the Chen Dynasty
The Analects of Confucius occupies a special position in the history of China's thought. As a book that is considered to faithfully record the words and deeds of Confucius and his disciples, Confucian scholars in past dynasties have combed, textual researched and explained it in detail. The development of China's ancient ideological tradition has an important feature, which is to develop ideas through interpretation. After the Analects of Confucius was written, the collation, textual research and interpretation of Confucian scholars in past dynasties often became an important part of building their own ideological systems, thus developing a set of interpretation system of the Analects.
Confucius lived in an era that was different or even completely different from the interpreters of previous dynasties in terms of political system and social life. In the Western Han Dynasty after Confucius, the policy of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to oust hundreds of schools and respect Confucianism alone made Confucianism begin to penetrate into society with the help of the political system. Confucianism is promoted by institutionalization. Mr. Chen Yinque said: "All public and private behaviors in the civil society are related to the code, and the code is the concrete reality of Confucianism. Therefore, the Chinese nation has been deeply influenced by Confucianism for two thousand years, which is really an aspect of institutional legal life. " ⑴ Politicization and socialization of Confucianism have accumulated into a set of cultural patterns in history, derived a set of moral dogmas, and produced corresponding moral models in practice. It is precisely because of the differences between the historical environment and the context of the times that scholars who interpret classics inevitably bear the brand of the times when interpreting classics. Interpreters of classics revive classics through interpretation and develop new ideas in interpretation. At the same time, the gap between the interpreter and the classic-mainly reflected in the differences in historical background and language environment-inevitably creates a tension between the classic and the interpretation. ⑵ Today, when we interpret the Analects of Confucius with the help of the annotations of past dynasties, we must always pay attention to this tension. On the one hand, we can understand the classics through interpretation, on the other hand, we can understand the changes in the history of thought through the tension between classics and interpretation. At the same time, when modern academic researchers examine traditional thoughts with modern eyes, they often unconsciously try to interpret traditional thoughts or the thoughts of a particular thinker as an impeccable ideological system, which undoubtedly seriously damages the richness and diversity of traditional thoughts. Revealing the tension between classic and traditional concept interpretation in different times is helpful for us to understand the richness and possibilities of concept inheritance.
In the history of China's thought, the relationship between monarch and minister is one of the "five ethics", and "loyalty" is an important concept in the history of thought. This paper will examine the principle of respecting the monarch and the ideological content of loyalty in the eyes of Confucianism in the Confucius era, and try to get rid of possible misunderstandings in the interpretation of past dynasties by means of classic interpretation, and then interpret the interpretation of the principle of respecting the monarch in several interpretation texts of The Analects of Confucius, thus revealing the tension between the classic and the interpretation of the times.
1. Interpreting Classics with Classics —— An Investigation of the Content of "Being a King" in The Analects of Confucius
In the history of China's classic interpretation, there is a way of interpretation, that is, "interpreting classics by classics", that is, interpreting one kind of classics in another with similar historical facts and meanings. Because the contents of the classics are not far apart in the times, they are relatively credible in authority and cross each other in ideological system, which confirms each other. It is precisely because there are many quotations in the content that we can interpret the classics, restore the true colors of the classics to the maximum extent, and avoid the understanding deviation caused by the semantic differences of the times. Yang Shuda's Analects of Confucius is a model of this method. Mr. Chen Yinque said in the preface to the Analects of Confucius: "The words of saints will do something. If you don't prove it with facts, it will become an arrow without a goal. " The Oracle is concise, and if it is not synonymous, it is a mystery. "(3) In the quotations of The Analects of Confucius, there are many places that can be cross-referenced. This kind of reference is in the same text, and its core concepts and vocabulary are used in the same historical environment and language situation. Therefore, this kind of reference may present the true face of thought at that time better than the later explanation.
