Between The History Of Thought And The History Of Philosophy

By investigating the studies of the three predecessors Xu Fugan, Mou Zongsan and Tang Junyi about Xiangshan’s philosophy, this thesis focus on investigating the meanings that Xiangshan’s learning may present under different methods of research. Two methods of research on Xiangshan’s philosophy have been investigated in this paper, which refer to the method of intellectual history and the method of history of philosophy, and the method of history of philosophy is divided into the method of metaphysics and the method of explaining philosophy in the history of philosophy. Mr. Xu studies on Xiangshan’s philosophy with the method of intellectual history while Mr. Mou studies with the method of metaphysic and Mr. Tang studies with the method of explaining philosophy in the history of philosophy. The general idea of this paper is as follows:first, it investigates how Xiangshan’s philosophy was explained under different methods of research; then, focusing on the several main problems of Xiangshan’s philosophy, which are Bengxin, moral practice and the similarities and differences between the philosophy of Zhuxi and that of Xiangshan, it investigates how these problems present their significances under different methods of research; at last, it analyses the advantages and disadvantages that reflect in different methods of research on Xiangshan’s philosophy, so that to make a comparison, and to do the further discussion about some problems that involve in Xiangshan’s philosophy such as the relationship between noumenon, knowledge and moral, the significance of classics in moral achieving and so on.According to the investigation of the methods of research on Xiangshan’s philosophy, in this paper it’s thought that the thoughts of Xiangshan’s philosophy could have many explanations which reflect the characters and differences of the different methods of research. Therefore, studying Xiangshan’s philosophy from different methods of research is obviously a great help to enriching our understanding of a thought.By investigating the problem of Bengxin, moral practice and the similarities and differences between the philosophy of Zhuxi and that of Xiangshan in different methods of research in this paper, it’s found that in different methods all these problems present different meanings. As for the problem of Benxin, in the method of Mr.Xu Benxin presents the meaning of it in psychology; in the method of Mr. Mou Benxin presents it as the source of creation of heavenly destiny and heaven; and in the method of Mr. Tang Benxin presents it as spirituality. As for the problem of moral practice, Mr. Xu elucidates its meaning in the aspect of social significance Mr. Mou elucidates it in the aspect of the consistent function of ontology; and Mr. Tang elucidates it in the aspect of how to learn the moral practice of the oracles. As for the problem of the similarities and differences between the philosophy of Zhuxi and that of Xiangshan, Mr. Xu judges it by the social effectiveness of the thoughts; Mr. Mou judges it by the basic principle of ontology and morality; and Mr. Tang judges it by the meaning that the thoughts of Zhuxi and that of Xiangshan have something the same in the origin, and there must be some approach for them to intercommunicate as well.By analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of the methods, it’s pointed out in this paper the advantages and disadvantages of every method. It’s thought in this paper that every method can play its role, so that together to paint a full picture of thoughts, if their meanings are fully understood and their means are suitable used. As for the explanation of noumenon, it’s thought in this paper that the meaning of moumenon could be explained in different academic purposes; as for the relationship between knowledge and moral, it’s discussed in this paper the meaning of "expound morality in the way of knowledge", the view of which is held by Mr. Xu and Mr. Mou, and Mr. Tang’s view on the relationship between knowledge and moral; as for the problem of the significance of classics in moral achieving, it is discussed in this paper the view of Xiangshan, Zhuxi and Mr.Mou on this problem, and it is thought that according to the relationship of knowledge and morality and the significance of classics in moral achieving, cognition or knowledge activity are very important to the improvement of moral practice and the development of moral philosophy.The method used in this paper is "the research method of second order". The so-called "the research method of second order" refers by investigating the studies of some famous scholar on Xiangshan’s philosophy reorganizing to observe and discover the characters that present in these studies and then to inspire and enlighten us:how Xiangshan’s learning presents in the minds of those scholars? What are the methods and purposes for them to state Xiangshan’s philosophy? What about their advantages and disadvantages? Comparing with "the research method of second order", the so-called "the research method of first order" refers to the analysis of the philosophical connotations based on Xiangshan’s work, and then to construct a set of thought system of Xiangshan’s philosophy, which is the most universal and the most basic method of research. By using the research method of second order, a general idea of this paper is that except of the research method of second order we should pay more attention to "the research method of second order", for it can broaden our ideas and help us to find out the problems so that to construct a wider platform for our in-depth study of the thoughts vertically and horizontally.