches have their own logical foundations and have been realized to some extent in certain historical situations.

But, apparently, the task of reconstructing the immanent image of the conceptual and categorical apparatus of traditional Chinese philosophy is now the most urgent. When it is solved, it may well turn out that some fundamental categories of Western thought will lose this status. For example, in the reconstruction of the system of categories of traditional Chinese philosophy, proposed by Tang Yi-chie and expressed in 46 hieroglyphs, there are no such fundamental, from our point of view, concepts as "space" and "time", "cause" and "effect", but for half a century before, one of the greatest Chinese philosophers of the 20th century, Chang Dong-sun, had deprived such status of "identity", "contradiction" and "substance". At the same time, categories that have no analogues in the Western philosophical tradition may appear here. As such, Chinese historians of philosophy primarily name dao (way), qi (pneuma), shen (spirit), cheng (authenticity).

The above synoptic list of the main concepts of traditional Chinese philosophy is purely preliminary and auxiliary. In compiling it, we were guided by the following principles. First, by the desire to cover all the most important and irreducible concepts traditional Chinese philosophy, and not just those that can be qualified as categories. Therefore, philosophical categories, on the basis of whatever feature they are distinguished, according to our plan, should be contained in this list. As follows from the definition formulated above, it should also include the categories of traditional Chinese culture. At the same time, like most Chinese specialists, we believe that the conceptual apparatus of traditional Chinese philosophy is fundamentally completely autochthonous. Most of the Buddhist ideas that came from outside found their expression with the help of primordially Chinese conceptual means.

Secondly, like Chen Yong-chie, Chang Dai-nian, Ge Hong-jin and Zhang Li-wen, we tried to present the concepts in a systematized form: a) subjecting them to rubrics, b) linking them in pairs with each other. The structure we propose is highly conditional and only claims to be a working tool. Chinese philosophical concepts with great difficulty amenable to the thematic division accepted in our culture. For example, the term xing - "individual nature", which is a standard pair with qing - "feelings", usually denotes human nature and is included under the rubric "Anthropology", but it can also denote the nature of any individual thing, due to which it deserves to be placed under the rubric "Ontology". At the same time, the term jen was assigned to the "Ontology" - "man", who, it would seem, does not exist. better places than in Anthropology. but in its most general philosophical sense, it denotes the human world, which forms an ontological opposition with the natural world (heaven) or enters into a cosmic trinity (san) with heaven and earth. Therefore, here it was necessary to be guided by such conditional signs as, apparently, more frequent use in this sense (by the word "apparently" I compensate for the lack of accurate statistical evidence) or connection with a paired element.

As for the pairwise organization as such, behind it, obviously, stands a completely objective feature of Chinese philosophical thought, and perhaps of philosophical thought in general. Most of the concepts in Chen Yung-jie's list, the works of Ge Rong-jin and Zhang Li-wen, as well as all categories in the Tang Yi-jie system and publications in the journal Zhongguo zhesyue shi yanjiu are organized in pairs. The question of the pairing of philosophical concepts became the subject of discussion among Chinese scientists, during which Tang Yi-chie expressed the conviction that, although this principle may not be observed in individual philosophical systems, it necessarily manifests itself in the general process of development of philosophical knowledge.

All the members of the pairs in our list are concepts traditionally associated with each other. In this case, only the choice of one combination out of several, which may include one or another concept, depended on the author's will. For example, the elements of the li-qi (“principle-pneuma”) pair also form the li-fa (“principle-law”) and chi-jing (“pneuma-seed-soul”) pairs. Such connections are also taken into account and encoded as following the translation of the term by the numbers of the terms paired with it in one or another coordinating or opposing (but not subordinating) sense of the terms. Some terms are not presented in their best-known combinations, precisely because such combinations, due to their self-evidence, are easily restored from one, the main member. For example, the concept of "difference" (u) from the pair "identity-difference" (tun and) is potentially contained in the concept of "identity". But in these cases, the standard antonym is still indicated - immediately after the main word.