Regarding the content of The Analects of Confucius, the article "Learning while Learning" has a cloud: "Xia Zi said:' The sage changes color; Parents can do their best; As a gentleman, you can pass through him; Make friends and keep your word: although I say I haven't studied, I will call it learning. ""This sentence can be understood together with another quotation. "Ceng Zi said,' I visit three times a day: Are you unfaithful to others? Don't believe in making friends? "Can you help me pass it on?" "In The Analects of Confucius, the word with loyalty is faithfulness, which is the core content of the three provinces, just as Zhu said,' Do your best until you die. ..... Ceng Zi's autonomy is so sincere that it can be regarded as the basis of learning. In the order of the three, faithfulness is used to spread records. " ⑷
From Zhu's comments, we can see that, firstly, there are three articles in "Three Provinces and My Body" that are the basis of learning, which are similar to "Although you have not learned, you must learn", and they are essentially talking about the content of "learning"; Second, the third of Ceng Zi's three provinces, "loyalty is the foundation of Xi", and Xia Zi "parents can do their best; As a gentleman, you can pass through him; Make friends and keep your word ",all of which are" loyalty "and" faith ". It can be seen that "a gentleman can lead his body" is essentially the concrete embodiment of the concept of "loyalty" in the relationship between monarch and minister. Another passage is quoted in The Analects of Confucius: "Duke Ding asked Confucius,' How about serving the monarch?' Confucius said to him, "A monarch makes a courtier, and a courtier is loyal." "We can be sure that in the Analects of Confucius, the relationship between the minister and the monarch is loyalty, and the specific content of loyalty in the relationship between the minister and the monarch is' being able to lead him'.
We interpret the meaning of "loyalty" in the Analects of Confucius from the perspective of "disloyalty to others", and then put it in the specific situation of "being a monarch" to investigate the meaning of "being a monarch can lead his body" and show the basic relationship between monarch and minister in the Analects of Confucius.
First of all, say "loyalty" in the general sense. In the long-term authoritarian society, "loyalty" and "filial piety" are often used together, which has become a political relationship between monarch and minister. In the Analects of Confucius, loyalty, like faith, is a broad social relationship. There are more than twenty places in the Analects where loyalty and righteousness are mentioned, seven of which are used together, and loyalty and filial piety are never used. "Faith" has almost become a compound word. Among the newly unearthed bamboo slips in Guodian, there is even a chapter on "The Way of Faith", which specifically expounds the relationship between letters. ⑸
In Xu Shen's Shuo Wen Jie Zi in the Han Dynasty, he gave a relatively objective and simple explanation of "loyalty": "loyalty, respect and devotion. From the heart, alto. " Duan Yucai commented: "Respect, respect." . Those who are not dedicated and respectful are synonymous with careful training. " ⑹
The proper explanation of "loyalty" is "wholeheartedly". The basic meaning of dedication is "sincerity" The Analects of Liren talks about Confucius' consistent way, which is "loyalty and forgiveness". Zhu has a concise and convincing explanation of loyalty and forgiveness: "Doing one's best is loyalty and forgiveness, and urging oneself is forgiveness." (7) It is all said in the Q&A on History: "The consistent statement does not need annotations and annotations, and reading the Doctrine of the Mean is annotations and annotations. One is sincere. " It can be seen that "loyalty" emphasizes maintaining sincerity to others in interpersonal communication, not just honesty, and doing things with all one's heart. At the same time, this kind of contribution can also be pushed to "respect" in interpersonal activities. The Book of Rites holds that there must be loyalty in funeral and sacrifice: "The funeral is the most loyal." "The loyalty to sacrifice is also like seeing the love of loved ones, such as lust."
Then we will look at the relationship between monarch and minister reflected by the implementation of "loyalty" in the political field. Yang Jian said in the note of Xun Lun: "Loyalty is also sincere. Sincerity and essence are the same. I really think that people seek loyalty, so I am loyal and sincere to you. This is also called loyalty. " To talk about Confucius' "being a monarch", we must return to the political environment in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Only in a specific political environment can we discuss specific political relations. There is a passage in Zuo Zhuan, which is Shi Jie's exhortation to Wei Zhuanggong, which can explain the political environment at that time and the ideal human relations in people's minds:
"What's more, the husband is cheap, the young are long, the far is near, the new is old, the small is increased, and the prostitute is broken. The so-called six inversions are also. Junyi, minister, father's grace, son's filial piety, brother's love, brother's respect, the so-called six shun also. " ⑽
"Liushun" is an ethical state in the stable period of the rule of rites, and this state is particularly emphasized precisely because the rule of rites has begun to be destroyed in real life, that is, it has entered an era of collapse of rites and bad music. "Six Shun" mentioned three kinds of ethics: monarch, minister, father and son, and brother, which later evolved into a part of the five ethics that maintained the traditional social order in China for more than two thousand years. Among these three ethics, father's kindness and filial piety, brother's love and brother's respect have not changed with the corresponding contents of the later five ethics. The biggest change is "the righteousness of the monarch, the trip of the minister", and the relationship between the ministers in later generations is only "loyalty".
