First of all, Wang Chong thinks that the content of knowledge is "the things in the world, the things in the world" ("true knowledge"). That is to say, we should know things widely, including "Tao" and "things" The "Tao" here is different from Laozi's regard of "Tao" as the origin of the universe, but refers to truth, law and principle, that is, the principle of governing the country and ensuring the security, that is, Confucianism has learned the way of Confucius and Mencius and the way of benevolence and righteousness. In Wang Chong's view, Tao is the foundation, things are the purpose, and "Tao is better than things" (Xie Jian). He said: "Things are not as good as Tao, Tao can stand, and there is no Tao." (Cai Cheng) In other words, you must have a successful method to do anything. If the way of benevolence and righteousness is not implemented, society will be chaotic, farmers will be unable to cultivate the land and soldiers will be unable to fight. Therefore, Tao is fundamental, which determines the matter of farming. We should give full play to the role of Confucian scholars in the street. Without Confucian scholars and benevolence, "there will be no virtue." Wang Chong believes that the demise of the Qin Dynasty is the inevitable result of not reusing Confucian scholars.
Secondly, Wang Chong believes that the way to know is to perceive, think and learn. The so-called perception is to understand through your own feelings. Wang Chong advocates listening and learning. He said, "If you don't listen, you will get nothing." (Practical knowledge) Anyone who gains knowledge must contact with external things through eyes, ears and senses. "You must let your eyes and ears know the truth." For example, he said, "Let people stand in the east of the wall, make them sound, make saints listen to the west of the wall, and make them know the origin of their black and white short village names?" Of course, this "saint" can't know the color and height of the people on the east side of the wall. Where do you live? What's your last name? He also said: "Qi Bu Shi embroidery, constant women can do anything; A dull woman has no misfortune. I will watch it every day and I will do it every day. " (Cai Cheng) In other words, knowledge and skills come from practical experience. As long as it becomes more and more obvious, even constant women and foolish women can embroider brocade skillfully. For example, Wang Chong said that the bones and muscles of a dead man were rotten in a dirty ditch. Who knows the name, age and cause of death of the deceased? This is obviously a witty and powerful refutation of the theory that knowledge is innate.
The so-called thinking and knowing is to advocate "happiness" and raise what you hear and see to rational understanding. He said: "Those who are right and wrong are not only eyes and ears, but also happy." ("Thin Burial") Because of people's feelings, it often gives people a "virtual image". For example, Mozi only emphasized "the truth of eyes and ears" and cited many damn examples, without thinking about whether it was really reasonable. As a result, people's illusions are mistaken for facts. If you feel happy on the basis of seeing, hearing and actually observing, make analogy and analysis, and rise to the theoretical level, you can understand things more comprehensively. For example, Wang Chong analyzed the existence of ghosts and gods on the issue of food and clothing. He said that if ghosts and gods need human sacrifices to eat, they should have a place to store food, otherwise they will have food to eat. In addition, the patient or dreamer sees ghosts and gods as tall as strangers, but the clothes made for ghosts and gods are only over a foot long and over a foot short. Then why do adult ghosts and gods only wear such narrow clothes? Can you be happy wearing such clothes? Do you bless people? Therefore, sacrifice (Si) is actually only the will of people, not the existence of ghosts and gods!
The so-called learning knowledge is to advocate "learning and knowing". He believes that saints can learn and know. He said: "saints are eager to learn and will not stop until they die." ("No Biography") Learning must be extensive in ancient and modern times, "Knowing one and spreading two, reaching the left and seeing the right" ("Practical Learning"). "The so-called saints must learn to be saints." He criticized those who "eat and drink" because their stomachs are rice pits and their intestines are wine sacs, and they are not learning animals. At the same time, it also criticized the corrupt Confucian style of study at that time, that is, "trusting teachers to learn from the past" and "worshiping the past rather than the present". In his view, opinions of all factions must distinguish right from wrong when arguing. He said: "people are smart and wise, so there is no need to be boring ... two edges intersect, and both advantages and dullness are known;" The second theory is consent, right and wrong. " ("Case Book") also said: "Only shallow and deep, no ancient and modern; The text is virtual and real, and there is nothing new. " This is a powerful refutation of valuing the past and belittling the present. Wang Chong believes that learning knowledge includes nothing more than two aspects: first, learning the ancient people's ways of benevolence and righteousness from the Five Classics and other works; The second is to learn from today's practical experience. This avoids the one-sidedness of rationalism and empiricism to some extent.
