The most important categories of Chinese philosophy 3. Chinese philosophy

Basic concepts of Chinese philosophy

Chinese philosophy began to take shape in the 7th century. BC. and fully developed by the 3rd century. BC. This is the so-called ancient period in the development of Chinese philosophy. In addition to it, three more periods are distinguished: medieval (III century BC - XIX century AD), new (mid-XIX century AD - until 1919 ᴦ.), Newest (from 1919 ᴦ. - Until now). In retrospect, the most interesting are those Chinese philosophical systems that took shape in the first period. They will be discussed below.

The main schools of philosophical thought, born directly on Chinese soil, are Confucianism and Taoism, arising in the VI century. BC. Around the 3rd century. BC. the teachings of Buddhism came to China from India, then the Chinese tradition developed taking into account the noticeable influence of Buddhist philosophy.

It should be noted that all three main teachings influenced each other, while ordinary people, as a rule, perceived elements of all teachings at once at the same time, in this regard, their worldview was a kind of cocktail. At the same time, these teachings themselves, perhaps due to a similar natural eclecticism, began to use some of the same basic concepts, such as tao, qi, yin and yang and etc.

Lack of a single Origin. For the Chinese philosophical tradition, the absence of the concept of a single origin ^ governing the world is inherent, in this it is a serious difference from Western philosophy. There are "ten things" or "ten thousand things" that do not have a single beginning and do not constitute a uniformly governed world. The Chinese are generally not inclined to reflect on the concepts of being or

non-being, for existence for them is a cyclical process, a circle without beginning and end.

Tao concept. Tao is the highest principle of self-development of the world. Literally, Tao is a path, a road, a stream. In this eternal stream of continuous changes and transformations, things arise and perish. More details about the concept of Tao will be presented in the question of Taoism.

Yin-yang concept. In accordance with the cosmogony of the ancient Chinese, from the formless darkness were born two all-power forces that ordered the world: yin and yang. The yang spirit rules the sky and is a light, masculine, creative principle. The yin spirit rules the earth, this is the dark feminine principle, the principle of conservation. Yin and yang are opposites, at the same time inseparable and complementary to each other, constantly flow into each other, making up a single whole.

The harmony of yin and yang represents the Great Limit of being (ʼʼTajiʼʼ), in which everything that exists passes into its opposite. The symbol of the Great Reach is depicted as a circle with a wavy line inscribed in it, which divides the circle into light and dark halves. The dark half has a light point, and the light half has a dark one, which means the presence of yang within the yin and the presence of yin within the yang. When something reaches its limit, movement begins in the opposite direction, yang is replaced by yin, and yin - yang. We can talk about a continuous, cyclical process of changing periods of activity and rest. Yin and Yang symbolize the primordial dualism everything that exists.

A person's personality also reflects the yin and yang aspects. Regardless of gender, a person has both feminine and masculine qualities. This explains the contradictory nature of human nature - as a consequence of the general duality of the nature of things.

Yin-yang symbolism permeates all spheres of the Chinese national way of life and culture. Yang corresponds to the outer, top, left side, opening, circle, sky, etc., and yin to everything opposite. The interaction and harmony of these two forces was read by the Chinese in every moment of human activity. So, for example, the traditional plot in art is a dragon (yang) depicted in the clouds (yin), the Chinese landscape is mountains (yang) and water (yin). The Chinese vase had a square base (earth, yin) and a round top (sky, yang), a porcelain shell (yang) and a void inside (yin).

The concept of the "five primary elements" (wu-hsing). The universal forces of yin and yang are embodied in five primary elements: wood, fire, metal, earth, water, which in turn constitute the essence of the manifested world.

Topic 10 Ancient Chinese Philosophical Tradition

These primary elements express not only the materiality of Being, they symbolize the five-part system of transformation of all processes and phenomena. Fire “generates” earth, earth “generates” metal, metal - water, water - wood. But these same elements “displace” each other: fire - metal, metal - wood, wood - earth, earth - water. These five primary elements are associated with many phenomena in nature and in human life. Wood corresponds to spring, fire to summer, metal to autumn, water to winter, and earth to the astronomical mid-year (summer solstice).

On the interaction of the five primary elementsʼʼ, ᴛ.ᴇ. traditional Chinese medicine is based on the processes of "generation" and "displacement". All organs of the body are interconnected, just like the primary elements. The tree corresponds to the liver and gallbladder, eyes, veins, as well as a feeling of anger and blue color - to Fire - heart and small intestine, tongue, blood vessels, joy, red color. To the earth - spleen and stomach, mouth, muscles, thought, yellow color. Metal - ^ g lungs and large intestine, nose, skin, grief, white color. Water - daughters and bladder, ear, bones, fear, black color. In any existence, five stages can be distinguished: birth - maturity - old age - decrepitude - death.

* I-chingʼʼ, or the Book of Changes. One of the most significant achievements of the ancient Chinese was the creation of the canon of the Book of Changes. This canon has had a significant impact on the development of all Chinese culture and philosophy.

In fact, this is a very obscure and mysterious text, which was originally used as various interpretations of the divination technique according to the system of eight trigrams. (ba gua). In form, trigrams are combinations of two types of traits: solid, symbolizing the Yang principle, and intermittent - the Yin symbol. Each trigram consists of three lines, arranged in a “column” one above the other, and denotes some significant state or phenomenon.

The following trigrams exist:

1) three solid lines - ʼʼQianʼʼ: the state of creativity, fortress, sky, metal, corresponds to the father;

2) Three broken lines - ʼʼKunʼʼ: accomplishment, compliance, earth, mother;

3) two broken lines at the top and one solid at the bottom - ʼʼZhenʼʼ: excitement, movement, thunder, first son;

4) between the two discontinuous one solid line - "horse"; immersion, danger, water, second son;

5) over two intermittent ones, one continuous line - ʼʼgeʼʼʼʼ: standing, inviolability, mountain, third son;

Section III. Philosophy of the Ancient East

6) under two solid ones, one is intermittent - ʼʼXunʼʼ: decrease, penetration, wind, first daughter;

7) between two solid one discontinuous - ʼʼOr *: bow, revealing, fire, second daughter;

8) on two solid ones, one is intermittent - duiʼʼ: permission, joy, reservoir, third daughter.

The invention of trigrams is attributed to the legendary ancestor of the Chinese civilization Fushi, who created them by observing "images in the sky" and "patterns of animals and birds". In the Fusi scheme, trigrams are arranged in a circle, so that the qian trigram, which symbolizes the peak of yang, is in the south, and the kun, which reflects the fullness of yin, is in the north. The rest of the trigrams are arranged in the order of increasing and decreasing yin or yang forces. It is believed that the Fusi scheme is an image of the primordial state of the universe in its equilibrium and rest.

The combination of two trigrams - a hexogram (six lines) indicates the principles of interaction of basic states. In total, there are 64 combinations of hexograms, which describe all possible variants of the states of the world around us and within us, symbolize the universal hierarchy of all things and phenomena in all possible variants of interaction in this world. Actually, the I Ching itself represents exactly these 64 symbols, and all the rest of the numerous literature associated with it is just an interpretation of these hexograms.

In fortune-telling practices, a person who asked a question in one way or another received an answer for himself in the form of a hexogram (most often fortune-telling on yarrow stems was used, and in a simplified version - ancient coins). The interpretation of the dropped out hexogram was the answer to the question posed.

There are many explanations for the symbols used in the I Ching. For example, the famous psychoanalyst K.G. Yun \ believed that ʼʼguaʼʼ fix a universal set of archetypes ^ ᴛ.ᴇ. congenital mental structures.

Today, in various spheres of human activity (from computers to politics), the principles of I-cs are increasingly used as a universal system for describing the course of any ", processes.

Confucianism ^

Confucius. The main features of the teaching. The name of a Chinese thinker Kun "Fu-tzu(c. 551-479 BC) in the 16th century it was Latinized by the Jesuit missionaries 8 and began to be used in the West as Confucius shod Confucius. At the same time, "Fu-Tzu" is an honorary title, which!

he was called, which means "Master". Confucius founded the philosophical school of moralists (ryu). The main task that he set himself was the creation of the doctrine of building a perfect social order and its implementation.

The main principles of building a perfect society, according to Confucius, are humanity (zheng), observance of rituals and ceremonies (whether) and practical implementation of moral standards in life (qi). He viewed human life as a constant process of learning and education. As an example to follow, Confucius offered the image of a highly moral person.

At the root of Confucius's teachings lies the veneration of ancient wisdom and ancient traditions, since he believed that a person can acquire a correct understanding of his duties only through a careful study of tradition. Tradition in this sense became public the norm, and the study of ancient texts is one of the main methods of teaching and improvement.

For Confucianism, the concept of the existence of the Heavenly ʼʼIntentionsʼʼ in relation to everything that exists, and first of all to man. What is determined by Heaven, a person cannot change. But there are moments that depend only on the person and on his personal efforts, ᴛ.ᴇ. Confucianism denies absolute fatalism and recognizes the essential importance of human endeavor to achieve perfection.