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Zhou Tianzi's solid authority had collapsed, which was followed by the situation of princes fighting for hegemony. It is impossible for the monarch of every vassal state to master absolute power, let alone the thunderous authority of the monarch under one-man dictatorship. At that time, the relationship between monarch and minister was based on righteousness. In this case, Confucius put forward that the emotion behind "a gentleman can understand his body" is "respect" The Analects of Confucius said: "Confucius said that a gentleman has a son and knows four things: respect for his way, respect for his affairs, benefit for the people and righteousness for the people." "The Analects of Confucius Wei Linggong" said: "A gentleman should respect his affairs before eating them." "Respect" is an interpretation of loyalty. Confucius' political ideal is to restore the order of rule by courtesy. Therefore, he proposed that the first step in politics is to "clear the name", which means "the monarch and his son". In this order, both the monarch and the minister exist as individuals with their own independent personalities. I respect the monarch, which is a respect for the order of propriety. In this order, the monarch and the minister are in harmony because of "righteousness". Therefore, the monarch must play the role of monarch and the minister must play the role of minister, so as to ensure the stability and rationality of the whole ritual order.
This respect for "courtesy" is also the embodiment of "Tao". "The Analects of Confucius Advanced" said: "The so-called minister, doing things by the Tao, can not stop." Tao is an idealistic spirit put forward by Confucius. Mr. Yu Yingshi said in "Scholars and China Culture": "Before the philosophical breakthrough, scholars were fixed in feudal relations and had their own responsibilities; They have no higher spirit to criticize the political society and resist the princes. But after the' breakthrough', scholars developed this spirit, the so-called' Tao'. " ⑾ With "Tao" as the spiritual support, the Confucian relationship between monarch and minister has taken on a new look, which is more vividly reflected in Mencius after Confucius. Mencius distinguished "virtue" and "position", and Mencius said:
"Come to a, zijun, too, me too, how dare you and your friends; If you are virtuous, you can be my friend. "
From the newly unearthed bamboo slips in Guodian, we can see the ideological inheritance from Confucius to Zisi and then to Mencius. The section "Lu Gong asked Zi Si" said: "Lu Gong asked Zi Si:' How can I be a loyal minister?' Zi Si said,' Those who often call the monarch evil can be described as loyal ministers.' " ⑿
According to Confucius, the relationship between monarch and minister is the relationship between two individuals with independent personality, and their combination is based on the * * * identity of order; In Zisi's view, "loyal minister" means directly pointing out the mistakes and shortcomings of the monarch with his own inner thoughts; In Mencius' view, in addition to agreeing with the order of governing the country by courtesy, the minister also "called the monarch evil" because he was virtuous and had the power to compete with the throne.
At the same time, due to the unity of benevolence and righteousness, the minister can't obey you absolutely, he can choose you. "Book of Rites" said: "At the age of forty, I made a special plan for being an official. Harmony is smooth, and reverse is smooth. If you can't, you can go. " The next part of the Book of Rites Quli says: "If you don't show your advice, you will flee if you don't listen." "Mencius Zhang Wan Xia" said: "Have it, admonish it; If you don't listen again and again, go. " This relationship between monarch and minister is different from the difference that "if you want to die, I have to die" under the one-person autocratic political system in later generations.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the meanings of Confucius' "I am loyal to the monarch" were embodied in "I am loyal to the monarch by Taoism", "I always say that the monarch is evil", "I remonstrate what the monarch has" and "three remonstrations". And if you "don't listen" and "can't", the intention of the monarch and the minister will be broken, and the loyalty of the minister will be exhausted, and the minister will inevitably choose "go".
Secondly, the tension between classics and interpretation is seen from the interpretation of The Analects of Confucius in past dynasties.
