Among these four realms of life, people in the realm of nature and utilitarianism are the people they are now; people in the moral realm and the realm of heaven and earth are the people they should be. The first two are products of nature, and the latter two are spiritual creations. The natural realm is the lowest, the higher one is the utilitarian realm, the higher one is the moral realm, and finally the heaven and earth realm. The reason why they are like this is that the natural realm requires almost no awareness; the utilitarian realm and the moral realm require more awareness; and the realm of heaven and earth requires the most awareness. The moral realm has moral values, and the realm of heaven and earth has supermoral values.

According to the tradition of Chinese philosophy, the task of philosophy is to help people achieve the moral realm and the realm of heaven and earth, especially the realm of heaven and earth. The realm of heaven and earth can also be called the realm of philosophy, because only by gaining some understanding of the universe through philosophy can we reach the realm of heaven and earth. But the moral realm is also a product of philosophy. Morality is not simply a matter of following moral laws; a moral person is not simply a person who develops certain moral habits. He must understand the moral principles involved in his actions and life, and it is the task of philosophy to give him this understanding.

People who live in the realm of morality are sages, and people who live in the realm of heaven and earth are saints. Philosophy teaches people how to become saints. I pointed out in Chapter 1 that to become a saint is to achieve the highest achievement of being a human being. This is the noble task of philosophy.

In "The Republic", Plato said that philosophers must rise from the "cave" of the sensory world to the intellectual world. When a philosopher reaches the world of reason, he reaches the realm of heaven and earth. But the highest achievement of a person in the realm of heaven and earth is to identify himself with the universe, and in this identity, he transcends reason.

Chinese philosophy has always tended to emphasize that in order to become a saint, one does not need to do anything unusual. He cannot perform miracles, nor does he need to perform miracles. What he does is just what ordinary people do, but because of his high level of awareness, what he does has different meanings to him. In other words, he did what he did in a state of enlightenment, and others did what they did in a state of ignorance. Some people in Zen Buddhism say that the word "jue" is the source of all wonders. The meaning arising from consciousness constitutes his highest realm of life.

Therefore, Chinese saints are both involved in the world and yet transcendent from the world, and Chinese philosophy is also both involved in the world and yet transcendent from the world. With the progress of science in the future, I believe that religion, its dogmas and superstitions will surely give way to science; but people's desire to transcend this world will surely be satisfied by the philosophy of the future. The philosophy of the future is likely to be both worldly and worldly. In this regard, Chinese philosophy may have something to contribute.

2. Questioning and speculation

1. "I once proposed that according to the tradition of Chinese philosophy, its task is not to increase positive knowledge about reality, but to improve people's spiritual realm." - Isn't philosophy also a kind of knowledge? Why is it said that "its task is not to increase positive knowledge about reality"?

Pay attention to the attributive in front of "knowledge", which refers to "positive knowledge about reality". Natural science and social science are both about practical knowledge, while philosophy is about natural knowledge, social knowledge and thinking. The generalization and summary of knowledge is a theoretical form of cosmology. Its task is to study the most general laws of the development of nature, society and thinking, rather than to increase actual knowledge about nature, society and thinking.

2. "It is this kind of awareness that makes what he is doing meaningful to him." - What does "awareness" mean? This sentence means that without this kind of awareness, what he is doing has no meaning to him. Why does the presence or absence of meaning depend on whether it has awareness or not?

You can understand the meaning of "juejie" by looking at the relevant sentences. The previous sentence says "When a person does something, he understands what he is doing and does it consciously." The penultimate paragraph says: "Some people in Zen Buddhism say that the word 'jue' is the source of all wonders. The meaning generated by awakening constitutes his highest realm of life." "Jue" means enlightenment, which means enlightenment and understanding. . Awakening means awakening and understanding.

To say whether it has any meaning to him, what he means is that if he does not know or understand a certain meaning subjectively, he is in a "state of ignorance", so for him, there is no certain meaning to the matter. kind of meaning.

3. Why does a person who lives in a utilitarian realm "do not necessarily mean that he is an immoral person"?

The latter sentence says, "The consequences of what he does can benefit others, and his motives are self-interested." This means that he only has self-interested motives. As for the social effects of his actions, He doesn't want to. There are two possibilities in the actual situation, it may be harmful to others, or it may be beneficial to others. Harmful, immoral; beneficial, it means he is not immoral. The self-interested motive mentioned here is different from benefiting oneself at the expense of others.