ʼʼCorrect namesʼʼ (Zheng Min). Confucius believed that moral principles were laid in the foundation of knowledge. This means that a person must know himself by comparing his moral deeds and actions with the traditional norm or ritual. Ritual in this case is the standard of moral behavior. Confucius himself explained the essence of the doctrine of "name correction" using the following example: "Let the ruler be the ruler, the subject - the subject, the father - the father, the son - the son". That is, each person must adhere to the norms and rules that his social status prescribes for him. This should take into account the fact that one and the same person can simultaneously act as a father and as a son, as a subject and as a ruler.

A person should know how to behave in any situation, and therefore knowledge of rituals helps to maintain his dignity and show humanity. But for the correct use of rituals, it is extremely important for a person to understand the existing order of things in the world and their place in this world. At the same time, according to the teachings of Confucius, it is important to use the “correct names” (ᴛ.ᴇ. names) of things. In the treatise "Lunyu" ("Conversations and Judgments"), compiled by the disciples of the sage from

Section III. Philosophy of the Ancient East

of his statements, concerning the name, the following is said: ʼʼIf the names of things are inaccurate, their verbal expression does not reflect the essence. If the words do not reflect the essence, things are not completed. Incompletion emasculates ritual and music. Diminishing the importance of music and customs leads to the fact that the punishment does not achieve its goal. If the punishment is not effective, chaos awaits society. For this reason, if a noble person talks about something, his words should carry a clear semantic load, because words should not be at odds with deedsʼʼ.

Division of people into categories. Moral ideal. Confucius divided all people into three categories:

1) shen-ren - sage; one who teaches wisdom and embodies it in

2) tszyun-tzu - noble person; one who follows the truth in all his actions;

3) xiao-ren - small man; one who lives without regard to moral values.

In his teachings, Confucius opposes a "noble man" to a "little man": "A noble man is compassionate and not fanatical. The little man is fanatical and not compassionateʼʼ. ʼʼ A noble person is calm and peaceful; the little man is fussy and quick-temperedʼʼ. The image of the Confucian sage can be judged by the following saying from the Lunyu: “Not to talk to a person who is worthy of conversation means to lose a person. To speak with a person who is not worthy of a conversation is to lose words. The wise one loses neither people nor wordsʼʼ.

For a correct assessment of a person's actions, it is extremely important to correlate them with the public good. A person's goal should be public service, not personal gain. Confucius says: "If a person acts out of selfish motives, he inevitably causes resentment." For this reason, the moral ideal of Confucianism is personal improvement, constant overcoming of oneself (ke ji), and not in hermitism, but, on the contrary, in constant communication with other people, during which only spiritual maturity and humanization is possible. A person can achieve personal perfection only by leading others to perfection.

Further development of the ideas of Confucius. Nerhonfucianism. He made a great contribution to the development of Confucian ideas Mencius(c. 372-289 BC). He defended the traditional Confucian idea of ​​the delineating function of ritual and the natural division of society into "upper" and "lower". Mencius developed the ideas of Confucius about the wise rule of the sovereign, who, without coercion, subordinates all living things to his all-encompassing will, and taught that the people can even

Topic 10. Ancient Chinese philosophical tradition

to overthrow the Ruler if he betrays the “aspirations of the people” and the principles of “humane” government. He also deepened the theory of moral self-improvement. In his opinion, every person from birth is endowed with knowledge of ethical norms and self-improvement is the development of innate virtues.

Another prominent ideologue of Confucianism was Xun Tzu (c. 313 - c. 238 BC), who rethought the idea ʼʼOr(ritual) in the light of the realities of public morality. He pointed out that the ritual establishes the place of a person in society in order to harmonize the latter. In such a society, everyone is equal in that everyone has his due according to the hierarchy. Xun-tzu, in contrast to Menci-tzu, declared that a person ʼʼfrom the nature of evil, and his kindness is created by himselfʼʼ.

During his lifetime Confucius, his ideas were not implemented. Only during the Han dynasty (3rd century BC - 3rd century) did his teaching become state ideology. "

By the X century. AD Confucianism was significantly influenced by Taoism, Buddhism, the philosophy of ʼʼin-yangʼʼ, so that, in fact, a new teaching was formed, ĸᴏᴛᴏᴩᴏᴇ neo-Confucianism. The main ideologist of neo-Confucianism was Zhu Xi(1130-1200). His ideas served as the official ideology of China until the communist coup of 1949 ᴦ. Zhu Xi changed the meaning of the principle whether, who began to personify the Great Limit (taiji). Li becomes an eternal, permanent, all-good principle standing above reality and embodies the true nature of things, ᴛ.ᴇ. the original essence.

The basic concepts of Chinese philosophy are concepts and types. Classification and features of the category "Basic concepts of Chinese philosophy" 2017, 2018.

As a religious and philosophical system, Taoism 21 originated in the VI-V centuries BC. It became one of the three major religions in China and entered San Jiao ("spiritual teaching") as the main alternative to Confucianism and Buddhism. The semi-legendary personality of Lao Tzu is considered the founder of Taoism. “It is possible that Lao Tzu is not a generic but a philosophical name for a sage. It literally means "old sage" 22. The history of its formation is conventionally divided into three stages. At the first stage (from ancient times to the IV-III centuries BC), the formation of religious practice and worldview models based on archaic shamanistic beliefs took place. The second stage (IV-III-II-I centuries) is associated with the development of two parallel processes. On the one hand, Taoism acquired a philosophical character and a written fixation of the Taoist worldview, and on the other, latently developed methods of "gaining immortality" and psychophysiological meditation of the yogic type, one way or another reflected in classical texts. At the third stage (I century BC –V century AD), there was a convergence and fusion of theoretical speculations and religious practice with the inclusion of the achievements of other philosophical directions of China and the formation of a single Taoist worldview 23.

The most important canons of Taoist teaching are set forth in the fundamental treatise compiled by the followers of Lao Tzu "Tao Te Ching" 24. The treatise became the main work of the philosophical doctrine "Tao te jia" 25.

From the 3rd century AD, namely from the reign of the Eastern Han dynasty, the Taoist pantheon of deities began to take shape. Lao Tzu, the founder of Taoism, was declared one of the main deities of the pantheon. A great contribution to the development of the popularity of Lao Tzu as a sacred person was made by the authoritative preacher Zhang Ling (34-156 AD), who lived in the era of the same ruling dynasty under the Emperor Shundi (125-144 AD). He founded the Udumi Dao sect 26. The adherents of the sect revered Lao Tzu as a great teacher.

In 184, a yellow band revolt took place in China. This uprising was led by another preacher of Taoism, the founder of the Taiping Dao sect 27 Zhang Jiao. Supporters of the Udumi Dao also took part in this uprising. During the period of the Southern and Northern Dynasties (IV-VI centuries AD), Taoism was divided into two main branches: the "Path of the Northern Heavenly Teachers" and the "Path of the Southern Heavenly Teachers". Under Emperor Xuanzong (712-756) of the Tang Dynasty (618-906), Taoism took the form of a state religion. Taoist writings "Laozi", "Chuangzi", "Lezzi" began to be called "true canons", in each district a Taoist temple had to be built. Emperor Zhenzong (998-1022) from the Song dynasty ordered to collect and edit a new "Tao Zang" - the Taoist canon.

The formation of Taoism as a religious system was greatly influenced by Buddhism, which penetrated into China from India in the 2nd century AD. in the form of Mahayana. Chinese Buddhism was especially popular in large cities - capital centers. “In the III-IV centuries around ... Luoyang and Chanani there were 180 Buddhist monasteries, temples, and by the end of the V century in the state of Eastern Jin there were already 1800 with 24 thousand monks. Buddhism has had a huge impact on Chinese culture. This is especially evident in art, literature, architecture. It was the Buddhist monks who invented the art of woodcutting, i.e. typography, reproduction of text using matrix boards with mirrored hieroglyphs carved on them ... the Buddhist system of yogis, the ideas of hell and heaven were perceived by the Chinese people ”28. In VI-X centuries Buddhism reached its highest development in China 29.

During this period, Taoist monasticism was also formed. However, during the reign of the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1279-1367), Taoism, and with it Taoist monasticism, underwent certain difficulties. A number of Taoist writings were destroyed. When the Chinese throne was occupied by the national Ming dynasty (1368-1644), Taoism revived again, but during the next Manchu Qing dynasty (1644-1911) it gradually ceased to play a major role in the spiritual life of China. At the same time, in 1957, the All-China Association of Taoism was established, which was closed during the Chinese Cultural Revolution and revived in 1980. This Association operates in China to this day.

Formed institute of Taoist monasticism, united tens and hundreds of thousands of Taoist monks in monasteries. The main Taoist monastery was the Beijing Baiyun Guan Monastery (Monastery of White Clouds) 30. The main occupation of the monks and priests was an extremely varied religious activity. They drove out evil spirits, traded in spells and amulets, determined the best places for the construction of graves and buildings, auspicious days and hours for any important business, and also carried out the main rites of Taoism, among which special attention was paid to the main rites of the life cycle, namely birth, wedding , funeral. Today, in Taoist temples, the main practice continues to be the practice of shamans-mediums, predictors of the future, and so on.

The most important position of Taoism is the concept of "Tao". This word designates categories such as the universal law,

the first principle and completion of all that exists. Tao is eternal and nameless, incorporeal and formless, inexhaustible and endless in motion. It denotes rule, order, meaning, law, etc. All nature, the whole world is the result of the actions of the Tao. However, Tao presupposes the independence of a person's actions. A person can deviate from Tao, creating his own artificial Tao, which serves the interests of the rich. This artificial Tao, manifested in the creation of social institutions that separate people, as well as in the pursuit of knowledge, destroys the natural world order.