Mr. Feng Youlan has an image metaphor for the development of China's ancient philosophy: new wine in old bottles. China's philosophical thoughts, from Dong Zhongshu to Kang Youwei, regardless of whether there are new ideas, "must rely on the ancient name, that is, the era of Confucius, and most of them use the name of Confucian classics to express their views." "At this time, the wines brewed by old and new philosophers were all packaged in ancient philosophy, mostly Confucian classics in new bottles." [13] From the "new wine in old bottles" in the history of China's philosophical thought development, we can see that the history of China's thought has an important feature, that is, to develop ideas through interpretation. In the history of western thought, new bottles emerge one after another, and new wines are constantly produced. The history of China's thought develops and innovates through the layer-by-layer interpretation of the inherent ideological system (Confucius is called a saint, and his thoughts are beyond doubt most of the time), which determines the special importance of writing teaching. That is to say, because the development of China's traditional thought is based on the new interpretation and deduction of classical meanings and concepts, the continuity of thought mainly comes from the fixity of literal meaning. At the same time, ideas are developing, and the development and innovation of ideas are often manifested in the richness of words, that is, the ideological content contained in words is constantly injected with new connotations in the new era. Therefore, as one of the traditionally recognized classics, the interpretation of The Analects of Confucius in past dynasties not only contains the ideological connotation of the text itself, but also contains the ideological content of understanding the readers' times, which is an important content in the history of thought. We can also get a glimpse of the ideological characteristics of past dynasties from the interpretation of The Analects.
The development of thought is manifested in the richness of word meanings. Words bearing important ideas in classics always gain new contents in the process of being constantly explained, which also leads to a certain tension between classics and explanations. This tension means that interpretation comes from classics, and at the same time, interpretation is not completely equivalent to classics, but contains new content of the times. The tension between classics and interpretation is caused by the difference of the background of the times, not the difference of the language environment. At present, we take the principle of "being a monarch" in the Analects of Confucius as an example, interpret the classics by history and prove them by history, try our best to avoid the classic interpretation problems brought about by the differences of the times, and strive to explore the "being a monarch" and "loyalty" in Confucius' mind. Now we enter the development process of the history of thought, and examine how the tension between classics and interpretation comes into being and what the consequences are.
1, the tension between loyalty classics and deduction classics under the background of the times.
Every word has a specific referent in a specific semantic environment. Due to the different background of the times, the connotation and meaning of the same word may be very different. However, when interpreting the classics, the classic interpreters often directly explain the specific meanings of the words in the classics, ignoring the background content of the times behind these words, which makes the understanding of these words deviate greatly from the expression of the classics, so that readers in history and today cannot glimpse the truth of the classics from the interpreters' interpretation. Now let's take Zhu's Notes on the Analects of Confucius as an example to illustrate the problem of meaning deviation caused by different background of the times.
"The Analects of Confucius for Politics" says: "Mourning the public asks:' He Weimin War?' Confucius said to him, "If you make a mistake, the people will obey you." . If you put forward something wrong, the people will not accept it. "This is the first time that" Confucius and Yue are opposite "appeared in The Analects of Confucius. Zhu said: "When a gentleman asks, he calls it' opposite Confucius' and respects it. " ⒁
In terms of meaning, there is no problem with this explanation. Confucius disciples who edited The Analects of Confucius also wrote "Duiyue" to highlight Confucius' "respect for the monarch". The real problem is that the monarch in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period admired by Confucius and the monarch in the autocratic political era admired by Zhu have completely different or even diametrically opposite personality characteristics. In the era of Confucius, respecting the monarch is the role of respecting the monarch, and behind it is respecting Confucius' favorite etiquette order. After Zhu's explanation of "respecting the monarch", a person who understands Confucius by reading Zhu will inevitably move the monarch in the Spring and Autumn Period to the monarch in the Song Dynasty, thus causing ideological dislocation. At the same time, Zhu's interpretation of "the matter of the monarch can lead to his body" is that "leading it, even appointing it" is entrusted to his body, that is, there is no body. "⒂ has been demonstrated before, Confucius said" loyalty "is not the kind of self-destructive loyalty that" I have to die if I want to die ",but the persistence and attention to" sincerity ". When Zhu's two interpretations are combined, an independent personality is obviously knocked out.
