Ethical Thought Of Zhang Taiyan

In the period between the late Qing Dynasty and early of the Republic of China, various conflicting cultural values, home and abroad, ancient and present, were all tangled together. While social order and moral culture were in chaos, the traditional Chinese ethical morality was gradually disintegrating, or even on the verge of collapse. Then how to reconstruct a new ethical value system, was an inevitable question that the thinkers who were greatly concerned with such disorder had to face up. Among them, Zhang Taiyan devoted his whole lifetime thinking about such a difficult issue of social morality; He even sacrificed his life for the completion of his morality reconstruction. In this sense, Zhang Taiyan deserves to be entitled as one of the most conscientious and accomplished thinker in the modern Chinese history of ethical thought.Researchers vary about Zhang Taiyan's ethical thought. Some hold it to be conflicting and inconsistent, while others, pointing out the consistency of his thought, cannot specify where it lies. My dissertation thinks that the ethical thought of Zhang Taiyan is not self-contradictory, because though his ethical thought experienced great changes, one unifying thread can still be found in it, that is, his idea of "dependence on oneself instead of on others".Zhang Taiyan' s principle of moral subjectivity. "Dependence on self instead of on others" as the principle of moral subjectivity, demonstrates the protruding feature of ethical subjectivism in his thought. On the other hand, it also reveals the consistency that unifies his ethical thought. Such consistency is manifested in two aspects of "truth" and "immediacy".Firstly, the consistency of Zhang's ethical thought lies in the core idea of "dependence on self instead of on others". For every individual, self-dependence means to cherish one's own mind without depending on external power on the part of the moral subject. In one dimension, the subject should seek truth, searching his character framework for the original source of his life until he acquires the freedom of morality cultivation. In another dimension, he should nourish his nature, enhancing his own morality level, and on the other hand, he should also aim at promoting the common people's morality and welfare. For a nation and a country, "dependence onself instead of on others" means that the nation or country should not depend on other nations, countries or external power, but preserve and develop its cultural quintessence, strengthening the common people's sense of identification with the nation or country and stimulating their patriotism. In this way, not only the invasion of the foreign cultures can be resisted, but also the independent existence and development of the nation or country can be secured. Therefore, "dependence on self instead of on others" as a principle of moral subjectivity of Zhang, refers to that the moral subject is totally dependant on itself (which can be an individual himself, his mind, the nation or country), and resorts to the will power, satisfying the moral requirement, promoting and making continual enhancement of its moral development, in order to better serve the common people, society and the world.Secondly, the way the moral subjectivism in Zhang Taiyan's ethical thought is shown in these two aspects will be examined. From the aspect of "immediacy", it is mainly about strengthening the moral confidence of common people with religion, and therefore sublimating the their morality level. Besides, its immediate function also lies in stimulating with nationalism people's ethnic consciousness, and therefore exciting the moral emotion of them. Once the moral emotion becomes the powerful stimulus of the subject's moral behavior, it can fortify the moral will of the subject, and promotes the moral subject to reach the highest state of morality, which is characterized with freedom and goodness. This process is called by Zhang Taiyan as "change from immediacy to truth". From the aspect of "truth", it is mainly about the ideal moral freedom, which is achieved by the moral subject by means of moral will. Such moral freedom is essentially a moral will power that transcends everything. It will become an original moral drive for the subject to conquer all kinds of hardships in his worldly life. This process is called by him as "back to immediacy from truth ". In both of the two processes, the subject of this moral will power is actually the "self contained in the principle of "dependence on self instead of on others", namely, the person himself, his own mind, his own nation, or his own country. However, according to Zhang Taiyan, the mind is the origin of the social ethics and even of the matter in the world. For example, to quote from him, "we should cherish our own mind, not depending on others", "to cherish our own mind, without resorting to gods".The following three chapters are devoted to interpreting Zhang's ethical thoughtrespectively from the aspects of moral character, morality cultivation and moral practice, which can be understood as three different manifestations of the moral principle of "self-dependence".Zhang' s idea of moral character. "Dependence on self instead of on others" as manifested in moral character is called as the concept of "big self-dependent individual". Based on the relationship between "self-dependant individual" and "mass", Zhang Taiyan was actually advocating building up moral character when he said, "big self-independent individuals make a mass, and mass consists of big self-independent individuals". "Self-dependent individuals" are divided into "small self-dependent individuals" and "big self-dependent individuals". "Small self-dependent individuals" refer to those who are self-interested, concerning only themselves and lacking collective spirit. Though it is self-reliant in form, "small self-dependant individuals" are not truly self-dependant, while "big self-dependant individuals" are so, because they strive solely for the sake of the benefits of other people. If the moral subject is not blinded by the small self-dependence, it will know how to reach the big self-dependence state. Big self-dependent individuals are characterized with such moral character as "independent living", which implies insisting one's own way of judgment and behavior. However, self-dependence in the true sense means taking the maximum benefit of the mass as a guide; It is for others, not dependent on others. Therefore, people with such "independent living" spirit rely on their own practice, and cultivate the "big self-dependence" moral character. Actually, Zhang Taiyan himself is a scholar with such moral character, a perfect balance of his practice and his theory.Zhang Taiyan' s idea of morality cultivation. Zhang Taiyan's idea of morality cultivation is mainly derived from his unique idea of "Buddha practice" which is a combination of Confucianism and Buddhism, altruism and self-interest. "Buddha practice" refers not only to the behavior of cultivating morality, but also the process and method of it. According to Zhang Taiyan, the idea of "Buddha practice" is characterized with the following: attaching greater importance to morality cultivation in this world than morality cultivation out of this world, the priority of benefiting others to benefiting oneself, the identification of Zhongtu Saint to Buddha of Great Vehicle. Based on this, Zhang Taiyan advocated specially the spirit of "Revolutionary Buddha practice" which encouraged people to die for their country.Such spirit obscures the boundary between life and death, and then if imbued with it, the moral subject can achieve eternal life through his death and thus reach the highest state of morality. At the same time, such spirit can also encourage the followers to fulfill their historical commission. So essentially, the ultimate goal of "revolutionary Buddha practice" is not to achieve the highest moral state, but to spread such kind of spirit, to apply it to the practical revolutionary life, and to transform it into sense of mission and responsibility for the people and the country.Zhang Taiyan' s idea of moral practice. The problem of morality is the central issue that Zhang throughout his whole life has concerned himself with, both in his political career and academic career. To save the country by means of morality is the ultimate tenor of his ethical thought. If the concept of saving the country by morality is characterized with "Confucian scholar practice", and "Confucian scholar practice" is the practical philosophy of "self-dependence", to save the country by it is the moral practice of Zhang Taiyan's theory of "dependence on self instead of on others". The implication of "Confucian scholar practice" is simply to emphasize moral integrity and practice. It contains three aspects: a) the fundamental connotation taken from the Book of Rites, namely, the Confucian morality which is self-reliant, enduring, and striving, b) the spirit of the roving brave and assassins who in the former times dared to give up life for the sake of justice, c) an original power derived from the combination of Confucianism and Buddhism, that is, a will power of morality originating from the moral freedom that the moral subject has accumulated through his lifelong experience.