Therefore, in Taoism, there is a call to not do anything in life. It is designated by the concept "wu wei" - a call to inconsistency with nature, a denial of purposeful activity. “Following the principle of non-action, a wise ruler brings order to the Celestial Empire, governs the state. Taoism considers everything in the Universe as a single whole, the desire to harmonize contradictions. Man - a microcosm, like the universe, is eternal: with the death of his physical body, the spirit dissolves in the world “pneuma” (“primordial energy”) 31.

In the teachings of Taoism, nature does not know inequality and oppression, does not presuppose the existence of state institutions. Consequently, it is necessary to abandon all the benefits of the development of civilization, namely, from highly productive tools to writing. The essence of the concept of absolute Tao is reduced to the statement that life is an illusion, and death is a return to Tao - the true existence of an immortal body.

In accordance with the idea of ​​immortality, one of the main occupations of the Taoist cult was the study of medicine, alchemy and magic. Taoist treatises contain detailed descriptions of the methods of making the elixir of immortality. It is believed that talismans, amulets, and magical texts contribute to the achievement of immortality. “Immortality is achieved by merging with Tao as the source of life through religious contemplation, breathing and gymnastic training, sexual hygiene, alchemy, etc. ... The human spirit does not have a material form and therefore is likened to Heaven. The human body is a form, and therefore it becomes similar to the Earth. The connecting link is vital energy, and its ability to thicken and dissipate ”32.

In the Taoist doctrine of the immortality of the body, shamanism, witchcraft, astrology and demonology are intertwined. The worship of gods appeared, the main of which were the three gods of happiness: Fu-hsing - the god of wealth; Shou-sin is the god of longevity; Lu-hsing is the god of giving children. According to the concept of Taoism, the immortality of the body, which is achieved through special herbal and mineral drugs and special psychophysical training, is of three types. Heavenly immortality is achieved through the transformation of the body, when it moves to heaven. Earthly immortality is when bodies do not fly away to heaven, but live in the "sacred mountains" and "cave heaven". The third immortality is simple, associated with the liberation of the spirit from the corpse, that is, associated with holiness, resurrection after death 33.

An important point of Taoism is the departure of posts: Tuganzhai and Huanglujai. The traditional Lunar New Year is also celebrated. The He Qi holiday is secretly celebrated. During this holiday, the Taoists consider themselves absolutely free from all sexual prohibitions and restrictions 34.

Thus, Taoism has many faces. He certainly influenced Chinese culture. His writings contain “recipes for medicines, descriptions of the properties of metals and minerals. In many respects, the discoveries of the compass, paper, gunpowder, porcelain, silk, etc. belong to the works of Taoist scholars. " 35.

Religious and philosophical Taoism preaches the principle of life - passivity. In addition to religious and philosophical Taoism, there is folk Taoism, which includes folk beliefs and various superstitions. The exact number of modern adherents of Taoism is unknown. However, by about the end of the 20th century, the most active Taoists numbered about 20 million people.

Approaching from the most general positions, we can say that an accurate and complete understanding of the meaning of the categorical apparatus of a particular philosophical system is tantamount to understanding it as such. If we supplement this approach with historical analysis, it turns out that an accurate - historically and logically - and complete description of the system of philosophical categories can most directly become a historical-philosophical compendium. One of the evidence of this is the attempts of some philosophers to present philosophical and historical-philosophical knowledge in a dictionary form. Suffice it to recall the "Dictionary" by P. Beyle, "Encyclopedia" by Zh.L. D "Alambera and D. Diderot," Philosophical Lexicon "by SS Gogotsky," Pocket Dictionary "by Petrashevtsev.

The lexicon of traditional Chinese philosophy is very specific. First of all, it is distinguished by the ambiguity of its composition. In the most general terms, it has three levels of existence with different quantitative characteristics.

In a broad sense, this lexicon, due to its autochthonous nature and the ultimate intracultural organicity of homogeneous development, practically coincides with natural language, of course, in its written and literary, and therefore, rather artificial version - Wenyan. The latter circumstance explains, in particular, why knowledge of the philosophical meanings of the vocabulary used in them is so often necessary to understand Chinese non-philosophical texts.

In a narrower sense, the lexicon of traditional Chinese philosophy is a collection of terms - from several thousand (see below for data on Wu Yi regarding 2600 terms) to several hundred. One of the editions of the most popular explanatory and encyclopedic dictionary "Tsi hai" includes 217 entries on this topic. The lexical composition of the intermediate level is determined quite conditionally, depending on the chosen degree of detail in the reflection of the linguistic features of the centuries-old philosophical tradition. For example, in the authoritative "Big Philosophical Dictionary" ("Zhexue da tsydian") 1147 terminological articles are presented, thus showing the average value in relation to the indicated limits of 217 and 2600 units.

Finally, in the narrowest and first of all the sense of interest to us, in which this lexicon coincides with the lexicon of traditional Chinese culture, it is a fairly strictly and objectively defined structure, the quantitative characteristics of which can be judged by the following figures. In the mid-30s of the XX century. the renowned historian of Chinese philosophy Zhang Dai-nian wrote an essay on the conceptual system of Chinese philosophy (first published in 1958). In this system, concepts were divided into three classes (cosmology, anthropology, epistemology), which, in turn, were divided into nine categories. The latter covered 46 positions formed by 64 terms. In the 80s, Zhang Dai-nian conducted even more specialized research in this direction and in 1989 published a work that included about 90 terms in 60 positions.

A similar work that we began in 1981 was in line with the general trend in Chinese philosophical thought. It was in the early 1980s that Chinese scientists launched a broad discussion of the composition and meaning of the main concepts and categories of Chinese philosophy, which, in particular, resulted in the formation of a list of more than 60 terms, which was announced in the central press. On the basis of this list, in the main specialized journal on the history of Chinese philosophy, Zhongguo zhexue shi yanju, a column was opened "An accessible explanation of the main categories and concepts in the history of Chinese philosophy" (Zhongguo zhexue shi zhuyao fanchou he gainyan jian jian articles about certain categories and concepts were published from issue to issue.

In the wake of general interest, leading Chinese experts began to come forward with their views on this subject, presenting them in the form of both small articles and solid monographs. For example, a brief outline of the system of categories of traditional Chinese philosophy, expressed in 46 hieroglyphs, was proposed by Tang Yi-tsze (1981). In 1987, Ge Rong-jin published a comprehensive dictionary of 20 articles covering about 40 terms. And in 1989, Zhang Li-wen published an extensive monograph, in 25 paragraphs of which (Ch. 3-5) more than 40 categories were systematized.

In Western Sinology, the main role in the discussion of the problem under consideration was played by Chinese scholars. One of the largest historians of Chinese philosophy working in the West, Chan Wing-tsit, in 1952 put forward for discussion a corresponding set of 115 characters in 77 positions. Another outstanding specialist, J. Needham, in 1956 proposed a more compact set of fundamental scientific terms of traditional Chinese culture, consisting of 82 characters in 80 positions. In 1986, the Chinese scholar Wu Yi published the first part of his dictionary of the most important terms in Chinese philosophy, consisting of 50 positions expressed in unambiguous hieroglyphs. The second part of this dictionary was supposed to include 100 positions expressed in hieroglyphic combinations, and this entire 150-member set was selected by the author from the general vocabulary of 2600 Chinese philosophical terms.

In domestic literature, interest in a systematic study of the categories and basic concepts of traditional Chinese philosophy and culture arose independently and synchronously with a similar phenomenon in the PRC in the early 1980s. The most important results of this process were publications: in 1983 - materials of the "round table" "On the problem of categories of traditional Chinese culture" and in 1994 - the encyclopedic dictionary "Chinese Philosophy".

The first of these editions reflected the discussion about the systematized list of the main concepts and categories of traditional Chinese philosophy and culture, compiled by the author of these lines, consisting of 140 terms in 100 positions. In the dictionary entries of the second edition, 97 relevant terms are covered.

In addition, it should be noted compiled by G.A. Tkachenko as a textbook and a dictionary-reference book "Culture of China" published in 1999, which describes 51 terms denoting categories and the most important concepts.

All the figures given are quite consistent with the basic classification sets for Chinese culture, including from 60 to 120 units. Among them, the following are especially distinguished: 1) known from the XIII century. BC. 60 pairs of cyclic signs of two types - 10 "heavenly trunks" (tian gan) and 12 "earthly branches" (dizhi); 2) known from the 1st floor. 1st millennium BC (and possibly existed in the 2nd millennium BC) 64 hexagrams (lyu shi si gua) "Zhou yi" or "I Ching"; 3) 81 numbers of the multiplication table (tszyu tszyu); 4) 120 positions of the system of five elements (wu xing) and the canon of 120 "bodily signs of signs" (zhao zhi ti), mentioned in Zhou li (III, 42). Figures of the same order characterize the derived classification schemes: 100 (98 or 96) categories of the first part (Ch. 40) and 81 (82) categories of the second part (Ch. 41) of the "Canon" ("Ching") "Mo-Tzu" , 120 categories of § 11 (10) of the commentary of "Shuo gua zhuan" to "Zhou yi", 81 tetragrams of Yang Xiong, etc.

