“Constrained Intuitive Knowledge” And “Transforming From Knowledge To Wisdom”

Mou Zongsan and Feng Qi(Mou & Feng)are philosophers who devoted themselves to giving philosophical care to the times and were able to integrate Chinese and Western cultures in modern times.They both went beyond Kant’s epistemological point of view that human beings can only get to know phenomena,but cannot master thing-in-itself.Instead,they held that epistemology should not limited itself in knowing phenomena,but should be related to human beings and hence master thing-in-itself.Mou and Feng respectively constructed the epistemological theories of “constrained intuitive knowledge” and “transforming from knowledge to wisdom”,affirming that epistemology should explore both knowledge and wisdom.Mou Zongsan restored and promoted the Confucian doctrine of “nature and temperament”,comprehended deeply the issues proposed by Kant,and strengthened the decisive meaning of the subject while eliminated the objective reality by taking the approach of moral metaphysics in the sense of epistemology.Cognition is the unity of the cognitive subject and the objective reality.In light of the meaning of the subject in cognition,Mou Zongsan obscured the interaction between subject and object as well as the decisive role of objective reality in epistemology.Feng Qi adopted the approach of perceptual practice to sublate the division of cognitive subject and objective reality,emphasizing the unity and dialectical movement of the two.Feng has overcome the abstract speculation,conceptualization and the characteristic of blurred mysticism and religious implication in Mou Zongsan’s epistemology.It promotes epistemology to be based on concrete existence,and especially with the characteristics of combining Marxist philosophy,Western philosophy,and Chinese philosophy with practical materialism,it reflects the philosophical concern that philosophy should not only explain the world but also transform the world.“Constrained Conscience” confirms that a moral subject’s intuitive knowledge(that is,awareness that grasps the essence)is the real existence,the existence in the sense of ontology,and the intuition of wisdom is explained by the function of awareness that grasps the essence.Hence,human beings can comprehend thing-in-itself with wisdom and consequently develop ontology in the sense of the subject.Intuitive knowledge constrains itself,that is,dialectically manifests the cognitive mind,in order to determine and recognize the phenomenon,and thus develop the ontology of the phenomenal world.In other words,the phenomenon(knowledge)is the product of knowing the mind.Knowledge is directly based on the cognitive mind and indirectly rooted in intuitive knowledge.Wisdom and knowledge are divided into two insurmountable layers corresponding to ontology and phenomena respectively.“Transforming from knowledge to wisdom” communicates subject and object through perceptual practice,and cognition is “returning to reality with what is obtained from reality”.Knowledge’s grasp of existence is characterized by distinction and limitation,while wisdom must reproduce the unity and specificity of existence.Knowledge breeds the sprout of wisdom and knowledge must be transformed into wisdom.Wisdom cannot be separated from the foundation of knowledge and the two present a dialectical movement of repetitive spiral rising.There is rational intuition in the transformation from knowledge to wisdom,which grasps the wholeness and concrete existence at once,and thus can grasp thing-in-itself.Mou Zongsan draws a strict boundary between knowledge and wisdom from a transcendental philosophical standpoint,so “constrained conscience” implies the division between epistemology and ontology.Feng Qi established knowledge and wisdom on the basis of dialectical unity through perceptual practice,so “transforming from knowledge to wisdom” emphasizes that epistemology and ontology are mutually premises.However,according to Feng Qi,existence is divided into "the realm of naturalness,the realm of reality,the realm of possibility,and the realm of value”,and they appear in sequence,so existence logically includes the possibility of “division”.In particular,the distinction between the realm of facts and the realm of value implies the alienation between the two inherently and logically.There is no pure value that is separated from the fact,and there is no pure fact that is separated from the value,so the grasp of existence must be based on the concreteness of existence.Epistemology,ontology and axiology are inherently unified;knowledge cannot be separated from human life itself,and it must be returned to wisdom.