One can, however, go further and consider such antonymous pairs as expressing common concepts, just as, for example, the binomial chang duan - lit. "long and short" - expresses the concept of length. With regard to all standard terminological pairs, such a hypothesis is expressed by A.M. Karapetyants, proceeding from more general linguistic considerations: “Any full-fledged character of the Chinese language (as, in particular, can be seen from the lists of categories) can be represented in the minds of its speakers as an element of a certain pair. Since predicativity - a dynamic representation of reality - is a characteristic property of the Chinese language in general, this pair is usually antonymous. Such pairs (antonymous and synonymous), if necessary, are given explicitly by the texts (and this is already directly related to the linguistic problem of the word - one-syllable and two-syllable - in Chinese). In this case, more than one pair can be assigned to one hieroglyph.

Apparently, Tang Yi-chie is also close to this opinion, since quantitatively he puts his full (twenty-pair) and abbreviated (ten-pair) sets on the same level with European ones - ten-twelve-membered, i.e. equates European categories to Chinese pairs. One way or another, self-evident combinations (mostly antonymous) are less informative and therefore can be reduced to a single element. Of these, I have preserved in full form those whose main members do not have equivalent pairs. If these pair combinations (No. 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, 25-26, 36-37, 38-39, 44-45, 54-55, 70-71) were brought together to single elements, then the total number of concepts in my set would be reduced to 90.

The principles of pairing in the list are as follows: 1) antonymy, such as yu wu (“presence-absence”), 2) synonymy, such as bian hua (“change-transformation”), 3) correlativity, such as yu zhou (“space-time ”), 4) conceptual unity, for example, zi zhan (“naturalness”). In the latter case, both elements of the pair are assigned the same number. Other pairs can also form a conceptual unity, for example, yu zhou - "universe", fan fa - "method", but it either has a secondary character, i.e. decomposable into the concepts of a pair of signs, or inherent in more or less modern philosophical language.

The principle of the “philological” approach to categories and concepts, justified by us above, i.e. consideration of a sign unit as a starting point, is implemented in this list, which, in particular, manifests itself both in the linguistic characteristics of pairs (for example, “antonymy” instead of “opposite” and “contradiction”), and in the typological “equating” of one concept expressed two hieroglyphs, to two concepts, also expressed by two hieroglyphs. Similar concepts can themselves form pairs. For example, zi ran - "natural" is antonymous with shi zhan - "conditioned", and Tang Yi-chie connects it with min chiao - "conventional"; tai chi - "great limit" is antonymous with wu chi - "limitless", and Tang Yi-chie connects it with yin yang - "negative and positive forces". Higher-order pairs are also formed by two-concept combinations, which is reflected in my list using the “+” sign between the numbers of members of such combinations. If, however, some term is a pair of a monomial or binomial not alone, but together with another term, then the number of the latter is put in brackets at the number of the corresponding paired monomial or binomial). The latter fully corresponds to the views that prevailed in traditional Chinese philosophy, in which the word and the concept were considered as a single whole - min ("name") or tzu ("sign"). From this point of view, the concept expressed by two signs (jian ming - "compound [double] name") is typologically closer to two concepts expressed by two signs than to the concept expressed by one sign (dan ming - "simple [single] name" ).

In our list, experts will not see some important “compound names”, for example, da tong - “great unity” or tian xia - “Celestial”. The fact is that we considered it possible not to single out into special positions terms that consist of the already indicated “simple names” (tian xia = tian + xia) or are their special case (da tong - tong). In general, the reason for not including a concept in this list or for optional inclusion without assigning a separate number was the possibility of considering it either as a more particular one, or as dependent on an already included concept. An element of a pair can be dependent, both “non-symmetrical” (ge - “reconciliation” in ge u - “reconciliation of things”), and “symmetrical” (ba - “despot” in van ba - “sovereign and despot”).

The set presented here was obtained in the following way. Initially, based on personal experience, we compiled a corresponding list that covered 214 lexical units. We attribute it to the middle classification level: in Chinese taxonomy, it is similar to a collection of key characters - 214 keys. Below this level lies the thousand-sign set of the universal-paradigmatic "Thousand-word Text" ("Qian zi wen"), above - the sexagesimal sets, which were mentioned earlier.