These artificial classification systems correlate with the natural-language system of classifiers, or counting words, the number of which in the Chinese language has ranged from 80 to 140 units over the past one and a half to two thousand years (M. Coyaud, 1973).

Together with the counting words, these sets cover a numerical amplitude from 60 to 140 units. This classification level is obviously associated with the number 100, and it can be denoted by the formula 100 ± 40. In turn, it is derived from a more general classification level associated with a base anthropic number of 10 and corresponding to the formula 10 ± 2. The next is the level associated with the number 1000, which A.M. Karapetyants considers it decisive for the list-maximum of categories of traditional Chinese culture and which correlates with the above-mentioned list-maximum of terminological articles (1147) in the "Volume on the History of Chinese Philosophy" of the "Big Philosophical Dictionary" ("Zhe-xue da tsydyan"). As I have shown in a special study of the theoretical foundations of Chinese taxonomy in the monograph "The Teaching of Symbols and Numbers in Chinese Classical Philosophy," the classification level corresponding to the formula 100 ± 40 is the third, central, and therefore the most significant step in the most general, five-term (i.e. correlated with five elements) taxonomic system.

Revealing the exact and complete meaning of the main categories of Chinese philosophy, the nature of their relationship, their semantic transformations in the process of the historical development of philosophical thought, as well as establishing their connections with the main categories of other forms of spiritual activity, or, in other words, finding out whether the main categories of Chinese philosophy of the main categories of Chinese culture - these are the main problems that await solution. Their solution is, of course, insufficient, but a necessary precondition for an adequate understanding of at least the phenomenon of Chinese philosophy, and possibly the entire Chinese culture as a whole (if, following many prominent researchers, for example Feng Yu-lan, we recognize the special role of philosophy in life Chinese society, where she was not only always the "queen of sciences", but also never became a "servant of theology").

In addition, the philosophical thought of traditional China, in the process of independent, long and continuous development, has developed very specific means of self-expression, in particular the original system of categories, continues to play the role of a paradigm for the philosophical language in modern China, thereby exerting a certain influence on the philosophical and socio-political concepts.

Speaking about existing approaches to solving these problems, it makes sense to start with the simplest. It has long been widespread among Russian Sinologists that the study of categories should be preceded by a fairly complete study and translation of the most important ideological texts in which they appear. But since before that it was still very, very far away, the solution of this problem was postponed to an indefinite future. It must be said that the prevalence of this point of view largely determined the obvious belatedness in the very formulation of this problem and, as a consequence, the poor study of the system of categories of Chinese philosophy and culture.

In our opinion, the situation is just the opposite: the study and translation of the most important ideological texts in toto should be preceded by a systematic study of the underlying categorical apparatus. Here, too, an ascent should be made from the abstract to the concrete - from general categorical definitions to the concrete meaning of the corresponding hieroglyphs in specific texts. Otherwise, it becomes as difficult to understand the meaning of the latter as it is difficult to understand the meaning of a phrase without realizing what its key words mean.

The question of the role of an accurate fixation of the semantics of categories (including all the main and secondary features of the concepts expressed by them, all their broad and narrow meanings, and taking into account the etymology and historical evolution) is followed by an even more important question - about the very nature of these categories, or, so to speak oh quality their semantics. It is so important that the answer to it can be a decisive argument in the debate about whether Chinese philosophy can be considered philosophy in the strict sense of the word. Doubts on this score, as is known, have been expressed for a long time. They are still alive.

In Russian sinology, the idea that the categories of traditional Chinese philosophy are quasi-concepts, fundamentally indefinable images, metaphors, with the highest meaning of which is "poetic enigmatism", i.e. a kind of analogs of variables in mathematics (a comparison used, for example, by Liu Tsun-zhen ( which Hegel once insisted on) and translating it into the position of either “philusia”, or a component of the “sinist complex” (as suggested by H.G. Creel), or simply pre-philosophy and paraphilosophy (as suggested by A.N. Chanyshev).

Representatives of the diametrically opposite position of A.M. Karapetyants and V.S. Spirin believe that the categories of Chinese philosophy have a rational, moreover, concrete scientific content and, accordingly, gravitate towards logically ordered forms of their description, including precise and formalizing methods. They came to their conclusions on the basis of original research, which essentially opened a new direction in sinology, the full significance of which is still difficult to assess. On the contrary, the indicated general provisions of the representatives of the first position are well known (especially in Western Sinology) and are thus unoriginal. Of course, originality is by no means a guarantee of truth. And in this case, the point is not in it, but in the fact that both positions in their rational form have solid empirical foundations, although apparently they are mutually exclusive.

The situation is complicated by the fact that the "metaphorists" tend to reproach the "logicists" with attempts to destroy the "butterfly of the poetic heart", or the Chuang Tzu butterfly, piercing it with the deadly tips of the scientific herbarium pins. At the same time, however, ignoratio elenchi (substitution of the thesis) occurs: from philosophical categories or categories of culture, reasoning is implicitly transferred to culture in general and further to the living spiritual experience of its carriers, for which scientific objectification can really be fatal. To avoid this logical fallacy, one should agree not to confuse one with the other. The categories of philosophy and culture represent a kind of coordinate system within which the "variable values" of the living spiritual experience of people are realized, and both together make up the spiritual culture as a whole. Chinese thinkers were quite clearly aware of the difference between free spiritual searches ("diocese" of Taoism) and a rigid framework of cultural categories ("diocese" of Confucianism), comprehending the latter in the images of mutually perpendicular warp threads and wefts but - jing wei ("Zuo zhuan", Zhao, 28th year) and a net - wang, without which any fishing is useless and even dangerous, but which, in the absence of free thought, can confuse ("Lunyu", II, 15). Of course, this framework can be considered something secondary, seeing as the primary task in comprehending the "soul" of a particular culture. But to achieve this goal, one cannot do without a scientifically grounded reconstruction of the cultural framework.

These two confronting positions, naturally freed from internal contradictions, can nevertheless be united by a "peace agreement", and different principles of "reconciliation" are possible here. One of them was pointed out by Chang Dai-nian, referring at the same time to the authority of Han Yu (VIII-IX centuries), who in his famous essay "Yuan Tao" ("Appeal to the [beginning of the] Path") distinguished ren (humanity) and and (duty-justice), on the one hand, and Tao (Way) and de (quality-grace), on the other, as "established names", or "certain concepts" (ding min), and "empty positions" ( xu wei) respectively. In other words, Zhang Dai-nian interprets Han Yu in such a way that among the categories and basic concepts of traditional Chinese philosophy, some are "real" (shichzhi) terms that have a well-defined meaning, while others are "formal" (shinshi), "empty matrices" (kun gezi), i.e. nothing more than variables that take on a wide variety of values. This is a compromise at the “horizontal level”, “paid for” by drawing a line of demarcation between two types of philosophical categories and concepts. But such an epistemologically unpleasant procedure can be avoided if we take the problem in a “vertical cut”. With the preservation of the "uniformity" and the recognition of the "non-voidness" of categories, the mutual contradiction of the two described polar positions can be eliminated in the synthesizing awareness of the symbolic nature of the terms of traditional Chinese philosophy. Moreover, this philosophy itself believed it was symbols (xiang), and not words and scriptures, capable of exhaustively expressing the highest ideas (and) ("Xi tsy zhuan", I, 12). Further, it is necessary to clarify not only what the categories of Chinese philosophy are, but also how they relate to each other. Two opposite points of view are possible both in the first (categories are metaphors or full-fledged concepts) and in the second (categories are a structural whole or a spontaneously historically formed unsystematic set) case. Together, they suggest four theoretically possible variants of the category: - 1) a system of concepts, 2) an unstructured set of concepts, 3) a system of metaphors, 4) an unstructured set of metaphors. All these options are worthy of theoretical comprehension.

In order not to be limited only to the statement of problems, I would like to briefly express some of my own considerations on this score. I believe that the categories of Chinese philosophy are also categories of Chinese culture, and they should be understood as symbols that deliberately imply different, including metaphorical, and concrete-scientific, and abstract-philosophical levels of interpretation. The most important factors in the formation of categories as symbols is their formation: 1) on the basis of polysemantic words of the native language, and not on foreign language terminological borrowings (as it was in Europe since Roman philosophy), 2) within the hieroglyphic, artificial sign system - wenyan, - thoroughly imbued with polysemantism, 3) in the depths of the classification culture, 4) with the help of "correlative (categorical, associative) thinking" and 5) general cognitive numerological (xianshuzhi-xue) methodology.

As a result of a long and continuous historical development on the basis of a single linguistic substrate and within a single cultural tradition, these symbols have formed into a harmonious system that preserves the homomorphism of the structure at all levels of interpretation. In the conceptual aspect, the symbolic universality of ideological texts explains the phenomenon of universal classificationism (the symbol serves as a representative of a potentially infinite number of different entities related to all possible layers and spheres of being), in the pragmatic aspect, the absence, from my point of view, of a strict, formal distinction between extremely metaphorized (poetic ) and demetaphorized (logical-mathematical) texts. Their common unique feature is structural-numerological ordering, which in parallel extends to both the content plane and the expression plane. In other words, if, for example, we are talking about the triad "heaven, earth, man" and five elements, then the very construction of phrases in this text will have a ternary-fivefold periodicity (not only in the length of phrases, but also in their number).

