Meng Dan's New Interpretation Of Chinese Philosophy

Donald J.Munro,an American philosopher,focuses on the study of Chinese philosophy.This thesis makes a comprehensive study of Munro’s philosophy,with a focus on his theory of human nature.Since Munro was a Sinologist and Sinology has always been controversial as a cross-cultural study,this thesis first discusses the widely controversial issue on the strategy of Sinology study:cultural colonialism and heterotopias.The so-called cultural colonialism refers to the fact that early Sinology studies generally takes western culture as the research framework and evaluation standard,which leads to the failure of the real and objective Sinology studies.The pluralism research strategy in cross-cultural studies creates the other culture by emphasizing the differences between cultures andneglects the universality,which leads to the theory of opposition,and the theory of incommensurability,between Chinese and Western cultures.This thesis argues that from the perspective of transformation and continuation,the encounter between China and the west actually means that Chinese philosophy is constantly participating in and integrating into the process of world philosophy.So it is necessary to uphold a spirit of harmonization and undertake the constantly modernized interpretation of Chinese philosophy.Secondly,this thesis discusses the research on human nature in Chinese philosophy by Munro.The theory of human nature falls within the scope of "the Study of the Mind and Nature of Human",which is the core of traditional Chinese philosophy.In his research,Munro puts forward a series of original concepts,which not only accurately grasp the proposition of "the Mind and Nature of Human" of traditional Chinese philosophy,but also create conceptual tools for dialogue and exchange between Chinese and western philosophy.These concepts include:the Natural Equality of Human Nature,the Evaluating Mind,the Cluster of Mind,Polarities and etc.Munro also puts forward the ethical principles of utilitarianism in the two fields on the basis of these concepts.The proposition of "everyone can be as virtuous as Yao and Shun"indicates that Confucianism believes in the universality of human nature.Munro terms this universality of human nature "natural equality".Unlike western equality of value and the relevant human rights theory deeply rooted in rationalism,natural equality proposes a nature-nurture continuity structure,which requires the nurture of humanity nature as part of the human development."Ethical principal of right and wrong is naturally rooted in everyone’s mind".The Confucian ethical principle was termed by Munro as the evaluating mind,which summarizes an important concept in Confucianism,namely,human’s ability to distinguish between right and wrong(reasoning)is natural,and the function of the mind is the evaluation of right and wrong.The proposal of the concept accurately captures the function of mind and at the same time lays foundation for the dialogue between traditional Chinese mind and western rationalism.As an extension to the research on the evaluating mind,this thesis discusses the question of fact and value,the author argues for unification of fact and opinion on the basis of reality.The concept "Cluster of Mind" is an accurate summary of mind in classical Chinese philosophy.The function of the mind is a complex,integrating knowledge and emotion,truth and value,the inner world and outer world.Such holistic mode of thinking is manifest in classical Confucianism,and mind has three interrelated function of knowing,feeling and consciousness.Modern biology research findings support such holistic thinking mode as the cluster of mind.Modern biology believes the study of the mind must be holistic research,a collaboration of rationality and emotion rather than the western rationalism which emphasizes the reason over emotion.As a holistic thinking mode,cluster of mind makes no binary division between the function of mind.On the contrary,it insists the interaction and interrelation of the functions of the mind.Fundamentally speaking,the word cluster accurately captures the holistic thinking mode of Chinese philosophy,which integrates knowledge,emotion,action,and etc.,and provides a thinking tool for the dialogue between the intellectual tradition in Chinese philosophy and the western rationalism tradition.In his research on Zhu xi’s thoughts,Munro argues that Zhu xi uses eight images(family,water,mirror,body,plant,gardener,ruler and the ruled))in his systematic construction of his thoughts.And two polarities are manifest in his construction of his thoughts,namely the polarity between hierarchy indicated by the image of family,and equality indicated by the image of water.The other polarity is gradual and autonomous self cultivation indicated by the image of plant and gardener,and authority indicated by the image of the ruler and the ruled.This thesis argues that if interpreted from the inside of traditional Confucianism,the so-called inequality more means harmony with differences,and the so-called autonomy and external authority are not contradictory,but complementary between the internal and external.On the basis of the combination of Confucianism and biology research,Munro puts forward the ethical principle of utilitarianism ethics in the two realms,namely,public and the personal realms.Munro proposes the value of equality for the public realm,but in the private realm,he advocates inequality because human emotions are always somewhat biased,unable to treat everyone equally.This thesis points out that Munro divides the two realms completely and such division does not conform to Confucianism principle of considering others in one’s own placeFinally,combining Munro’s research and modern biology research,this thesis attempts to give a new interpretation of Mencius thoughts from a naturalism perspective.Modern biology studies have shown that people’s moral potential is natural,which converges the "Four Original Mind;the moral development of people’s moral potential is natural,which converges the natural development from the Four Original Mind to the four social moral concepts,namely,Benevolence,Righteousness,Propriety,and Wisdom;Modern moral theories insists on the importance of moral luck,which converges Mencius’ ideas of benevolent governance.All the above shows that Mencius’ human nature thought can still provide valuable reference value for the ethical standards of our times...