At the second stage of the work, we correlated our list with eight of its analogues: 1) J. Needham's list, 2) Chen Yung-jie's list, 3) Tang Yi-tsze's list, 4) a collection of articles on the terminology of traditional Chinese philosophy in the dictionary " Ci hai” (1961), 5) vocabulary of Zhang Dai-nian (1989), 6) vocabulary of Wu Yi, 7) vocabulary of Ge Rong-jin, 8) vocabulary of Zhang Li-wen. Taking them as a basis, we discarded some, expressing more particular and dependent concepts, and added others, from our point of view, fundamental, although little studied terms - with the expectation to fit into a hundred.

We compared the list obtained in this way, firstly, with the hieroglyphs of "Qian zi wen" - "Thousand-word text" and "San zi jing" - "Three-word canon" (these propaedeutic and paradigmatic works contain the fundamental concepts of traditional Chinese culture) , as well as the vocabulary of the "Dictionary of Chinese Culture" ("Zhongguo wenhua tsidyan." Shanghai, 1987), secondly, with modern philosophical vocabulary adopted in the PRC and fixed by "Ci hai" (1961), a translation of the Russian "Concise Philosophical Dictionary" (Beijing, 1958), a dictionary of psychological terms ("Xinlixue Ming". Beijing, 1954), a two-volume "Philosophy" from the "Great Chinese Encyclopedia" ("Zhongguo da baike quanshu. Zhesyue". Vol. 1, 2. Beijing-Shanghai, 1987) and the New Dictionary of Social Sciences (Shehui Kexue Xin Qidian. Chongqing, 1988).

In our list, narrower classes can easily be distinguished and appropriate conclusions drawn. Thus, there are 88 terms that coincide with any two or more of the eight surveyed sets of traditional philosophical terms, which indicates its sufficient representativeness; terms coinciding with the components of the modern philosophical lexicon - 84, which indicates a significant, i.e. not requiring special correction, the proximity of the old and new terminology or the quantitative correctness of the sample that covered their common core; terms coinciding with the hieroglyphs "Qian zi wen" and "San zi jing", as well as the vocabulary of the "Dictionary of Chinese culture" - 97, which confirms the initial hypothesis about the identity of the categories of Chinese philosophy and culture.

Further selection with the help of a purely formal procedure made it possible to come to the selection of categories of Chinese philosophy and culture in its own, or narrow, sense.

1. Terms coinciding with any four or more of the eight sets of traditional philosophical terms can be interpreted as expressing the core of the main concepts of traditional Chinese philosophy, equal to the set of its categories or containing it. Those included in at least half of the surveyed sets make up half of this list, namely 52 terms numbered: 1-3, 7-10, 12, 14, 22-26, 30-33, 35-38, 40-46 , 48-51, 54, 56, 58, 60-63, 70, 73, 78, 79, 81, 84-86, 89-91. This formally obtained set quantitatively coincides with the parameters adopted by the WU for terms expressed in single hieroglyphs.

2. Terms that satisfy the previous condition and, in addition, coincide with the components of the modern philosophical lexicon (they turned out to be 46: 24, 35, 36, 81, 89, 90 are excluded from the numbers listed above), can be interpreted as expressing the core of the basic concepts ( or categories) of Chinese philosophy as a whole, i.e. both traditional and modern.

3. Terms that satisfy the condition of paragraph 1 and, in addition, coincide with the hieroglyphs “Qian zi wen” and “San zi jing”, as well as the vocabulary of the “Dictionary of Chinese Culture” (there were 51 of them: from the numbers listed in paragraph 1, 73) can be interpreted as expressing the core of the basic concepts (or categories) of traditional Chinese culture. This set exactly coincided with the number of articles about categories and the most important concepts in the dictionary "Culture of China" by G.A. Tkachenko.

4. Terms that satisfy the conditions of all the previous paragraphs (there were 45 of them) can be interpreted as expressing the core of the basic concepts (or categories) of Chinese culture as a whole, i.e. both traditional and modern.

