The Confucian Multi-dimensional Interpretations On Theory Of "Gewuzhizhi"

From Song dynasty,the significant concept ‘Three Programs and Eight Items’ was extracted and proposed with the increasing attention of ‘the Great Learning’.As the most fundamental and essential part of ‘Eight Items’ from Confucianism,‘Gewuzhizhi’ had been gradually valued by Confucian who had been continually exploring and interpreting its connotation.Eventually,Gewuzhizhi’ has been a vital category in traditional philosophy study of Confucianism.The role and construction of methodology and epistemology were attached great importance when numerous scholars in the successive dynasties were building their own theoretical systems.Among these theories,‘Gewuzhizhi’,which was proposed by Neo-Confucianism of Cheng-Zhu and Lu-Wang’s Mind System,was explained prominently and specifically.Noe-Confucianism of Cheng-Zhu held the opinion that the ultimate truth is recognized by objective phenomena,forming the ‘Kongfu theory’.On the contrary,Lu Jiuyuan invented the methodology of ‘Finding the Originality’,developed into‘Consciousness on Everything’ by Wang Shouren.The school of Neo-Confucianism called‘Li’ and the school named ‘Xin’ held two controversial ideas.Therefore,fertile field of the view ‘Gewuzhizhi’ had been formed.At that time,some philosophers such as Yang Jian,Luo Qinshun,Wang Fuzhi either criticized Noe-Confucianism of Cheng-Zhu and Lu-Wang’s Mind System from the perspective of personal morality,or sought for the combination of internal and external understanding of ‘Gewuzhizhi’ by separating each part.This combination was formalized into a framework that was interpreted from multi-dimensions.From the perspective of historical development,Confucianism’s ‘Gewuzhizhi’theory in pre-Qin,Han and Tang Dynasties and the Ming Dynasty mostly focused on human relations,there are Neo-Confucianism of Cheng-Zhu from the perspective of ‘Tianli’;there are also Lu-Wang’s Mind System from the ‘heart’,‘Conscience’ perspective.Others such as Yang Jian and Luo Qinshun lingered between ‘heart’ and ‘reason’,and their purpose coincided with the maintenance of feudal ethics,whether it was ‘heaven’,‘heart’ or ‘conscience’.Whether it is‘the matter is poor’,‘inventing the original heart’ or ‘the conscience of my heart’,it is all about maintaining the moral principles of the feudal monarchs,fathers and sons.From the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty to the middle of the QingDynasty,with the influx of Western philosophy,‘Gewuzhizhi’ gradually changed from the clarification and experience of the ‘natural principle’ in the sense of human relations to the exploration and exploration of ‘physics’ in the sense of pure natural rules.Research,in the collision and perfection of ‘refining the heaven and earth’ and ‘exhausting physics’,driven by the trend of practical learning,the academic circle’s interpretation of ‘Gewuzhizhi’focuses on research methods and practical spirit such as meticulous discrimination,precise cognition,and practice.From the perspective of the direction that was interpreted,‘Gewuzhizhi’ was divided into‘Investigation of Phenomena’ and ‘Investigation from Consciousness’.Neo-Confucianism of Cheng-Zhu held the opinion that ‘Investigation of Phenomena’ is approached by exploring the objective world and then the Truth is recognized;while Lu-Wang’s Mind System believed that the main part of world is mentalism,which means ultimate truth can be explored from mental world that manifests as inner heart or consciousness.All Confucians admitted the existence of‘the ultimate truth’,whether from the internality or from the externality.The major reason that caused difference from directions is that mentalism plays an important role of approaching the ultimate truth in the theory of Lu-Wang.Lu-Wang paid more attention on the subjective experience when exploring the world.After the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty,with the gradual deepening of communication between the East and the West,the introduction of Western natural sciences caused Confucian scholars to change the interpretation of ‘Gewuzhizhi’.Fang Yizhi proposed the reason of investigating is that everything has its own origin.Yan Yuan advocated ‘hands on its own things and then knows it’,indicating that what they focus shifted from human ethics to the nature,from theory to practice,and truly played the role of applying knowledge to the world.