Thirdly, Wang Chong advocated the consistency of learning and application, and paid special attention to efficacy. He regards objective facts and practical utility as the criteria for testing truth, and "use" as the purpose of understanding. These ideas were valuable at that time. He has a famous saying: "nothing is clear and effective, and nothing can be proved." Empty talk is empty talk. Although there is sincerity, people still don't believe it. " (Zhi Bo) Utility is the purpose and standard of cognition. If it is not effective, then it is useless to know more. He said: "When you see a tree in the mountains, you know its length. When you see grass in the wild, you know its size. However, you can't cut down trees to build a house, and you can't gather grass into a square. You know plants can't be used ... anyone who is expensive can use them. That is, the disciples read aloud and read poems satirically. Although there are more than a thousand, parrots (Y and ngw incarnations) can talk and so on. " (Qi Chao) means that the mastery of knowledge is manifested in the application. If you can't use it flexibly, it is meaningless. Although I know the names and shapes of plants, I can't build a house with wood, but I use grass as medicine, which shows that I don't know enough about the essential characteristics of plants. I can only recite the classics of sages, but I can't use them to analyze practical problems. Then I can recite more than 1000 pieces, but parrots can't use them. This is just a bibliophile, but I don't understand people.
Of course, Wang Chong's 1900 years ago did not reach the height of transforming the world practice, but mainly meant that it could be used to write books, discuss the past and discuss the present. He said: "Those who write books and make statements are also learned people, so they can use them", that is, to analyze ancient and modern things and write articles with Confucianism and Taoism. This usage has its historical limitations. But the uses and effects he talked about are not only focused on "street" and social governance, but also related to some problems in production practice and scientific experiments, such as building houses with wood and using grass as medicine. For example, Wang Chong thinks that the human body is full of qi, so the physiological phenomena and etiology and pathology of the human body can also be explained by qi. Wang Chong believes that the causes of illness can be divided into two categories: congenital and acquired. "Thin gas" ("Qi Shou"), that is, congenital deficiency, easy to get sick. The acquired reason is "the disease enters from the mouth". If the food is rotten, Wang Chong calls it "fishy smell". He said: "The rancid gas hurts people." (Four Taboos) Normal weather changes are called healthy qi, and abnormal weather changes are called "evil spirits". Wang Chong said: "If his illness meets evil spirits, his illness will not get better." He also believes that if a series of people die of the same disease, it is because of "gas pollution", which is what modern people call "plague" and "cholera".
Wang Chong believes that "all diseases are born of qi". "Eating is a holiday" and "blood gas is blocked". "Gastrointestinal injury", sick; "Those who can't breathe, the strong will die" ("Don't preach"); "Long-term vision hurts blood", long-term lying hurts qi, long-term standing hurts meat, long-term standing hurts bones, and long-term walking hurts tendons, which is called five strains (Huangdi Neijing). These are all diseases caused by the overuse of the old four, which is called "no responsibility", that is, the body can't bear it, and it can't bear it; The "seven emotions" hurt your body and make you sick, that is, anger and anger hurt your body, and sorrow and sadness make you impatient. In short, the disharmony of the mind is also the cause of various diseases. Wang Chong's theory of Qi is also quite scientific in medicine, and now "psychological medicine" is being discussed and studied as a new discipline.
There are two ways for Wang Chong to pay attention to efficacy: one is to verify the authenticity of various statements with "the truth of eyes and ears"; The second is to verify the authenticity of all records with truth. For example, Wang Chong verified the falsehood of "thunder is fire" with his eyes and ears. He said: "When a man says thunder is fire, there are five tests": when a person is killed by thunder, he can see that his body is burnt or burnt, and he can smell the smell of burning; Second, the stone was "red" by thunder and thrown into the well. The stone is hot, the well is cold, and it "screams" like thunder. Three people caught a cold, and the cold went into their stomachs, touching the hot air in their stomachs and making a thunderous noise; Fourth, when it thunders, lightning flashes like sparks; Fifth, when lightning strikes, houses and vegetation are sometimes burned. And "thunder is furious, it has no effect", so it is deceptive. Later, in the18th century, Benjamin Franklin of Ferrara Delfia, USA, realized that thunder was a discharge phenomenon. It can be seen that Wang Chong's view that "thunder is fire" is very valuable in the process of human understanding of lightning.