Upon further similar analysis of the list, it turns out that five or more of the eight sets of traditional philosophical terms cover 39 numbers (1, 2, 8, 10, 14, 22-26, 30-33, 36-38, 40, 42, 44, 45 , 48-51, 53, 56, 58, 60-62, 78, 79, 84, 85, 89-91), six or more - 20 numbers (8, 10, 22, 25, 26, 30-33, 36 , 37, 41, 45, 51, 53, 56, 60, 61, 78, 79), seven or more - 13 numbers (10, 22, 26, 30-33, 45, 51, 53, 56, 60, 61 ), and all eight - 5 numbers (22, 30-33). The first of these sets (39 terms) quantitatively corresponds to the sets of Tang Yi-chie, Ge Chung-jing and Zhang Li-wen. For Tang Yi-chie, 40 (20 pairs) is the maximum number of categories, which can be reduced to 20 (10 pairs), which, in turn, corresponds exactly to the second of the specified sets.

The third set (12 terms) correlates with the ten “higher categories” (zui gao fanchow) identified by Zhang Dai-nian and is quantitatively comparable with the traditional sets for Europe, consisting of 10 (like Aristotle) ​​or 12 (like Kant) members. This set, defined by the formula 10 + 2, in traditional Chinese taxonomy corresponds to the level of eight trigrams (ba gua), "nine fields" (jiu chow, chow - the main component of the modern term "category" - fanchow), nine countries and half-countries of the world: eight countries and half-countries of the world + center (jiu fan), ten "heavenly stumps" (tian gan) and twelve "earthly branches" (di zhi).

The core of the so assessed set of philosophical categories, starting from which it makes sense to establish more complex structural (logical and semantic) connections between concepts, as Chang Dai-nian, Tang Yi-chie, Ge Hong-jin and especially Zhang Li-wen do, can be count five fundamental concepts reflected in all surveyed sets. These are the already indicated numbers 22, 30-33: dao (“way”), tian (“sky”), jen (“man”), li (“principle”), qi (“pneuma”). There is every reason to see in them also the categorical core of the entire Chinese culture, which quantitatively corresponds to such fundamental classification schemes as five elements (wu xing) and five cardinal points (wu fan: four cardinal points + center).

Of course, the list of categories of Chinese culture can be expanded depending on the initial definition of this subject, but, in our opinion, it should not go beyond the outlined core of the basic concepts of Chinese philosophy. If we do not abandon the old postulate that philosophy "is living soul culture”, then the categories of culture should be recognized as philosophical categories. Moreover, in this case, the formal procedure of terminological selection confirmed Feng Yu-lan's substantive thesis about the special role of philosophy in Chinese culture: the "nuclear" sets of basic concepts of both turned out to be almost identical, which is by no means trivial.

True, I must make a reservation - I took Chinese culture in the aspect of its self-understanding, and not independent research. As for cultures that do not have philosophy as a special form of worldview, or, for example, Chinese culture in the pre-philosophical period, this provision does not prevent them from having concepts of a philosophical degree of generality in their spiritual arsenal, just as ignorance of arithmetic does not prevent the possession of numerical concepts. Under such conditions, the categories of culture will be concepts of a philosophical degree of generality, i.e., from our point of view, philosophical concepts, although not concepts of philosophy.