As a working definition of the category of traditional Chinese culture, I propose the following: this is the most general (in the terminology of the Moists, "all-pervading" - yes) concept that has a one-sign hieroglyphic equivalent, which is in a systemic (classification) connection with concepts traditionally considered basic in Chinese philosophy, and possessing symbolic correlates at all levels of spiritual and cultural activity, i.e. in science, art, everyday consciousness, traditional forms of life, etc. It makes sense to emphasize the importance of such a feature as the presence of a one-character hieroglyphic equivalent. If you try very hard, then, probably, you can find in some Chinese philosopher, for example, the concept of matter, but it is absolutely impossible to find in traditional Chinese philosophy a term that would mean exactly matter as such, i.e. matter in general, and nothing else. There is no such term in it. Therefore, the concept of matter, if we agree with the proposed definition, cannot qualify either as a category of traditional Chinese philosophy, or as a category of traditional Chinese culture. The categories so familiar to us as “being”, “creation”, “ideal”, “moral”, “organic”, etc. cannot be considered as such.

From this it follows that the starting point in the study of Chinese categories should not be ideal entities (concepts), which are often the product of a priori given by our own culture, but material objects should be hieroglyphic terms. In connection with the above, the question also arises: where should we start - with the most general or the most specific (without Western equivalents) categories? But, perhaps, in this case it is the same thing? Without prejudging an answer, I will allow myself to refer to the opinion of some prominent Western authors, expressed in general terms by G.S. Pomeranets (under the pseudonym G.S. Solomin) in his abstract “Understanding the terms of Chinese culture” (1978): “One of the important cultural problems is the understanding of another culture in the inherent concepts of the latter. Acquaintance with a foreign language begins with the translation of individual terms corresponding to individual subjects. Literally untranslatable phrases, idioms are relegated to the background, they are eliminated in adapted texts. Approximately this adapted was the idea of ​​the great cultures of Asia by the beginning of the 20th century. What did not fit into European norms was removed from rational schemes into the field of exoticism or archaism. In modern cultural studies, the task of shifting the center of gravity to the study of idioms is put forward. An approximate understanding of the terms (ren-humanity, guna-quality, etc.) gives way to raising the question of understanding the integrity of culture, without which none of its particulars is understandable ”.

Finally, another serious problem is the question of the internal division of many categories into subsets according to their belonging to different philosophical schools. Did each school have its own specific categorical apparatus, or did they all use one common one? In its ultimate expression, the latter point of view turns out to be a rejection of any classification of categories and even from considering each of them separately. But the first point of view is more popular. Indeed, at first glance it seems natural, for example, to consider Tao and Te as specific categories of Taoists, and Qi and Tai Chi as Confucians. However, if you think about it, to assert this is tantamount to a statement that the category "matter" is a specific element of the language of materialists, and the category "idea" is a specific element of the language of idealists. Both these and the indicated Chinese categories are elements of a common philosophical language for their culture (a single general philosophical terminology) and by themselves do not determine the specifics of any philosophical school. Interestingly, in the genetic aspect, it is idealists who have the palm in using the category "matter" (Plato, Aristotle) ​​and, conversely, materialists - in using the category "idea" (Anaxagoras, Democritus). In the same way, the "Confucian" terms qi and tai ji as philosophical categories were introduced into circulation by the Taoists ("Guan Tzu", "Tao Te Ching", "Chuang Tzu"), and the "Taoist" Tao and Te - by the Confucians ( "Lunyu"). The latter explains, in particular, one of the "mysteries" of the history of Chinese philosophy. If we consider Tao and Te as specifically Taoist categories, then it is not clear why they finally, joining in a pair, began to denote "morality" in modern language, because it is known that Taoism, in contrast to ethized Confucianism, focused on ontological problems. But the Confucian origin of these categories makes their ultimate fate understandable. In general, the category of Tao played such an important role in Confucian constructions that the latter were qualified by their contemporaries as the "doctrine of Tao" - Tao-Jiao ("Mo-Tzu"), and neo-Confucianism was called "the teaching of Tao" - Tao-Xue. Likewise, the role of qi in the theory and practice of Taoism throughout its history can hardly be overestimated.

The assertion that the words qi and tai ji, Tao and Te, determine the specificity of the language of the Confucians and Taoists, respectively, does not stand up to criticism. It is enough to cite some elementary statistics to make sure that "Taoist" terms in Confucian texts can be found more often than in "Taoist" ones, and vice versa. Of course, until special and sufficiently large-scale research is carried out, it should not be argued that such a division does not exist at all. But, perhaps, it does not apply to the terms themselves, but only to their differing meanings, i.e. were representatives of one school more inclined to use a term in one sense, and representatives of the other in another? One way or another, this issue needs further analysis and development.

It is appropriate to emphasize that today the discussion is by no means the very need for a special study of the categories of Chinese philosophy and culture (it is undoubted), but only the ways in which this problem should be solved. And in order not to be unfounded, as a working material and a starting point for further research, I propose a synoptic list of the main concepts and categories of traditional Chinese philosophy and culture, the initial version of which was first published in the materials of the above-mentioned "round table" (NAA. 1983, no. 3, pp. 86-88).

Synoptic list of basic concepts and categories of traditional Chinese philosophy and culture

I.Methodology
1.上 shan top, start, 3, 30, 50	2. 下 Xia bottom, end 30, 50, 98
3. 本 ben root, essential, proper 1, 5, 42, 48, 52, 85	4. 末 mo apex incidental 6
5. 内 her internal, immanent 3, 42	6. 外 wai external, transcendental 4, 7, 42
7. 正 zheng correct 6, 13, 70, 75, 81, 85, 86	8. 反 fan reverse, reflection, counter 21, 40, 77
9. 同 tun identity, similarity, unity; 異 and the difference is 11, 19, 21, 43, 67, 70	10. 一 and one, unity; 多 before much; 二 （兩） er(lyan) duality; 萬 wan(all) darkness, ten thousand 17, 18, 22, 24, 36, 37, 43
11. 類 lay genus, class 9, 19, 84	12. 數 shu number, drawing of lots 13, 19, 58, 72, 73
13. 方 fan way, square, side; 員 yuan circle 7, 12, 22, 72, 73	14. 法 F law sample 19, 32, 73, 75, 90, 91
15. 經 jing ostnova, canon, vertical; 緯 wei ut O k, apocrypha, horizontal 32, 39	16. 權 quan weighing, power, law, adaptation, transitory; 勢 shi power, setting 32, 40, 75, 85
17. 參 （三 ） san Trinity 10, 59	18. 伍 （五 ） at quintuple 10, 79
19. 象 xiang symbol, image 9, 11, 12, 14, 20, 32, 50	20. 卦 gua fortune-telling grapheme, three-, hexagram 19
21. 矛盾 mao dun opposite-contradiction 8.9
II. Ontology
22. 道 tao path, pattern, theory, logos, method 10, 13, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30, 32, 36 + 37, 38, 60, 64, 73, 74, 90, 91	23. 德 te quality, grace, virtue; 刑 syn punishment 33, 60, 79, 84, 88, 91
24. 太極 tai ji Great limit; 無極 wu ji unlimited, no limit 10, 22, 36 + 37
25. 有 Yu presence-being 22, 54, 66	26. 無 at absence-nothingness 22, 55, 66 (+66)
27. 自然 zi jan naturalness, spontaneity; 使然 shi jan conditioning 22.30, 84 + 74
28. 宇 yu space 30	29. 宙 zhou time 30, 68
30. 天 tian sky, time, nature, deity; 地 di ground 1, 2, 22,27, 28, 29, 58, 60, 68, 98	31. 人 ren person, another; 己 ji sam 51, 52, 53, 89, 97, 98, 100
32. 理 whether principle, structure, reason; 欲 yu passion 14, 15, 16, 19, 22, 53, 60, 64, 66, 84, 86, 90, 91	33. 氣 qi pneuma, spirit, energy, matter 23, 35, 51, 54, 57, 60, 65, 78, 79, 80
34. 機 ji organism-mechanism, driving spring (of nature) 44	35. 器 qi thing-tool, ability 22, 33, 49, 53, 59, 84
36. 陰 yin negative force 10 (+37), 18 + 79 (+37), 22 (+37), 24 (+37), 38 (+37)	37. 陽 yang positive strength 10 (+36), 18 + 79 (+36), 22 (+36), 24 (+36), 38 (+36)
38. 易 and change, easy 22, 36, 37, 40, 41	39. 常 vat consistency 15, 40, 41
40. 變 bian change 8, 16, 38, 39	41. 化 hua transformation 38, 39, 54, 55, 64, 74
42. 中 zhong center, middle, balance; 庸 young immutability, routine 3, 5, 6, 56	43. 和 heh harmony; 合 heh coincidence, agreement 9, 10, 45, 77
44. 動 dun movement, action 34, 79	45. 靜 jing rest 43
46. 因 yin cause; 果 th investigation 77, 85	47. 故 gu reason, intention 80
48. 體 ti body-essence, part, subject 3, 50, 52, 56, 65, 85	49. 用 young application-function 35, 74, 89
III. "Biology" and anthropology
50. 形 syn body-form; 色 se color, view, maya 1, 2, 19, 48, 56, 65, 84	51. 神 shen spirit, divine; 鬼 gui nav, damn 31, 33, 57, 94
52. 身 shen body-personality, subject 3, 31, 48, 56, 68, 84, 100	53. 物 at thing-object 31, 32, 35, 56, 65, 78, 84, 85
54. 生 sheng life, birth 25, 33, 41, 58	55. 死 sy death 26, 41
56. 心 blue heart-psyche, core 42, 48, 50, 52, 53, 60, 78, 80	57. 精 jing soul seed, essence 33, 51, 78, 81
58. 命 min predestination, fate 12, 30, 54, 60, 84	59. 才 tsai talent, strength 17, 35, 60, 62, 72, 94
60. 性 syn(individual) nature, quality, gender 22, 23, 30, 32, 33, 56, 58, 59, 88	61. 情 qing property, sensuality 76, 78
62. 能 nan ability, potency 59	63. 所 with position, place 78, 88
IV.Culturology
64. 文 wen writing-culture, civil; 武 at military 22, 32, 41, 72, 82, 83, 84, 88, 90	65. 質 zhi natural base, matter; 樸 poo simplicity, primordiality 33, 48, 50, 53, 69, 85
66. 為 wei business, to appear; 事 shi act 25, 26 + 66, 32, 79	67. 爭 zheng struggle; 讓 jean compliance 9
68. 世 shi century, world, generation 29, 30.52.94	69. 俗 su morals, light, vulgar; 清 qing purity 65, 90
70. 公 gong general, public, altruistic 7, 9, 93, 95	71. 私 sy private, selfish
72. 藝 and art-mastery 12, 13, 59, 64	73. 術 shu technique, technology 12, 13, 14, 22
74. 教 jiao teaching, enlightenment, religion 22, 27 (+84), 41, 49, 100	75. 政 zheng control; 治 zhi order; 亂 luan Troubles 7, 14, 16, 78
V. Epistemology and praxeology
76. 感 gan perception 61	77. 應 in response 8, 43, 46
78. 知 zhi(co) knowledge, mind 33, 53, 56, 57, 61, 62, 75, 80, 84, 89, 90, 91, 94	79. 行 syn action, deed, row, element; 言 yang word; 說 sho docrina 18, 23, 33, 36 + 37 (+18), 44, 66
80. 意 and thought, meaning; 志 zhi will; 言 yang word 33, 47, 56, 78	81. 誠 cheng authenticity, sincerity 7, 26, 57, 85, 86, 92
82. 史 shi history-chronicle 64	83. 記 ji memory-write 64
84. 名 min name-concept, glory; 分 fen share 7, 11, 23, 27 (+74), 32, 35, 50, 52, 53, 58, 64, 78	85. 實 shi reality, result; 虛 xu void 3, 7, 16, 46, 48, 53, 65, 81, 86, 87, 92
86. 真 zheng truth; 偽 wei false 7, 32, 81, 85	87. 是 shi truth; 非 faye lie 85
Vi. Ethics and aesthetics
88. 善 shan good, good, kalokagatiya, beautiful, skill; 美 mei beauty; 惡 e ugly, evil 23, 60, 62, 64, 94	89. 仁 ren humanity 31, 49, 78, 90, 91, 94
90. 礼 whether decency, etiquette, ritual 14, 22, 23, 32, 64, 69, 78, 89	91. 義 and debt-justice; 利 whether benefit-benefit 14, 22, 23, 32, 78, 89, 92
92. 忠 zhong honesty, loyalty; 信 blue trustworthiness 78, 81, 85, 90, 91	93. 恕 shu reciprocity 7, 70
Vii. "Sociology"
94. 聖 sheng perfect wise, saint; 愚 yu stupid 51, 59, 68, 78, 88, 89, 96	95. 王 van sovereign; 霸 ba despot 70, 98
96. 君子 Jun Tzu noble husband; 子 tzu son, lord, philosopher; 小人 xiao ren worthless person 82, 94
97. 士 shi serviceman, scientist 31	98. 民 min people-people 2, 30, 31, 95, 99
99. 國 th state 98	100. 家 jia clan-family, school 31, 52, 74