China's traditional thought is closely integrated with the traditional society. Even a classic interpretation is not a pure knowledge expansion, but a practical interpretation. Therefore, when we understand classics and interpretations, we have to pay special attention to the differences between classics and interpretations. In the history of China's political system, the Qin Dynasty was a watershed. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period in the pre-Qin period, the monarch and the minister were equal in personality, and there was no relationship between absolute authority and absolute obedience. The political system after Qin Dynasty, as Mr. Xu said, is "one-man autocracy": "The so-called autocracy refers to the use of government power in the imperial court, and the final decision is in the hands of the emperor alone; There is no legislative basis or specific system to limit the power of the emperor. " The first characteristic of one-man autocracy is that "the position of an autocratic emperor is supreme, almost the supreme god on earth." [14] In this political system, the relationship between monarch and minister is a kind of minister's complete dependence on monarch. You are above the minister with thunderous authority. The Han Dynasty was one of the most enlightened periods of traditional autocratic politics. At that time, Jia Shan, a scholar, felt this way about the emperor: "Anyone who is struck by lightning will be doomed; What was crushed by thousands of troops was crushed. The strength of today's masters is not particularly thunderous, and the potential is extremely heavy. " There is no doubt that it is completely different to say "respecting the monarch" in an era that is considered "unable to do things according to the way" and to say "respecting the monarch" in an era when the monarch's authority is extremely strong. The same "respecting the monarch" also has a completely different ideological connotation behind it.
Moreover, Confucius' respect for the monarch was a respect for the order of rule by courtesy in the political environment at that time, while Zhu's respect for the monarch, on the surface, had the same meaning, but in essence it was misplaced as a respect for the one-person autocratic political system because of the differences in historical environment and political system-at least from the perspective of readers' acceptance. Because the character "Jun" has been objectified as an authoritarian political system, the respect for Jun under the authoritarian political system has also been objectified as the maintenance of one-person authoritarian political system. In Mr. Xu's works, there is often tension caused by the difference between ideological development and political system. Mr. Xu tends to think that Confucianism is suppressed and distorted by authoritarian politics in an authoritarian society. And this kind of suppression and distortion is also quite obvious in the classical explanation.
2, the tension between classics and interpretation in the language environment differences
After the establishment of the autocratic political system, the political environment has changed greatly, and the role of "monarch" and the mentality of scholars have changed. This change is also subtly reflected in the understanding of "loyalty" of "being a monarch" by theorists of past dynasties. The subtle differences between the annotations of past dynasties and the classics themselves show the great changes in the process of ideological inheritance.
Yan He and others who commented on The Analects of Confucius earlier began to have a new political understanding of loyalty. Under the "things, can cause the body", words and notes said:
"Confucius said,' Be loyal to the festival without loving it.' " ⒅
The "loyalty" in The Analects of Confucius emphasizes the psychology of "sincerity" and "respect", while the "loyalty" in words and notes becomes a kind of "festival", especially the relationship between monarch and minister; The "loyalty" in The Analects of Confucius emphasizes "dedication", but in the annotation of reconciliation, it becomes "dislike getting up". This reveals a major shift. The Qin dynasty established the unlimited power of the emperor's one-person autocracy, and the role of "jun" changed greatly. The relationship between monarch and minister is gone forever. The relationship between "monarch" and "minister" is no longer a status difference caused by the sequence of rites, but a relationship of power domination and domination.
After that, Xing Bing's Annotation and Zhu Zhu's Annotation on Four Books appeared in the Song Dynasty, which also followed the path of annotation and described the traces and forms of politicization of Confucianism under the suppression of autocratic politics. In the annotation of The Analects of Confucius, Xing Bing said:
"A gentleman can lead his body" is said to be a minister. Although he can't let his beauty be evil, he is loyal and doesn't love his body if he is a child (full of surprises). " ⒆
In this note, Xing Bing described the image of an upright minister, that is, to "make it beautiful while reserving its evils" as much as possible and be an admonisher; If you can't do it, you should also "be loyal and not love your body." Confucius said, "Don't stop if you don't follow the rules." From the political point of view of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, "stop" means "go far", while in Xing Bing's annotation, "if you can follow the Tao, you can stop." ⒇ Confucius's "If you can't stop" emphasizes retiring, "If you have a way, you will see it, and if you don't have a way, you will hide it", while Xing Bing's annotation has become an admonition. In contrast, Liu Baonan's The Analects of Justice is closer to the original appearance of the classics. Liu Baonan's evaluation of this sentence is: "People who follow the path, if you can't stop, say that they should follow the right path. If you are wrong, you should admonish them with the right path. Stop' means you are not an official. " (2 1)
From the annotation "don't cherish his body" to Zhu's annotation "don't cherish his body", the interpretation of "you can get his body for a monarch" reveals the ministers' further attachment to your personality and recognition of the inherent system. However, because the Song Dynasty was the most relaxed era for literati, it generally inspired the spirit of literati. Cheng Yi publicly said: "The world is the prime minister to control chaos", and Fan Zhongyan even proposed that "the worries of the world should be the first, and the joy of the world should be the second". Zhu's annotation on "Ruling the monarch by Tao is like Fukashi" can also explain the cultural characteristics of Zhu's era. Zhu pointed out: "Those who' serve the monarch with Tao' do not obey your wishes." "If you can't stop, just do your own thing." "Do your own thing" may not be an appropriate explanation of Confucius' sentence, but it is Zhu's psychological embodiment.
