From the "Book of Changes": "What is metaphysical is called the Tao, and what is metaphysical is called the weapon." Metaphysics refers to the reasons behind the sensible world, which are abstract and insensible, and exist as the basis of the sensible world. Ontology is about exploring the metaphysical basis of the metaphysical world.
But "Book of Changes": There is no ontological explanation here. Because Chinese culture has only had the theory of cosmogenesis since ancient times, but no ontology. During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Taoism responded to and denied the metaphysicians and Buddhists who said "nothing is noble and exalts existence" and the "neither existence nor nothingness" theory of Buddhism, and established the theory of "wonderful origin" That is ontology. Nowadays philosophers refer to ontology metaphorically.
Walking on the Sea of ??Wisdom
From "Yi Zhuan" Collection of Ci: "The metaphysical is called the Tao; the metaphysical is called the weapon. "Metaphysical" means before all things have images, the "constant way" is above the form; "metaphysical" means after all things have images, the "Tao" is below the form. "Being is born from nothingness" "(or "from Wuji to Taiji") refers to "the tangible is born from the invisible". The so-called "wu" refers to "nothing", not "nothing". "Xici" also says: "One Yin and Yang are called Tao. "This statement seems to have multiple meanings. In terms of combining yin and yang (or "no yin and no yang"), it is the "metaphysical way". When the two are combined into one, it is the "big one" (the big one is Another name for "Metaphysical Tao"); divided into one Yin and one Yang, it is the "Metaphysical Tao" (the Tao of Utensils), Yang is the "Qian Tao"; Yin is the "Kun Tao", which is also the "Tao of establishing heaven". "Yin and Yang", then one yin and one yang are the "Way of Heaven". Everything has yin and yang, so there is also the Tao of all things.
The "Tao" as a philosophical concept in ancient my country, It is a logical summary of the nature of philosophical objects such as "Yin and Yang" and "Five Elements". "Tao" theory is the knowledge about cosmology, and this knowledge is obtained by reverse induction. All things that can be seen are inferred upward: the origin of all things comes from the "Five Elements" (the "Five Elements" is a unique philosophical concept in ancient China located in the northern temperate zone, "divided into the four seasons of earth", spring wood, summer fire, autumn gold, winter Water, while earth is the "neutral air"), the "five elements" come from "yin and yang", and "yin and yang" come from "dao", "dao" is one, "yin and yang" is two, and "five elements" are three. , "all things" are ten thousand, so there is a saying that "Tao generates one, one generates two, two generates three, and three generates all things". The essence of this theory is different from the "Destiny Theory" three generations ago, "the earth follows the heaven, and the heaven follows the law." "Tao, Tao follows nature". The proposal of "Tao" theory is based on the self-organizing movement of nature. Self-organizing movement is the fundamental driving force for the occurrence of the universe and even the transformation of all things. This self-organizing power comes entirely from "Tao" ". From the perspective of the composition of everything in the universe, "Tao" is the entity of "mixed things"; from the perspective of the occurrence of everything in the universe, "Tao" is the highest origin; from the perspective of the changes in everything in the universe, "Tao" " is the general rule.
Intimate Sayings
From an etymological perspective, the name "metaphysics" comes from the Western "metaphysics", which originated from the ancient Greek scholar Aristotle. The original text of this word is "ta meta ta Physica", which means "after physics" because this word is the name of a book by Aristotle. It was written after he wrote "Physics". Meta means "after...", so the original meaning of "metaphysics" is "after physics", which is because of the study of physics. The object is real, concrete, a tangible entity, that is, "form", and what is above "form" is abstract, a category of consciousness that is separated from entity. Therefore, "metaphysics" means separation. Learning is based on real things. Then, there is only one abstract knowledge, which is "philosophy". Therefore, the original meaning of "metaphysics" is "metaphysics". It refers to the intangible Tao (abstract principles and laws), and "form" refers to tangible objects (concrete implements and things). For example, Kong Yingda's "Zhouyi Zhengyi" said: "Tao is the name of the intangible, and form is the name of the substance." "The Tao is above the form, and the form is below the Tao. "In this way, scientific research studies tangible things, while philosophy studies intangible things. In fact, this is wrong, because science also studies intangible things, and philosophy also studies tangible things. This understanding, That is to understand "metaphysical" as "above form" and "metaphysical" as "below form". This makes no sense, because the word "er" does not mean "zhi", but "yet" ( This means "and then". The word "er" is the key. Here, "form" is the intermediary. Both form and form must start from "form", from the form to the intangible, that is, from the concrete (thing) to the end. Abstraction (principle), science and philosophy are all like this.