The numbers indicate references to other items in the table.

When compiling a list of the basic concepts of the Chinese philosophical tradition, you can set yourself various tasks. One can proceed from the presumption of a single universal set of categories, considering them to be a priori characteristics of either an object (like Aristotle) ​​or a subject (like Kant). On the contrary, one can strive in Spengler's way to find something specifically non-European and even anti-European in Chinese culture in general and philosophy in particular. There is nothing unnatural in either approach, they only reflect different tasks and, accordingly, use different languages ​​of description. Both approaches have their own logical foundations and to one degree or another have been realized in certain historical situations.

But, apparently, now the most urgent task is to reconstruct the immanent appearance of the conceptual and categorical apparatus of traditional Chinese philosophy. In solving it, it may well turn out that some fundamental categories of Western thought will lose this status. For example, in the reconstruction of the system of categories of traditional Chinese philosophy, proposed by Tang Yi-tsze and expressed in 46 hieroglyphs, there are no such fundamental, from our point of view, concepts as "space" and "time", "cause" and "effect", and for half a century before that, one of the greatest Chinese philosophers of the 20th century, Chang Dong-sun, deprived such a status of "identity", "contradiction" and "substance." At the same time, categories that have no analogues in the Western philosophical tradition may appear here. As such, Chinese historians of philosophy primarily call Tao (path), qi (pneuma), shen (spirit), cheng (authenticity).

The above synoptic list of the main concepts of traditional Chinese philosophy is of a purely preliminary and auxiliary character. When compiling it, we were guided by the following principles. First, the desire to cover all the most important and irreducible to each other concepts traditional Chinese philosophy, not just those that can be qualified as categories... Therefore, philosophical categories, on the basis of whatever feature they are distinguished, according to our intention, should be contained in this list. As follows from the definition formulated above, it should also include the categories of traditional Chinese culture. At the same time, like most Chinese specialists, we believe that the conceptual apparatus of traditional Chinese philosophy is fundamentally entirely autochthonous. Most of the Buddhist ideas that came from outside found their expression with the help of primordially Chinese conceptual means.

Secondly, like Chen Yong-tsze, Chang Dai-nian, Ge Rong-jin and Chang Li-wen, we tried to present the concepts in a systematized form: a) subjecting them to headings, b) linking them in pairs. The structure we propose is highly arbitrary and claims only to be a working tool. Chinese philosophical concepts with great difficulty lend themselves to the thematic division adopted in our culture. For example, the term shin - "individual nature", which is a standard pair with qing - "feelings", usually denotes human nature and is included in the heading "Anthropology", but it can also denote the nature of any particular thing, due to which it has the right to be placed in the heading "Ontology". At the same time, the term ren - "man", which, it would seem, has no better place than in "Anthropology", was attributed to "Ontology". but in its most general philosophical sense, it designates the human world, which forms an ontological opposition with the natural world (heaven) or enters into a cosmic trinity (san) with heaven and earth. Therefore, here it was necessary to be guided by such conventional signs as, apparently, more frequent use in this sense (with the word "apparently" I compensate for the lack of accurate statistical indications) or connection with a paired element.

As for the pairwise organization as such, then behind it, obviously, stands a completely objective feature of Chinese philosophical thought, and perhaps of philosophical thought in general. Most of the concepts in the list of Chen Yong-tsze, the works of Ge Rong-tszin and Chang Li-wen, as well as all categories in the Tang Yi-tsze system and publications in the journal "Zhongguo zhexue shi yanzyu" are organized in pairs. The question of the pairing of philosophical concepts became the subject of discussion among Chinese scholars, during which Tang Yi-tsze expressed the conviction that, although this principle may not be observed in certain philosophical systems, it necessarily manifests itself in the general process of the development of philosophical knowledge.

All members of couples on our list are traditionally associated concepts. In this case, only the choice of one combination of several, which may include a particular concept, depended on the author's will. For example, the elements of the pair li - qi ("principle - pneuma") also form pairs li - fa ("principle - law") and qi - jing ("pneuma - seed-soul"). Such connections are also taken into account and coded in the form of numbers following the translation of the term that are paired with it in one or another compositional or adversarial (but not subordinate) sense of the terms. Some terms are not presented in their most famous combinations, precisely because such combinations, due to their self-evidence, are easily reconstructed one by one, the main term. For example, the concept of "difference" (and) from the pair "identity - difference" (tun and) is potentially included in the concept of "identity". But in these cases, the standard antonym is still indicated - right after the main word.

It is possible, however, to go further and consider such antonymic pairs expressing single concepts, just like, for example, binom chang duan - lit. "Long and short" - expresses the concept of length. For all standard terminological pairs, such a hypothesis is expressed by A.M. Karapetyants, proceeding from more general linguistic considerations: “Any full-fledged hieroglyph of the Chinese language (as, in particular, can be seen from the lists of categories) can be represented in the minds of its speakers as an element of a pair. Since predicativity - a dynamic representation of reality - is a characteristic property of the Chinese language in general, this pair is usually antonymic. Such pairs (antonymic and synonymous), if necessary, are given by the texts explicitly (and this is directly related to the linguistic problem of the word - monosyllabic and bi-syllable - in the Chinese language). In this case, more than one pair can be assigned to one hieroglyph ”.