Conclusion: Classics and explanations in the history of thought.
As far as the interpretation tradition of The Analects is concerned, the ideological tension between The Analects and its interpretation is particularly obvious in the literal interpretation. The continuity of thought comes from the relative stability of literal meaning, and the development of thought is manifested in the richness of literal meaning and the certainty of reference. Compared with western philosophy, China's ancient thought has a characteristic, which is to develop his thought through explanation. In order to explain the development idea, this also determines the special importance of written explanation, because "explanation" is the explanation of classic core words. It is possible to construct a new concept on the basis of classics through explanation, because the stability of word meaning makes the concept continue. Confucius and Mencius may have slightly different concepts of "benevolence", but their basic connotations are basically the same. That is to say, as far as "benevolence" is concerned, the core content of benevolence has not changed much from Confucius to "love" to Mencius, Zhu. The possibility of "developing ideas by explanation" lies in that with the development of culture, the connotation of characters is constantly enriched, the reference of characters is constantly determined, and the classic interpreters of various dynasties constantly inject new historical content into the classics during the interpretation process. On the one hand, the richness of the connotation of words and the certainty of their reference enable people in later generations to explain the development ideas; On the other hand, because the meaning and connotation of words change with the times, in the interpretation of classics, the characteristics of the times and ideological background of each interpreter will leave a deep mark in the process of interpreting classics. Interpreters try their best to make the interpretation conform to the original intention of classics, but due to the different background and language environment, there is inevitably a kind of ideological dislocation between classics and interpretations, which leads to the tension of the times between classics and interpretations. Specifically, this tension is closely related to two characteristics of China's ideological history.
The first is the change of meaning brought by the progress of the times and the development of culture. In fact, with the continuous accumulation of social experience, the internal connotation of words is constantly enriched and the reference is constantly determined. For each new social experience, people either create a new term to describe it, or give old words a new explanation to describe this new human experience. Hannah arendt, a famous political scientist, made a profound study of the historical significance of "revolution" in On Revolution, and thought that the word "revolution" used by modern people was closely related to the American Revolution and the French Revolution. "Obviously, the establishment of every new phenomenon in human beings needs a new word, no matter whether this new word is used to refer to a new experience or an old word is given a new meaning. (22) Therefore, after the two revolutions, the word revolution has a new meaning. Before and after the two revolutions, people talked about the same word with completely different meanings.
The influence of the development of culture and history on the change of literal meaning is also reflected in China's thought. Taking "filial piety" as an example, the meaning of the word "filial piety" in the pre-Qin era, from the original blood relationship between a son and his parents to the Analects of Confucius and Mencius, was promoted and established as a universal morality. After the Qin and Han Dynasties, this universal morality was widely used in society, and even strongly advocated by power through interest induction. Finally, a number of moral dogmas (such as "the father wants his son to die, and the son has to die") were derived, and a large number of moral models (such as the stories in Twenty-four Filial Pieties) were produced. With the development of history and the accumulation of culture, the moral connotation of filial piety has been greatly enriched. At the same time, the connotation of "filial piety" was quite extensive in the pre-Qin era and began to become a kind of morality. There is a saying in the Analects that filial piety is almost related to ghosts and gods, and the object of "filial piety" is not parents, but ghosts and gods. However, later generations defined "filial piety" as a specific ethical emotion of a son towards his father. From the change of the meaning of the word "filial piety", we can see the process of enriching the connotation of words and determining the reference brought about by historical progress and cultural accumulation. When A Qing scholars interpret "filial piety", because the purpose of interpretation is practice and the purpose of readers' reading is also practice, they must have the dogma and deeds accumulated in the history of 2000 years. Therefore, for us today, we must attach great importance to the influence of the era culture and ideological background of the annotator on his annotation work.