Literature:
Alekseev V.M. Chinese Literature: Selected Works. M., 1978, p. 39-42; Grube V. Spiritual culture of China. SPb., 1912, p. 106-107; he is. Wang Yangming's Teachings and Classical Chinese Philosophy. M., 1983, p. 28-46; he is. The doctrine of symbols and numbers in Chinese classical philosophy. M., 1994, p. 19-35; he is. Chinese philosophy as a "childish" doctrine of trampling death by life // XXIX NK OGK. M., 1999; Kobzev A.I. The Genesis of Chinese Philosophy and the Category "Philosophy" in Traditional China // Vostok. 2001. No. 3; he is. Categories and basic concepts of Chinese philosophy and culture // Universals of Oriental Cultures. M., 2002, p. 220-243; he is. Category "Philosophy" and the Genesis of Philosophy in China // Ibid., p. 200-219; On the problem of categories of traditional Chinese culture ("Round Table") // NAA, 1983, No. 3, p. 61-95; Needham J. Fundamental foundations of traditional Chinese science // Chinese geomancy / Comp. M.E. Ermakov. SPb., 1998, p. 197-215; Feng Yulan. A Brief History of Chinese Philosophy. SPb., 1998, p. 19-49; Khayutina M.S. Extraneous and Otherworldly: Did the Ancient Chinese Love Guests? // West: Historical and literary almanac 2002. M., 2002; Ge Rong-jin. Zhongguo zhexue fanchow shi (History of categories of Chinese philosophy). Harbin, 1987; Tang Yi-chie. Lun Zhongguo chuantong zhexue fanchow tisi dy zhuwenti (On the problems of the system of categories of traditional Chinese philosophy) // Zhongguo shehui kesxue. 1981, no. 5; Ci hai shixing ben (Trial edition of the "Sea of ​​​​words"). T. 2. Zhesyue (Philosophy), Shanghai, 1961; Zhang Dai-nian. Zhongguo gudian zhesxue gainyan fanchou yaolong (The most important information about the categories and concepts of Chinese classical philosophy). Beijing, 1989; he is. Zhongguo zhesxue dagan (Fundamentals of Chinese Philosophy). Beijing, 1982; Zhang Li-wen. Zhongguo zhexue luoji jiegu lun (On the logical structure of Chinese philosophy). Beijing, 1989; Zhang Shao-liang. Yanjiu Zhongguo zhexue shi shang dy fanchow he zhongyao gainyan (To study categories and the most important concepts in the history of Chinese philosophy) // Guangming Ribao. 04/30/1981; Zhesue yes tsidyan. Zhongguo zhexue shi juan (Great Philosophical Dictionary. Volume on the History of Chinese Philosophy). Shanghai, 1985; Yu Tong [Zhang Dai-nian]. Zhongguo zhesxue dagan (Fundamentals of Chinese Philosophy). T. 1, 2. Beijing, 1958; Chan W "mg-tsit. Basic Chinese Philosophical Concepts // PEW. 1952. Vol. 2, No. 2; Hansen Ch. Language and Logic in Ancient China. Ann Arbor, 1983; Needham J. Science and Civilization in China. Vol. 2. Camb., 1956, pp. 220-230; Wu Yi, Chinese Philosophical Terms, L., 1986.

Art. publ.: Spiritual culture of China: encyclopedia: in 5 volumes / Ch. ed. M.L. Titarenko; Institute of the Far East. - M.: Vost. lit., 2006. Vol. 1. Philosophy / ed. M.L.Titarenko, A.I.Kobzev, A.E.Lukyanov. - 2006. - 727 p. pp. 66-81.

Basic concepts of Chinese philosophy

Chinese philosophy began to take shape in the 7th century. BC. and fully developed by the III century. BC. This is the so-called ancient period of development of Chinese philosophy. In addition to it, three more periods are distinguished: medieval (III century BC - XIX century AD), new (mid-XIX century AD - until 1919 ᴦ.), latest (from 1919 ᴦ. - Until now). In a retrospective aspect, those Chinese philosophical systems that developed in the first period are of the greatest interest. These are the ones that will be discussed below.

The main schools of philosophical thought that were born directly on Chinese soil are Confucianism And taoism, emerged in the 6th century. BC. Approximately in the III century. BC. The teachings of Buddhism came to China from India, and then the Chinese tradition developed taking into account the noticeable influence of Buddhist philosophy.

It should be noted that all three main teachings influenced each other, while ordinary people, as a rule, perceived elements of all teachings at once, in connection with this, their worldview was a kind of cocktail. At the same time, these teachings themselves, perhaps due to such natural eclecticism, began to use some of the same basic concepts, such as tao, qi, yin And yang and etc.

The absence of a single origin. The Chinese philosophical tradition is characterized by the absence of the concept of a single principle governing the world, in this it is a serious difference from Western philosophy. There are ʼʼthingsʼʼ or ʼʼten thousand thingsʼʼ that do not have a single beginning and do not constitute a uniformly controlled world. The Chinese are generally not inclined to reflect on the concepts of being or

non-existence, because existence for them is a cyclic process, a circle without beginning or end.

Tao concept. Tao is the highest principle of self-development of the world. Literally, Tao is a way, a road, a stream. In this eternal stream of continuous change and transformation, things arise and perish. More about the concept of Tao will be discussed in the question about Taoism.