At the same time, Wang Chong also realized that the verification of "the truth of eyes and ears" is not enough to confirm the correctness of an understanding; We should be aware of the relativity of practice test. For example, he dialectically analyzed the problem of knowing the virtuous in Ding Xian. In Wang Chong's view, it is not necessarily a saint to be an official, because some people rely on fate to be an official, which is actually unwise; It is not necessarily a saint who is appreciated by the emperor, because some people are good at flattering and improvising, and never contradict the emperor. Some people satisfy the emperor just because they look good. The sages recognized by the imperial court are not necessarily sages, because some people show their faces in front of them, are good at communication, and echo people's wishes, leaving a good impression. However, some people work hard, "Qingxiang Party does not make friends with non-disciples", but they are isolated and even victimized; It is hard to say that an official is a saint when he succeeds, because some people have achieved some success by accident, and some people may encounter natural and man-made disasters or accidental factors. In short, we should not just look at one thing, but look at it comprehensively, historically and dialectically, and avoid being extreme and one-sided. We should also see the relativity of practical standards, and make a concrete analysis: just like comparing talents with farming, the strong should be farmers; When it comes to business, most experts are businessmen. Because everyone has his own scope of practice, it is not appropriate to measure knowledge and talent only by a certain practice. Wang Chong not only emphasizes "reality" here, but also sees the relativity of reality, which is commendable.
In order to supplement the deficiency of "reality", Wang Chong also used reason and logic to examine the right and wrong of various records and propositions. For example, it is said that Fu Cha, the prince of Wu, unjustly killed Wu Zixu, the general. He boiled the body in a cauldron, put it in a leather bag and threw it into the river. Wu Zixu resented, and his soul added fuel to the fire (lán, a big wave), forming a wave of three rivers. Wang Chong's Taoist theory: First, Qu Yuan held a grudge and wept bitterly. Why are there no huge waves? Secondly, since Wu Zixu has a soul, why not get angry in the pot, but go to the river to make trouble? Third, Wu Zixu resented the prince. Why did he go to Yue to get angry? Because there are huge waves in Yue River and Shangyu River? Then, from the perspective of geographical science, it is analyzed that the width of Jiang Tao and Jiangren Haikou is related to the shallowness of the river bottom, but has nothing to do with the murder case of Wu Zixu. From this, Wang Chong further put forward the conclusion that "knowledge is power". He believes that "knowledgeable and learned people are powerful" (effective), and "knowledge" can "benefit people's knowledge" and "train people's hearts and understand people's knowledge" (another way). In other words, "knowledge" can transform people's thoughts and sentiments and improve people's thinking ability. Wang Chong's view that knowledge is power has the same value as the later British enlightenment thinker Bacon's Knowledge is Power and the former Soviet writer Gorky's Nothing is stronger than knowledge in the sense of opposing obscurantism.
Of course, due to the limitations of history and class, Wang Chong still can't understand the historical and dialectical nature of cognition, and there are some agnostic factors about things that have not yet been recognized. He divided knowledge into unknowable and unknowable, and said, "What is difficult for my husband to know, what is within his learning ability and what is unknowable? If you ask and learn, you will never know." However, he is still an agnostic at heart. He tried to discuss metaplasia qi, and he was a monist of qi, which showed that he did not think the world was unknowable. It's just that he thinks that "today is a theory", that is, from now on (referring to that time), things in the world can be divided into knowable things and unknowable things. There are things in the world that have not been recognized, just like knots that can't be solved, but they can't be expressed as "unknowable things", with the color of agnosticism.
He also believes that the way of governing the country will never change. He said: "emperors rule the world, and hundreds of generations live under one roof." (Qi Shi) This is metaphysics in Wang Chong's cognitive system. What he heard and learned was that although it was materialistic reflection theory, it was only simple and intuitive. Although he realized the rational reasoning function of "happiness", he didn't realize the dialectical relationship between sensibility and rationality. On the relationship between cognition and practice, he put forward valuable ideas such as "seeing day by day", "doing day by day" and "being effective", but they can only be personal practical activities, and it is impossible to form the concept of social practice. For these limitations of historical figures, we should give realistic historical evaluation. It should be said that Wang Chong's epistemology still shines with the light of truth.