4． Mr. Feng Youlan divided the realm of life into four levels. The lower level is the natural realm and the utilitarian realm. Neither of these two levels of people have bad hearts. At most, things have no meaning to them, or they only have utilitarian meaning. However, there are people in society who are morally corrupt and even commit crimes. , how to explain their realm of life?

The article said that a person in the utilitarian realm "does not necessarily mean that he is an immoral person." This sentence also means that there is another type of person who is immoral.

Only those who live in a moral realm can truly conform to strict moral meanings and be truly moral. Only knowing the meaning of utilitarianism and self-interest can easily lead to benefiting oneself at the expense of others and harming the public good. People in the utilitarian realm are easy to differentiate.

5. "Some people may understand the existence of society, and they are a member of society." - People live in society. Is it true that only people in the moral realm understand the existence of society, and in the utilitarian realm, people are connected with society? Don’t you also know about its existence?

The so-called "understanding the existence of society" is in a certain sense, that is, understanding the overall interests of society, understanding the interests of others, realizing that oneself is a member of society, and realizing that individuals and Social relations, personal survival and development are inseparable from society, and you should do various things for the benefit of society.

6. The Confucian philosophy of "justifying one's righteousness without pursuing one's own interests" completely opposes "righteousness" and "profit". Is it appropriate for Mr. Feng Youlan to regard this as the essence of the moral realm? Under the conditions of market economy, is it realistic to combine justice and profit and achieve consistency between the two?

Here we can indeed see the influence of the Confucian view of justice and benefit. The relationship between justice and benefit is worthy of study. The core of socialist morality is to serve the people, and the principle of socialist morality is collectivism. In a socialist society, national interests, collective interests and individual interests are fundamentally consistent, and collectivism is an important principle that regulates the interest relationship among the three. Justice, in the final analysis, is the principle of correctly handling the relationship between various interests. Personal interests are subordinate to collective interests, local interests are subordinate to overall interests, and current interests are subordinate to long-term interests. This kind of obedience is required when two interests conflict. When the two interests are consistent, it is also righteous to combine personal interests with national interests and collective interests. Putting righteousness and benefit in absolute opposition, and believing that "righteousness" will never "seek benefit" will lead some people to say one thing and think another, and lead to split personality. Or the "Implementation Outline for Citizen Moral Construction" is reasonable and reasonable: "We must guide people to correctly handle the relationship between individuals and society, competition and collaboration, get rich first and get rich last, economic benefits and social benefits, and advocate respecting people, understanding people, caring for people, etc." People, carry forward the spirit of socialist humanitarianism, do more good things for the people and society, oppose money worship, hedonism and extreme individualism, form a good moral trend that reflects the superiority of the socialist system and promotes the healthy and orderly development of the socialist market economy. ”

7. "Beyond the whole of society, there is a greater whole, that is, the universe." What is the concept of "universe" mentioned here? And "the interests of the universe",

What is this concept?

It is said that "beyond the whole of society, there is a greater whole." This means that the greater whole of the universe not only includes human society as a whole, but is also much larger than human society. Even if we only talk about the earth, besides society as a whole, there is also nature, and the earth is only a small whole in the universe. From the concept of "the realm of heaven and earth", it can be seen that the universe mentioned by the author is the infinite space of all celestial bodies including the earth. "The interests of the universe" include social interests but are not limited to social interests. People are increasingly realizing that in the universe, in addition to social interests, there are indeed interests in nature. The interests in the universe are the harmonious development of society and nature.

8. What does it mean to “be the person you are”? What does it mean to be “the kind of person one should be”?

People in the natural realm and utilitarian realm are products of nature. People who have not received moral education or philosophical education are in the realm of nature and utilitarianism. The so-called "people in the natural state and utilitarian state are the people they are now", which means people who are like this without education. The so-called "a person in the moral realm and the realm of heaven and earth is what a person should become", which means that becoming a sage and a saint should be the goal of self-cultivation. We should constantly improve our spiritual realm and become a person in the moral realm and the realm of heaven and earth.

9. "The moral realm has moral value, and the realm of heaven and earth has supermoral value." - What is "supermoral value"?