Apparently, Tang Yi-tsze is also close to this opinion, since quantitatively he puts his full (twenty-pair) and abbreviated (ten-pair) sets on the same board with the European ones - ten-twelve-membered, i.e. equates European categories to Chinese couples. One way or another, self-evident combinations (mostly antonymic) are less informative and therefore can be reduced to one element. I have preserved in full form those whose main members do not have equivalent pairs. If only these paired combinations (No. 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, 25-26, 36-37, 38-39, 44-45, 54-55, 70-71) were brought together to single elements, then the total number of concepts in my set would be reduced to 90.

The principles of pairwise communication in the list are as follows: 1) antonymy, for example, yu ("presence-absence"), 2) synonymy, for example, bian hua ("change-transformation"), 3) correlativeness, for example, yu zhou ("space-time "), 4) conceptual unity, for example tzi jan (" naturalness "). In the latter case, both elements of the pair are assigned a single number. Other pairs can also form a conceptual unity, for example, yu zhou - "universe", fan fa - "method", but it either has a secondary character, i.e. can be decomposed into the concepts of a pair of signs, or is inherent in a more or less modern philosophical language.

The principle of the "philological" approach to categories and concepts, which we substantiated above, i.e. consideration of a sign unit as a starting point is implemented in this list, which, in particular, manifests itself in the linguistic characteristics of pairs (for example, "antonymy" instead of "opposite" and "contradiction"), and in the typological "equating" one concept expressed two hieroglyphs, to two concepts, also expressed by two hieroglyphs. Such concepts themselves can form pairs. For example, tszy jan - "natural" is antonymic to shi jan - "conditioned", and Tang Yi-jie connects it with ming jiao - "conventional"; tai ji - "great limit" is antonymic to ji - "unlimited", and Tang Yi-jie connects it with yin yang - "negative and positive forces." Pairs of a higher order are also formed by two-concept combinations, which in my list is reflected by the "+" sign between the numbers of the members of such combinations. If a term forms a pair of a monomial or binomial, not one, but together with another term, then the number of the latter is put in brackets at the number of the corresponding paired monomial or binomial). The latter is quite consistent with the views that prevailed in traditional Chinese philosophy, in which the word and concept were considered as a single whole - min ("name") or tzu ("sign"). From this point of view, the concept expressed by two signs (jian ming - "compound [double] name") is typologically closer to two concepts expressed by two signs, rather than to the concept expressed by one sign (tribute min - "simple [single] name" ).

In our list, specialists will not see some important "compound names", for example, da tun - "great unity" or tian xia - "Celestial Empire". The fact is that we considered it possible not to single out in special positions the terms that consist of the already indicated "simple names" (tian xia = tian + xia) or are their special case (da tong - tun). In general, the reason for not including a concept in this list or optional inclusion without assigning a separate number was the ability to consider it either as more particular, or as dependent on an already included concept. Dependent can be an element of a pair, both "asymmetric" (ge - "reconciliation" in ge y - "reconciliation of things"), and "symmetric" (ba - "despot" in van ba - "sovereign and despot").

The kit presented here was obtained as follows. Initially, based on personal experience, we compiled a corresponding list that covered 214 lexical units. We attribute it to the middle classification level: in the Chinese taxonomy, it is similar to a collection of key characters - 214 keys. Below this level lies the thousand-fold symbolic set of the universal-paradigmatic "Thousand-word text" ("Qian tzu wen"), above - the sixagesimal sets, which were mentioned earlier.

At the second stage of the work, we correlated our list with eight of its analogs: 1) J. Needham's list, 2) Chen Yong-tsze's list, 3) Tang Ying-tsze's list, 4) a collection of articles on the terminology of traditional Chinese philosophy in the dictionary “ Tsi hai ”(1961), 5) with the vocabulary of Chang Dai-nyan (1989), 6) with the vocabulary of Wu Yi, 7) with the vocabulary of Ge Rong-jin, 8) with the vocabulary of Chang Li-wen. Taking them as a basis, we discarded some that express more particular and dependent concepts, and added others, from our point of view, fundamental, although little-studied terms - with the expectation of keeping within a hundred.

We compared the list thus obtained, first, with the hieroglyphs "Qian tzu wen" - "Thousand-word text" and "San tzu jing" - "Three-word canon" (these propaedeutic and paradigmatic works contain the fundamental concepts of traditional Chinese culture) , as well as the vocabulary of the "Dictionary of Chinese Culture" ("Zhongguo wenhua tsidian". Shanghai, 1987), secondly, with the modern philosophical vocabulary adopted in the PRC and recorded by "Tsi hai" (1961), a translation of the Russian "Brief Philosophical Dictionary" (Beijing, 1958), a dictionary of psychological terms ("Xinlixue Ming". Beijing, 1954), a two-volume "Philosophy" from the "Great Chinese Encyclopedia" ("Zhongguo da baike quanshu. Zhexue". Vol. 1, 2. Beijing-Shanghai, 1987) and The New Dictionary of Social Sciences (Shehui Kexue Xin Tsydian. Chongqing, 1988).

In our list, narrower classes can be easily distinguished and appropriate conclusions drawn. Thus, there are 88 terms that coincide with any two or more of the eight surveyed sets of traditional philosophical terms, which testifies to its sufficient representativeness; terms that coincide with the components of the modern philosophical lexicon - 84, which indicates a significant, i.e. that does not require special correction, the proximity of the old and new terminology, or the quantitative correctness of the sample that covered their common core; terms coinciding with the hieroglyphs "Qian tzu wen" and "San tzu jing", as well as the vocabulary of the "Dictionary of Chinese Culture" - 97, which confirms the initial hypothesis about the identity of the categories of Chinese philosophy and culture.

Further selection using a purely formal procedure made it possible to come to the selection of the categories of Chinese philosophy and culture in their own, or narrow, sense.

1. Terms that coincide with any four or more of the eight sets of traditional philosophical terms can be interpreted as expressing the core of the basic concepts of traditional Chinese philosophy, equal to or containing many of its categories. Those included in at least half of the surveyed sets make up half of this list, namely 52 terms numbered 1-3, 7-10, 12, 14, 22-26, 30-33, 35-38, 40-46 , 48-51, 54, 56, 58, 60-63, 70, 73, 78, 79, 81, 84-86, 89-91. This formally obtained set quantitatively coincides with the parameters adopted by YI for terms expressed by single hieroglyphs.

2. Terms that satisfy the previous condition and, in addition, coincide with the components of the modern philosophical vocabulary (there are 46 of them: 24, 35, 36, 81, 89, 90 are excluded from the numbers listed above) can be interpreted as expressing the core of basic concepts ( or category) of Chinese philosophy as a whole, i.e. both traditional and modern.

3. Terms that satisfy the condition of paragraph 1 and, in addition, coincide with the characters "Qian tzu wen" and "San tzu jing", as well as the vocabulary of the "Dictionary of Chinese culture" (51 of them turned out: from the numbers listed in paragraph 1, 73), can be interpreted as expressing the core of the basic concepts (or categories) of traditional Chinese culture. This set exactly coincided with the number of articles on categories and the most important concepts in the dictionary "Culture of China" by G.А. Tkachenko.

4. Terms that satisfy the conditions of all the previous paragraphs (there are 45 of them) can be interpreted as expressing the core of the basic concepts (or categories) of Chinese culture as a whole, i.e. both traditional and modern.

Upon further similar analysis of the list, it turns out that five or more of the eight sets of traditional philosophical terms cover 39 numbers (1, 2, 8, 10, 14, 22-26, 30-33, 36-38, 40, 42, 44, 45 , 48-51, 53, 56, 58, 60-62, 78, 79, 84, 85, 89-91), six or more - 20 numbers (8, 10, 22, 25, 26, 30-33, 36 , 37, 41, 45, 51, 53, 56, 60, 61, 78, 79), seven and more - 13 numbers (10, 22, 26, 30-33, 45, 51, 53, 56, 60, 61 ), and all eight - 5 numbers (22, 30-33). The first of these sets (39 terms) quantitatively corresponds to the sets of Tang Yi-tsze, Ge Rong-chin and Chang Li-wen. For Tang Yi-tsze, 40 (20 pairs) is the maximum number of categories that can be reduced to 20 (10 pairs), which, in turn, exactly corresponds to the second of the specified sets.

The third set (12 terms) correlates with the ten "higher categories" (tsui gao fanchou) singled out by Zhang Dai-nian and is quantitatively comparable to the traditional European sets of 10 (like Aristotle's) or 12 (like Kant's) members. This set, defined by the formula 10 + 2, in traditional Chinese taxonomy corresponds to the level of eight trigrams (ba gua), "nine fields" (tszyu chow, chow - the main component of the modern term "category" - fanchou), nine countries and semi-countries of the world: eight countries and semi-countries of the world + center (tszyu fan), ten "heavenly stumps" (tian gan) and twelve "earthly branches" (di zhi).

The core of the so-assessed set of philosophical categories, starting from which it makes sense to establish more complex structural (logical and semantic) connections between concepts, as is done by Chang Dai-nian, Tang I-tsze, Ge Rong-jin and especially Chang Li-wen, can count the five fundamental concepts reflected in all surveyed sets. These are the already indicated numbers 22, 30-33: Tao ("path"), tian ("sky"), ren ("man"), li ("principle"), qi ("pneuma"). There is good reason to see them as the categorical core of the entire Chinese culture, which quantitatively corresponds to such fundamental classification schemes as the five elements (wu xing) and the five cardinal points (fan: four cardinal points + center).