Yin-yang concept. In accordance with the cosmogony of the ancient Chinese, from the formless darkness, two universal forces were born that ordered the world: yin and yang. The yang spirit controls the sky and is a light, masculine, creative principle. The yin spirit governs the earth, it is the dark feminine principle, the principle of conservation. Yin and yang are opposites, at the same time they are inseparable and complement each other, constantly flow into each other, making up a single whole.

The harmony of yin and yang represents the Great Limit of being (ʼʼtai chiʼʼ), in which everything that exists passes into its opposite. The symbol of the Great Limit is depicted as a circle with a wavy line inscribed in it, which divides the circle into light and dark halves. On the dark half there is a light point, and on the light half there is a dark one, which means the presence of yang inside yin and the presence of yin inside yang. When something reaches its limit, movement begins in the opposite direction, yang is replaced by yin, and yin is yang. We can talk about a continuous, cyclical process of changing periods of activity and rest. Yin and yang symbolize the original dualism of everything that exists.

A person's personality also reflects the yin and yang aspects. Regardless of gender, a person has both feminine and masculine qualities. This explains the inconsistency of human nature - as a consequence of the universal duality of the nature of things.

The symbolism of yin-yang permeates all spheres of the Chinese national way of life and culture. Yang corresponds to the outer, top, left side, opening, circle, sky, etc., and yin to everything opposite. The interaction and harmony of these two forces were read by the Chinese in every moment of human activity. So, for example, the traditional plot in art is a dragon (yang) depicted in clouds (yin), the Chinese landscape is mountains (yang) and water (yin). The Chinese vase had a square base (earth, yin) and a round top (sky, yang), a porcelain shell (yang) and a void inside (yin).

The concept of ʼʼfive primary elementsʼʼ (u-sin). The universal forces of yin and yang are embodied in the five primary elements: wood, fire, metal, earth, water, which in turn constitute the essence of the manifested world.

Topic 10 Ancient Chinese Philosophical Tradition

These primary elements express not only the materiality of Being, they symbolize the five-part system of transformation of all processes and phenomena. Fire ʼʼbegetsʼʼ earth, earth ʼʼbegetsʼʼ metal, metal - water, water - wood. But these same elements also "displace" each other: fire - metal, metal - wood, wood - earth, earth - water. These five primary elements are associated with many phenomena in nature and in human life. Wood corresponds to spring, fire to summer, metal to autumn, water to winter, and earth to the astronomical middle of the year (summer solstice).

On the interaction of ʼʼfive primary elementsʼʼ, ᴛ.ᴇ. on the processes of ʼʼgenerationʼʼ and ʼʼdisplacementʼʼ, traditional Chinese medicine is based. All organs of the body are interconnected, just like the primary elements. The tree corresponds to the liver and gallbladder, eyes, veins, as well as a feeling of anger and blue color; to Fire - the heart and small intestine, tongue, blood vessels, joy, red color. Earth - spleen and stomach, mouth, muscles, thought, yellow color. Metal - lung and large intestine, nose, skin, sorrow, white. Water - daughters and bladder, ear, bones, fear, black. In any existence, five stages can be distinguished: birth - maturity - old age - decrepitude - death.

*I-chingʼʼ, or the Book of Changes. One of the most significant achievements of the ancient Chinese was the creation of the canon of the Book of Changes. This canon had a significant impact on the development of all Chinese culture and philosophy.

In fact, this is a very obscure and mysterious text, which was originally used as various interpretations of the divination technique using the system of eight trigrams. (ba gua). The shape of trigrams is a combination of two types of features: solid, symbolizing the yang beginning, and intermittent, symbolizing yin. Each trigram consists of three lines arranged in a ʼʼcolumnʼʼ one above the other, and denotes some significant state or phenomenon.

There are the following trigrams:

1) three solid lines - ʼʼqianʼʼ: the state of creativity, fortress, sky, metal, corresponds to the father;

2) Three intermittent lines - ʼʼkunʼʼ: fulfillment, compliance, earth, mother;

3) two intermittent lines at the top and one solid line at the bottom - ʼʼzhenʼʼ: excitement, movement, thunder, first son;

4) between two intermittent lines one solid line - ʼʼhorseʼʼ; immersion, danger, water, second son;

5) over two intermittent lines, one solid line - ʼʼgeʼʼʼʼʼ: standing, firmness, mountain, third son;

Section III. Philosophy of the Ancient East

6) under two solid one intermittent - ʼʼxunʼʼ: decrease, penetration, wind, first daughter;

7) between two solid ones one intermittent - ʼʼli*: bow, revelation, fire, second daughter;

8) on two solid ones, one intermittent - ʼʼduyʼʼ: permission, joy, pond, third daughter.