A person in the realm of heaven and earth "does all kinds of things for the benefit of the universe." His actions are not only beneficial to society, but also beneficial to the universe. His spiritual realm is the highest, he lives in the highest realm of life, and has achieved "the highest achievement of a human being." This kind of value is one level higher than moral value and is a "supermoral value."

10. Why is it said that "moral realm is also a product of philosophy"? The discipline that studies moral phenomena and reveals the nature of morality and its development laws is called "ethics". Why is ethics also called philosophy?

Pay attention to the following: "Moral behavior is not simply behavior that follows the moral law; a moral person is not simply a person who develops certain moral habits. He must be aware of both his actions and his life. The task of philosophy is to give him this understanding of moral principles. "This moral principle is part of philosophy. This does not mean that ethics is philosophy, but that moral principles are also philosophy.

11. What is the difference between the concepts of "moral behavior" and "moral habits"?

Moral behavior is the behavior that people can perform moral evaluation under the control of a certain moral consciousness.

It is the result of the free choice of the agent. Behavior that is beneficial to others or society is a moral behavior; otherwise, it is an immoral behavior. Behavior that does not involve the interests of others and society, has no moral significance, or is not governed by moral consciousness is called unethical behavior.

Moral habits, also known as "moral behavior habits", are individuals' stable moral behavior patterns. It means that a certain moral behavior of an individual no longer requires effort of the will and can be completed naturally. Good moral behavior habits are formed through long-term training and cultivation under the influence of environment and education. It has the characteristics of consistency and stability.

12． What is the identity of man and the universe? Why is it said that in the identity of man and the universe, he transcends reason?

A person in the realm of heaven and earth does all kinds of things for the benefit of the universe. That is, when he reaches the rational world, his behavior is completely in line with the laws of the universe, achieving the unity of "humanity and heaven", and the unity of man and the universe. Unity is what Chinese philosophy calls "the unity of nature and man."

The universe is material, and humans are one with the universe, which transcends reason. Zhuangzi believed that "heaven and earth coexist with me, and all things are one with me." Man and nature are originally one, but it is only man's subjective distinction that destroys the unity. Reaching the unity of nature and man transcends subjectivity and reason.

13. Mr. Feng Youlan believes that a person in the realm of heaven and earth "does just what ordinary people do, but because of his high degree of awareness, what he does has different meanings to him." In this way, people with different realms of life are actually not the same thing, so what’s the point?

People not only have requirements for material life, but also have requirements for spiritual life. People have the desire to transcend the human world. People who live in the realm of heaven and earth have reached the highest spiritual realm and have the most noble goal in life. significance. On the other hand, if he has a high level of life, he can certainly do things better than others, which is more beneficial to society and the universe.

14. How to understand Chinese saints and Chinese philosophy as “both worldly and yet transcendent”? Since this has always been the case, why is it possible that the philosophy of the future will be both worldly and transcendent?

To be both involved in the world and yet to be born out of the world, means to be involved in society and yet transcend the world. This is different from religion, which blindly pursues transcendence and escapes reality. It is also unlike Western philosophy, which emphasizes being in the world but not detaching yourself from it. Chinese sages, such as Confucius and Mencius, were all involved in social struggles, and took the realm of heaven and earth as their realm of life. They realized that they were members of the universe and "citizens of heaven" and did various things for the benefit of the universe. , it is the performance of being both worldly and worldly.

The "philosophy of the future" mentioned here refers to the philosophy of the future of the world. The author believes that the future philosophy of the world is likely to follow the direction of Chinese philosophy, so that Chinese philosophy may contribute to the reconstruction of world philosophy.

15． Mr. Feng Youlan simply defines the task of philosophy as "improving people's spiritual realm" and "teaching people how to become a saint." Is it too simplistic?

Mr. Feng Youlan repeatedly mentioned the "tradition of Chinese philosophy". Indeed, "according to the tradition of Chinese philosophy, the task of philosophy is to help people achieve the moral realm and the realm of heaven and earth." From a global perspective, Chinese philosophy The content cannot be said to be free from intolerance. Taking Marxist philosophy as an example, dialectical materialism and historical materialism, as scientific world views and methodology, have universal guiding significance. What Mr. Feng Youlan said is that improving the realm of life is indeed a task of philosophy, but it may not work to say that the entire task of philosophy is just that. Therefore, it seems appropriate to say that "one of the tasks of philosophy is to improve people's spiritual realm."