Secondly, China's traditional classical explanation is practical explanation, not pure theoretical explanation. There is a profound interaction between China's traditional thought and traditional society. This is quite different from the western philosophical tradition. In China's tradition, philosophers are far from those who are interested in the theoretical system and diligently pursue objective knowledge, but are more interested in doing nothing and doing everything, in an attempt to directly promote social progress with ideas and make society more reasonable. Therefore, the purpose of their interpretation of the classics is to return to the classics and find the moral source of building a better society. Because of the practicality of classical interpretation, the interpreter's interpretation of classics is not only the deduction and annotation of ideas, but also contains rich cultural and historical significance, that is to say, the interpreter understands classics from the inherent cultural form of his time. Because of this, China's hermeneutics is not only conceptual, but also historic. If we look at the development of the history of thought from classical explanations, we must restore the modernity of these explanations. We should understand the classics through the interpretation of past dynasties, and pay more attention to the modernity of the interpretation of past dynasties. Today, we must read the classics through the annotations of past dynasties, so as to understand the classics. At the same time, the classics in the past dynasties put on the colored glasses of the commentators in the past dynasties, which is a dilemma for us to read the classics. Therefore, to restore the true colors of classics, on the one hand, we should use the annotations of past dynasties, on the other hand, we should also pay attention to the factors of special times in these annotations.
-
(1) Chen Yinque's Review Report III on Feng Youlan's Philosophy History of China, see Feng Youlan's Philosophy History of China, published by East China Normal University Press in June 2000, with a total of 440 pages.
⑵ Mr. Huang Junjie once inspected the history of Confucian interpretation in East Asia and thought that there were two kinds of "tension of interpretation" in the history of classical interpretation in East Asia. The first is "the tension between the universal values in the classics and the space-time characteristics of the interpreters". (See Tension between Classics and Interpretation, edited by Chen, Shanghai Sanlian Bookstore, June 2003, 5438+00, p. 28. However, the author believes that the so-called "universal value in classics" is only a preset. For example, the annotation of a quotation "Yong Yi Can Make the South" inspected by Mr. Huang is not so much the tension between "universal value" and "temporal and spatial characteristics" as the tension between classics and interpretations in different political and social environments.
③ The Analects of Confucius by Yang Shuda, published by Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House in February, p. 1986.
④ Zhu's Notes on Four Books, Yuelu Bookstore, June edition 1987, p. 67.
5] Li Ling's Notes on Bamboo Slips Teaching in Guodian, published by Peking University Publishing House in March 2002, p. 100.
[6] "Notes on Shuowen Jiezi", published by Chengdu Ancient Books Bookstore, p. 532.
Once Zhu's Notes on Four Books, p. 102.
Being Cheng Shude's Collection of Analects of Confucius, published by Zhonghua Book Company in August 1990, p. 264.
Levies Liu Baonan's The Analects of Justice, integrated The Scholars, published by Unity Press in May 1999, p. 9.
⑽ Notes on Thirteen Classics, published by Zhonghua Book Company, p. 1724.
⑾ Yu Yingshi Scholars and China Culture, p. 88.
⑿ Li Ling's Notes on Guodian Teaching Slips, page 85.
[13] Feng Youlan's History of China's Philosophy, vol.6, pp.3 and 4.
[14] Zhu's Notes on Four Books, p. 82.
⒂ Zhu's Notes on Four Books, p. 68.
⒃ Xu's History of Han Dynasty Thought, pp. 80 and 865,438+0.
⒄ Jia Shan's Yan Zhi, the Fusion of Various Schools, published by Unity Press in May 1999, p. 166.
⒅ Notes on Thirteen Classics, p. 2458.
Notes on the Thirteen Classics, page 2458.
⒇ Notes on Thirteen Classics, p. 2500.
(2 1) Liu Baonan's The Analects of Justice, p. 237.
(22) hannah arendt, On Revolution, Viking Publishing House, new york, P28.