The invention of trigrams is attributed to the legendary founder of the Chinese civilization Fuxi, who created them by observing the ʼʼimages in the skyʼʼ and ʼʼpatterns of animals and birdsʼʼ. In the Fuxi scheme, trigrams are arranged in a circle, so that the trigram ʼʼqianʼʼ, symbolizing the peak of yang, is in the south, and ʼʼkunʼʼ, which reflects the fullness of yin, is in the north. The remaining trigrams are arranged in ascending and descending order of yin or yang forces. It is believed that the Fuxi scheme is an image of the primordial state of the universe in its balance and rest.

The combination of two trigrams - hexagram (six lines) indicates the principles of interaction of basic states. In total, there are 64 combinations of hexagrams, which describe all possible options for the states of the world around us and within us, symbolize the universal hierarchy of all things and phenomena in all possible variants of interaction in this world. Actually, the I-ching itself represents precisely these 64 symbols, and the rest of the numerous literature associated with it is just an interpretation of these hexagrams.

In fortune-telling practices, a person who asked a question, in one way or another, received an answer for himself in the form of some kind of hexagram (most often, divination was used on yarrow stems, and in a simplified version, old coins). The interpretation of the dropped hexagram was the answer to the question posed.

There are many explanations for the symbols used in the I Ching. For example, the famous psychoanalyst K.G. Yong \ believed that ʼʼguaʼʼ fix the universal set of archetypes^ᴛ.ᴇ. innate mental structures.

Today, in various fields of human activity (from computers to politics), the principles of I-quotes are increasingly used as a universal system for describing the course of any ", processes.

Confucianism ^

Confucius. The main features of the doctrine. Name of a Chinese thinker Kung Fu Tzu(ca. 551-479 BC) was Latinized in the 16th century by Jesuit missionaries and came to be used in the West as Confucius shod Confucius. At the same time, ʼʼ Fu-Ziʼʼ is an honorary title that!

he was called, which means ʼʼMasterʼʼ. Confucius founded the philosophical school of moralists (ryu). The main task that he set for himself was the creation of a doctrine of building a perfect social order and its implementation.

The main principles of building a perfect society, according to Confucius, are humanity (zheng), observance of rituals and ceremonies (whether) and practical implementation of moral norms in life (qi). He viewed human life as a constant process of learning and education. As an example to follow, Confucius proposed the image of a highly moral person.

At the root of Confucius's teachings is a reverence for ancient wisdom and ancient traditions, for he believed that a person can acquire a correct understanding of his duties only through a thorough study of tradition. Tradition in this sense became a public the norm and the study of ancient texts is one of the main methods of learning and improvement.

For Confucianism, the idea of ​​the existence of Heaven was typical. ʼʼdesignʼʼ in relation to everything that exists, and especially to man. What is determined by Heaven, man cannot change. But there are moments that depend only on a person and on his personal efforts, ᴛ.ᴇ. Confucianism denies absolute fatalism and recognizes the extreme importance of human efforts aimed at achieving perfection.

ʼʼCorrection of namesʼʼ (Zheng min). Confucius believed that the basis of knowledge is moral principles. This means that a person must know himself by comparing his moral deeds and actions with the traditional norm or ritual. The ritual in this case is the standard of moral behavior. Confucius himself explained the essence of the doctrine of ʼʼcorrection of namesʼʼ using the following example: ʼʼLet the ruler be the ruler, the subject - the subject, the father - the father, the son - the sonʼʼ. That is, each person must adhere to those norms and rules that his social status prescribes to him. This should take into account the fact that one and the same person can simultaneously act as a father and as a son, as a subject and as a ruler.

