| Celebrated as an important modern representative of the second-generation Neo-Confucianism,Tang Junyi(1909-1978)was a bellwether in the research field of Chinese and Western ethical culture.Aiming at reviving Confucian ethical culture and exploring a modernization path for Chinese ethical culture,Tang comprehensively studied Oriental and Western ethical culture.All this has won him the reputation of“a giant in the world of cultural awareness”.Tang Junyi's fame in the field is comparable with that of Mou Zongsan,the other important modern representative of the second-generation Neo-Confucianism.The concept of“mortal self' developed by Tang constitutes a fundamental and essential concept of ethics,which is related to subjectivity formation of moral individuals,awakening of self-awareness and cultivation of moral personality.It is also a concept at the core of cultural philosophy,having a close bearing on modernization of Chinese ethical culture.In carrying forward the idea with Confucian ethics as the guideline,Tang took in the essence of Neo-Confucianism and study on heart and nature in the Song and Ming dynasties,and extensively referred to ideological resources of Western philosophical schools,thus building the“morality—culturalism" with "moral self' as the central concept.Through establishment of“moral self",he attempted to not only guide Chinese to actively get involved in and create cultural activities,but also promote development of modern Chinese culture.Adhering to the idea of "universe idealism",Tang construed the universe as a life entity made up of materials and spirit,and humans as orthodoxic inheritors of lives on the universe.He also emphasized that humans are lives formed on the basis of materials but dominated by the spirit.To him,all human activities are spiritual activities.Meanwhile,Tang pointed out that humans are made up of materials and spirit.Because of this,humans have two potential ideological statuses.One is the spiritual self or moral self;the other is the self in the real world or the material self.The former is boundless,constant and metaphysical for being free of limitations of time and space;the latter,however,limited by time and space is demonstrated as bounded,changing and physical.A normal living status of humans should be a status in which the spiritual self dominates the real-world self.This is also a living status doing no harm to others.Nevertheless,in the real life,humans usually take the limited material self unconsciously as the boundless spiritual self,which results in the spiritual self controlled by the material self.Eventually,humans' excessive material demand leads to formation of sins.Tang offered a solution to this problem,that is,stimulating the holy“conscience”,consciously realizing self-limitations or impractical thinking,getting rid of shackles facing the self in the real world and recovering the dominance of the spiritual self to realize establishment of the moral self.On that basis,namely under the guidance of the moral self,humans can freely engage in or create all kinds of cultures or social and cultural life in line with moral values and standards.“Cultural generation”is the objective of Tang's building of moral self.This allowed Tang to combine the essence of the "Four Hearts" promoted by Mencius as well as Neo-Confucianism and study on heart and nature in the Song and Ming dynasties with the metaphysical approach developed by Kant and Hegel to build morality to form the“morality-culturalism" with“moral self' at the core.According to the“conscience”concept advocated by Wang Yangming,a thinker of the Ming dynasty,Tang Junyi regarded“mind and body”as the carrier of“moral self',and interpreted the internal core of“mind and body”as“moral self',which is actually“benevolence,human nature and heavenly principles or conscience.”In this way,he developed the ontology with“benevolence”as the internal core and“conscience”as the carrier.After that,Tang inherited the cognition logic of“unity between heaven and man”,taking“benevolence as the“will of the heaven”and“moral self 'as humans' true self and nature.Tang also stressed that the process of transforming from“material self' to“moral self' is a process of“returning to one's original nature”.During the process,Tang proceeded from the“real-world self" and adopted“self-consciousness”as the method and“prevalence of heavenly principles" as the goal to finally achieve establishment of "moral self".Therefore,a person can cultivate“moral self' based on self-consciousness,“sense of honor”,and self-introspection.By doing all this,the person can accomplish the ideal goal of becoming sages.As to the individual practice of“moral self',“integration between natural law and destiny”can provide the principle therefor.Through“absolute self-disciple”,an individual can achieve the ultimate goal of“moral life.”Therefore,in the opinion of Tang Junyi,cultivation and practice of“moral self ' can be achieved only through an individual's cultural creation activities in society.This is a process of promoting ethics and morals in a country.Tang attached great importance to the relationship between“moral self' and“cultural activity”as a relationship between“natural law and destiny”.The fertile soil provided by humans'“moral self ' breeds all forms of culture(including democracy and science)and makes humans' cultural life in accord with morality.To sum up,Tang stuck to the idealism of "the universe is actually my heart" and regarded all human activities(including science,democracy and other cultural activities)to be derived from humans'“moral self'through metaphysical construction of“moral self' and the cognitive method of“integration between natural law and destiny”to fight back criticism of the Westernization school in the May 4th Movement,saying that Confucianism cannot develop the culture of“science and democracy.”Therefore,Tang Junyi's theory on“moral self' has made positive contributions to protecting and expounding on the essence of traditional Chinese culture.Nevertheless,due to Tang's inheritance of the philosophical idea of“high morality and low intelligence",his theory on“moral self ' reveals the“tendency to pan-moralism" and gets stuck in the dilemma of“innovation based on the traditional culture.”... |
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