A summary of Wang Fuzhi's philosophical thoughts

1. Anti-asceticism

We cannot talk about the principles of nature without human desires, because the principles of nature are in human desires.

2. Equalizing the world, anti-authoritarianism, and patriotic ideals

3. Qi monism

1) The theory of the relationship between regulating Qi

He believes that Qi It is the only entity, not "nothing outside the mind".

Cheng Zhu believed that "Principle comes before Qi, and Dao precedes utensils." Wang Fuzhi believed that "Principle is in Qi, and Dao is inseparable from utensils." He said, "Qi is the basis of Li." ( "Si Wen Lu"), "There is no principle of isolation outside the Qi" ("The Encyclopedia of Reading the Four Books"). This shows that the principle depends on Qi, and there is no principle that transcends matter and time and space. He also pointed out that everything that exists in the world is a specific object, and general principles exist in specific things. It can never be said that specific things depend on general principles.

Wang Fuzhi believes that although "metaphysical" and "metaphysical" have the names of upper and lower, it does not mean that there is a boundary between upper and lower that can be separated. Judging from the source of knowledge, principles and laws are derived from the abstraction of things. Therefore, there should be concrete forms first and abstract concepts later.

2) The debate between existence and non-existence

Both Taoists and Buddhists regard "nothingness" as infinite and absolute, and regard "being" as finite and relative. Wang Fuzhi believed that this reversed the relationship between relative and absolute. In his view, "being" is infinite and absolute, while "nothing" is limited and relative.

Wang Fuzhi argued this way: People usually talk about nothingness relative to something. Just like a tortoise is said to be hairless compared to a dog having hair, and a rabbit is said to be hornless compared to a deer having horns. Therefore, talking about "nothing" is just talking about "the existence of nothing".

3) The debate between movement and stillness

Wang Euzhi believed that the absolute silence that ceases to move is extinguished, which is something that does not exist in heaven and earth.

From closing to avoiding, from opening to closing, they are all movements, and movement is absolute.

The so-called stillness is the stillness of movement. It is a temporary state of stillness in movement, not a state of inactivity.

Wang Euzhi said, "When movement becomes an image, it becomes still." Wang Fuzhi's words show that stillness contains movement. Stillness is a temporary state in which movement tends to stabilize locally and becomes an image. Therefore, static things are not solidified, but lively and flexible.

Wang Fuzhi developed Zhang Zai’s idea of ??vaporization:

(1) The inherent contradiction of matter is the source of movement.

(2) Movement is the development process of contradictions.

(3) The unity of opposites of Yin and Yang is universal, but each type of thing has its own special laws.

Wang Fuzhi made profound criticisms of both Cheng and Zhu’s principle monism and Lu Wang’s heart monism, and greatly developed Zhang Zai’s qi monism.

4. The debate between mind and matter (knowledge and action) - against the transcendental theory of "knowing from birth"

Wang Euzhi said, "The ears have intelligence, the eyes have clarity, and the mind has wisdom. Enter. The way to understand the sound of the world is to understand it through sound, and to understand clearly through color. It can be obtained by thinking, but it cannot be heard without thinking. However, if you have an insight without thinking about it, you will be able to gain knowledge just like a firefly catching a ray of light. If so, then the knowledge in the world will be no more than that of an animal." )

It means that the way to understand the world is to rely on the senses and mind to enter the sounds and colors of all things in the world to explore and understand the laws of things. In other words, knowledge is acquired, not born.

From the perspective of cognitive origin, the relationship between mind and matter includes three contents: form, spirit and matter. There are two relationships:

1. The relationship between God and things (that is, the relationship between energy and being)

The "being" mentioned by Wang Euzhi refers to the objective object that needs to be acted upon by the subject. It is not a false existence, but a real entity. . "Neng" is a subject that can act on objects and have effects. It is not nothingness, but "actually has its uses." On the one hand, the object stimulates the cognitive function of the subject; on the other hand, the subjective must conform to the objective.

Wang Fuzhi criticized the Buddhist theory of mind-only and knowledge-based theory. He believed that the theory of knowledge-based theory replaces objectivity with subjectivity and cancels the objective world.

2. The relationship between form and spirit

Wang Euzhi believes that everything in humans is endowed with Qi, and Qi can be either pure or turbid. The Qi of Taixu is pure, and people are endowed with pure Qi and become spirit; while the physical senses such as ears and eyes are It is composed of turbid and obstructive Qi. From this, he further believed that essence naturally has its "good energy", that is, spirit, and nature exists in the spirit and has many principles.

On the issue of knowledge and action, Wang Euzhi definitely puts action first, and action can be known both. In addition, he also believes that knowledge and action can be prioritized according to different situations. Sometimes action precedes knowledge, and sometimes knowledge precedes action. . Knowledge and action are mutually beneficial.

Wang Fuzhi believes that human knowledge integrates ancient and modern figures and is historical. Therefore, after knowledge is developed, perceptual knowledge still plays an important role. He said:

"The self-generated knowledge and seeing is not "inherent". What is not inherent but self-generated is the destiny of daily renewal. The original knowledge and seeing are self-generated and are based on seeing and hearing, and the gains from seeing and hearing are due to What the heaven and earth reveal is what the human heart possesses first (past experience). What the human heart possesses first, from the saints to the great women, is the result of knowledge and understanding that can be integrated into the personage of ancient and modern times. All laws come from heaven, not from the outside, so knowledge and seeing cannot be ignored... However, relying on the knowledge of first hearing and seeing is good ability, and treating knowledge and seeing as a guest experience. It is said that it does not come from trouble. Sad husband!"