A person must know how to behave in any situation, and therefore the knowledge of rituals helps to maintain one's dignity and to show humanity. But for the correct use of rituals, it is extremely important for a person to understand the existing order of things in the world and his place in this world. At the same time, according to the teachings of Confucius, it is important to use the ʼʼcorrect namesʼʼ (ᴛ.ᴇ. names) of things. In the treatise ʼʼLunyuʼʼ (ʼʼConversations and Judgmentsʼʼ), compiled by the disciples of the sage from

Section III. Philosophy of the Ancient East

of his statements, regarding ʼʼnamesʼʼ the following is said: ʼʼIf the names of things are inaccurate, their verbal expression does not reflect the essence. If the words do not reflect the essence, the deeds are not completed. Not finishing things emasculate rituals and music. Diminishing the importance of music and customs leads to the fact that the punishment does not achieve its goal. If the punishment is not effective, society expects chaos. For this reason, if a noble person speaks about something, his words should carry a clear semantic load, because the words should not diverge from the deedʼʼ.

Dividing people into categories. moral ideal. Confucius divided all people into three categories:

1) shen-ren - sage; one who teaches wisdom and embodies it in

2) Jun Tzu - noble person; one who follows the truth in all actions;

3) xiao-ren - small man; one who lives without regard for moral values.

In his teachings, Confucius contrasts the "noble man" with the "little man": "The noble man is compassionate and not fanatical. The little man is fanatical and not compassionateʼʼ. ʼʼ A noble person is calm and peaceful; the little man is fussy and quick-temperedʼʼ. The image of the Confucian sage can be judged by the following saying from ʼʼLunyuʼʼ: ʼʼNot talking to a person who is worthy of talking means losing a person. To talk to a person who is not worthy of talking is to lose words. The wise lose neither people nor wordsʼʼ.

For a correct assessment of human actions, it is extremely important to correlate them with the public good. The goal of a person should be public service, not personal gain. Confucius says: ʼʼIf a person acts from selfish motives, he inevitably causes resentmentʼʼ. For this reason moral ideal Confucianism - personal improvement, constant overcoming of oneself (ke chi), and not in hermitage, but, on the contrary, in constant communication with other people, during which only spiritual maturation and humanization is possible. A person can achieve personal perfection only by leading others to perfection.

Further development of the ideas of Confucius. Nerkhonfutsianism. He made a great contribution to the development of Confucian ideas. mencius(c. 372-289 BC). He defended the traditional Confucian idea of ​​the delimiting function of ritual and of the natural division of society into "tops" and "bottoms". Mencius developed the ideas of Confucius about the wise rule of a sovereign who, without coercion, subordinates all living things to his all-encompassing will, and taught that the people can even

Topic 10. Ancient Chinese philosophical tradition

overthrow the Ruler, if he changes the "aspirations of the people" and the principles of "humane" government. He also deepened the theory of moral self-improvement. According to him, every person from birth is endowed with knowledge ethical standards and self-improvement is the development of innate virtues.

Another prominent ideologue of Confucianism was Xun Tzu (ca. 313 - ca. 238 BC), who rethought the idea ʼʼliʼʼ(ritual) in the light of the realities of public morality. He pointed out that the ritual establishes the place of a person in society in order to harmonize the latter. In such a society, everyone is equal in that everyone has what is assigned to him according to the hierarchy. Xun Tzu, in contrast to Mencius, stated that a person is "by nature evil, and his kindness is created by himself."

During the life of Confucius, his ideas were not put into practice. Only during the Han Dynasty (III century BC - III century) did his teaching become state ideology. "

By the X century. AD Confucianism was significantly influenced by Taoism, Buddhism, the philosophy of ʼʼyin-yangʼʼ, so that, in fact, a new teaching was formed, ĸᴏᴛᴏᴩᴏᴇ is called neo-Confucianism. The main ideologist of neo-Confucianism was Zhu Xi(1130-1200). His ideas served as China's official ideology until the communist takeover of 1949 ᴦ. Zhu Xi changed the meaning of the principle whether, which began to personify the Great Limit (tai chi). Li becomes an eternal, permanent, all-good principle, standing above reality, and embodies the true nature of things, ᴛ.ᴇ. original essence.

Basic concepts of Chinese philosophy - concept and types. Classification and features of the category "Basic concepts of Chinese philosophy" 2017, 2018.