Wang Euzhi said that there are three conditions for perceptual experience: "Form, spirit, and object, when the three meet, perception will occur" - form refers to the human senses (turbid and obstructive, ears, eyes, and mouth) Each body has its own shape.) God refers to the gods in the human heart, and matter refers to objective things, that is, what is manifest in heaven and earth. When the three meet, the human spirit is reflected through contact with objective things through the physical senses, and perception is generated.

Wang Euzhi's statement means that "objective feeling" is "first acquired by the human heart" and cannot be relied solely on as knowledge, because "knowledge" or rational understanding is dictated by the new day. The era of accumulating ancient and modern knowledge in personal life is like a child to an adult. After countless mistakes and corrections, it becomes a flow of knowledge. This does not mean that once you have gained the accumulated knowledge of your predecessors, you can close your eyes and ears and feel and daydream. The important thing is to turn to your feelings every day and renew your rationality.

Wang Fuzhi believes that investigating things and achieving knowledge are two ways of understanding, and they are also two stages. Seeking the truth on the basis of erudition is the investigation of things; thinking logically with an open mind is the way to gain knowledge. If you only study things without knowing them, you will be confused by superficial phenomena, and you will become discouraged by playing with things.

Wang Euzhi said, "In general, the power of investigating things involves both the mind, the ears and the eyes, with learning as the main component, supplemented by thinking and debating. What is thought and debated are all matters of knowledge. The power of knowledge is only In the heart organ, thinking and reasoning are the main ones, and knowledge is supplemented. The person who learns is to solve the doubts of thinking and reasoning. The purpose of knowing is to use the ears and eyes to support the heart, so that it can be followed. It is not the power of the ears and eyes to worry about the heart, but the heart. "It can be abolished." ("The Great Learning 10", "The Complete Collection of Readings", Volume 1)

Wang Fuzhi, like Zhu Xi, affirmed the functions of ears and eyes and speculation in the specific method of "investigating things and reasoning". The role of Qiu Li affirms the importance of people learning knowledge and external things, but the purpose of his "Qiu Wu Li" is not to apply the Qiu Li. The result is to understand and transform objective things, not to grasp them. The laws of all things in the world, or applications and technological inventions to promote human progress. This is completely different from the background purpose of the rise of modern Western epistemology. The so-called "investigating things to gain knowledge" aims to "understand the good". The theory of "investigating things to gain knowledge" originally resided in the eight items of "The Great Learning", which should serve the three outlines of clarifying morality, being close to the people, and striving for perfection. At the end of "Great Learning Chapters", he pointed out that "the fifth chapter is the key to understanding goodness." Therefore, from one perspective, the theory of "investigating things to gain knowledge" is the understanding and cultivation method of Confucian ethics. It can be seen from this that the theories of "investigating things", "promoting knowledge" and "pursuing principles" should ultimately reach the highest moral realm. "Studying things to gain knowledge" is to "be honest and sincere", while moral cultivation depends on the understanding of ethical principles and the degree to which these principles are internalized as "in me". Therefore, "studying things to achieve knowledge" combines the moral cultivation method and epistemology.

Wang Euzhi advocated using things as teachers. He said, "A teacher's heart is not as good as learning from the ancients, learning from the ancients is not as good as learning from heaven, and learning from heaven is not as good as learning from things." ("Zhuangzi Tong. Human World") This emphasizes the courage to use things as a teacher. The importance of being a teacher, people must strive to understand things according to their original appearance, in order to gain correct understanding and achieve the unity of subject and object, internal and external.

Wang Fuzhi clarified the relationship between what is possible and what is possible in terms of understanding, put forward the argument that "action can be known but knowledge cannot be done at the same time", and criticized Cheng Zhu's theory of "knowing first, doing later" and Wang Yangming's "unity of knowing and doing". " Said that it solved the problem of the relationship between knowledge and action and achieved the unity of simple materialism and simple dialectics.

Wang Fuzhi gave a more profound explanation of "investigating things to achieve knowledge", and regarded them as two ways and two stages of cognition - that is, studying things is to understand the truth on the basis of erudition, and to achieve knowledge is to be open-minded. To carry out logical thinking, these two stages are interrelated and cannot be separated.

Wang Fuzhi also pointed out that learning and thinking, knowledge and talents should be regarded as a process of moving forward.

Wang Fuzhi’s limitation is that he sometimes falls into transcendentalism. He explained the spirit in terms of qi, talking about the "knowledge of virtue" and the "good ability" that "comes first from the human heart". He said, "The person who fulfills his nature is the good ability that makes up the empty mind and the spirit, and brings it to bear on all things in the world." From the reasonable reasoning, we can know its beginning."

5. Revealing the dialectical nature of "name", "word" and reasoning

Name - concept

Word - judgment

Push - Reasoning

1. Wang Euzhi believes that true knowledge must be the unity of name and reality

“Knowing the reality but not being famous, being well-known but not knowing the reality, both of them don’t know.”

2. Whether the concept can be truthful It is a big epistemological issue whether the earth can model reality and whether logical thinking can grasp the laws of development of the universe. Laozi talks about "namelessness", Zhuangzi talks about "sitting and forgetting", and Zen talks about "no thoughts". The only difference is that they believe Famous sayings and concepts are not enough to express the way of change. Only by getting rid of all names can we achieve unity with the true nature.

Wang Fuzhi proposed "Ken Nian", which means that people can think correctly. Wang Euzhi regards concepts as a process. We should neither cling to concepts and make them rigid, nor regard the movement of concepts as instantaneous birth and death, leaving no trace.

6. The historical view of the unity of reason and potential

7. The theory of human nature that nature is born day by day