Of course, the list of categories of Chinese culture can be expanded depending on the original definition of this subject, but, as it seems to us, it should not go beyond the outlined core of the basic concepts of Chinese philosophy. If you do not abandon the old postulate that philosophy "is the living soul of culture", then the categories of culture should be recognized as philosophical categories. Moreover, in this case, the formal procedure of terminological selection confirmed Feng Yu-lan's substantive thesis about the special role of philosophy in Chinese culture: the “nuclear” sets of basic concepts of both turned out to be almost the same, which is by no means trivial.

True, it is necessary to make a reservation - I have taken the Chinese culture in the aspect of its self-comprehension, and not independent research. As for cultures that do not have philosophy as a special form of worldview, or, for example, Chinese culture in the pre-philosophical period, this provision does not prevent them from having in their spiritual arsenal the concepts of the philosophical degree of community, just as ignorance of arithmetic does not prevent the possession of numerical concepts. In such conditions, the categories of culture will be the concepts of the philosophical degree of community, i.e., from our point of view, philosophical concepts, although not the concepts of philosophy.

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The content of the article

CHINESE PHILOSOPHY. Chinese philosophy arose at about the same time as ancient Greek and ancient Indian philosophy, in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. Certain philosophical ideas and themes, as well as many terms that later formed the "main composition" of the lexicon of traditional Chinese philosophy, were already contained in the oldest written monuments of Chinese culture - Shu jing (Canon [documentary] scriptures), Shi jing (Canon of poems), Zhou and (Zhou changes, or I ching – The canon of change), formed in the first half of the 1st millennium BC, which sometimes serves as the basis for statements (especially by Chinese scientists) about the emergence of philosophy in China at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. This point of view is also motivated by the fact that the composition of these works includes separate independent texts that have a developed philosophical content, for example, Hong Fan (Majestic specimen) from Shu jing or Xi ci zhuan from Zhou and... However, as a rule, the creation or final design of such texts dates back to the second half of the 1st millennium BC.

The first historically reliable creator of philosophical theory in China was Confucius (551–479), who saw himself as the spokesman for the spiritual tradition of "zhu" - scientists, educated, intellectuals ("zhu" later began to denote Confucians).

According to traditional dating, the oldest contemporary of Confucius was Lao Tzu (6–4 centuries BC), the founder of Taoism, the main ideological trend that opposed Confucianism. However, it has now been established that the first proper Taoist works were written after the Confucian ones, even, apparently, were a reaction to them. Lao Tzu, as a historical person, most likely lived later than Confucius. Apparently, the traditional idea of ​​the pre-Qin (until the end of the 3rd century BC) period in the history of Chinese philosophy as an era of equal polemics of the "hundred schools" ...

The era ended with the "antiphilosophical" repressions of Qin Shih Huang (213–210 BC), directed specifically against the Confucians. From the very beginning of Chinese philosophy, the term “zhu” has designated not only and not so much one of its schools as philosophy as a science, more precisely, an orthodox direction in a single ideological complex, combining the features of philosophy, science, art and religion.

Confucius and the first philosophers - zhu - saw their main task in the theoretical understanding of the life of society and the personal fate of a person. As carriers and disseminators of culture, they were closely associated with social institutions responsible for the storage and reproduction of written, including historical and literary, documents (culture, writing and literature in the Chinese language were designated by the same term - "wen"), and their representatives - scribami-shea. Hence, there are three main features of Confucianism: 1) on the institutional level - connection or active striving for communication with the administrative apparatus, constant claims to the role of official ideology; 2) in terms of content - the dominance of socio-political, ethical, social science, humanitarian issues; 3) in formal terms - the recognition of the textological canon, i.e. compliance with strict formal criteria of "literary".

From the very beginning, Confucius's attitude was "to transmit, not create, believe in antiquity and love it" ( Lunyu, VII, 1). At the same time, the act of transferring ancient wisdom to future generations had a cultural and creative character, if only because the archaic works (canons) on which the first Confucians relied were already incomprehensible to their contemporaries and demanded interpretation. As a result, commentary and exegesis of ancient classical works became the dominant forms of creativity in Chinese philosophy. Even the most daring innovators have tended to appear as mere interpreters of the old ideological orthodoxy. Theoretical innovation, as a rule, not only was not accentuated and did not receive explicit expression, but, on the contrary, was deliberately dissolved in the mass of commentary (quasi-commentary) text.

This feature of Chinese philosophy was determined by a number of factors - from social to linguistic. Ancient Chinese society did not know the polis democracy of the ancient Greek model and the type of philosopher generated by it, deliberately detached from the empirical life around him in the name of comprehending being as such. Introduction to writing and culture in China has always been determined by a fairly high social status. Already from the 2nd century. BC, with the transformation of Confucianism into an official ideology, an examination system began to take shape, consolidating the connection of philosophical thought both with state institutions and with "classical literature" - a certain set of canonical texts. Since ancient times, such a connection was determined by the specific (including linguistic) difficulty of obtaining an education and access to the material carriers of culture (primarily books).

Due to its high social position, philosophy was of outstanding importance in the life of Chinese society, where it has always been the "queen of sciences" and never became the "servant of theology." However, it is related to theology by the immutable use of a regulated set of canonical texts. On this path, which presupposes taking into account all previous points of view on the canonical problem, Chinese philosophers inevitably turned into historians of philosophy, and in their writings, historical arguments prevailed over logical ones. Moreover, the logical was historicized, just as in Christian religious-theological literature the Logos turned into Christ and, having lived a human life, opened a new era of history. But in contrast to "real" mysticism, which denies both the logical and the historical, claiming to go beyond conceptual and space-time boundaries, in Chinese philosophy the tendency to complete immersion of mythologemes in the concrete fabric of history prevailed. What Confucius was going to "convey" was recorded mainly in historical and literary monuments - Shu jing and Shi jing... Thus, the expressive features of Chinese philosophy were determined by a close connection not only with historical, but also with literary thought. In philosophical works, the literary form traditionally reigned. On the one hand, philosophy itself did not strive for dry abstractness, but on the other hand, literature was saturated with the "finest juices" of philosophy. In terms of the degree of fictionalization, Chinese philosophy can be compared with Russian philosophy. Chinese philosophy as a whole retained these features until the beginning of the 20th century, when, under the influence of familiarity with Western philosophy, non-traditional philosophical theories began to emerge in China.

The specificity of Chinese classical philosophy in the content aspect is primarily determined by the dominance of naturalism and the absence of developed idealistic theories such as Platonism or Neoplatonism (and even more so classical European idealism of modern times), and in the methodological aspect - the absence of such a universal general philosophical and general scientific organon as formal logic (which is a direct consequence of the underdevelopment of idealism).

Researchers of Chinese philosophy often see the concept of the ideal in the categories "y" - "absence / nonexistence" (especially among the Taoists) or "whether" - "principle / reason" (especially among the neo-Confucians). However, "y" at best can denote some analogue of Platonic-Aristotelian matter as a pure possibility (actual non-being), or "whether" expresses the idea of ​​an ordering structure (regularity or "rightful place") immanently inherent in every single thing and devoid of a transcendental character. In classical Chinese philosophy, which did not develop the concept of the ideal as such (ideas, eidos, forms of forms, transcendental deity), not only the "line of Plato" was absent, but also the "line of Democritus", since the rich tradition of materialistic thought was not formed in a theoretically meaningful opposition clearly expressed idealism and independently did not give rise to atomistics at all. All this testifies to the undoubted dominance in classical Chinese philosophy of naturalism, typologically similar to pre-Socratic philosophizing in ancient Greece.

One of the consequences of the general methodological role of logic in Europe was the acquisition by philosophical categories, first of all, of logical meaning, genetically going back to the grammatical models of the ancient Greek language. The term "category" itself means "expressed", "asserted". Chinese analogs of categories, genetically going back to mythical ideas, images of fortune-telling practice and economic ordering activities, acquired, first of all, a natural philosophical meaning and were used as classification matrices: for example, binary - Yin Yang, or lyan and- "two images"; ternary - tian, ren, di- "heaven, man, earth", or san cai- "three materials", fivefold - woo xing- "five elements". The modern Chinese term "category" (fan-chou) has a numerological etymology, derived from the designation of a square nine-cell (9 chou) construction (according to the model of the magic square 3ґ3 - lo shu, cm... HE TU I LO SHU), which is based on Hun fan.

The place of the science of logic (the first true science in Europe; the second was deductive geometry, since Euclid followed Aristotle) ​​as a universal cognitive model (organon) in China was occupied by the so-called numerology ( cm... XIANG SHU ZHI XUE), i.e. a formalized theoretical system, the elements of which are mathematical or mathematical-shaped objects - numerical complexes and geometric structures, connected, however, among themselves mainly not according to the laws of mathematics, but somehow differently - symbolically, associatively, factually, aesthetically, mnemonically, suggestively ... As shown at the beginning of the 20th century. one of the first researchers of ancient Chinese methodology, a famous scientist, philosopher and public figure Hu Shi (1891-1962), its main varieties were "Confucian logic", set forth in Zhou and, and the "Moistic logic" set forth in chapters 40–45 Mo-tzu(5–3 centuries BC) ie in more precise terms - numerology and protology. The most ancient and canonical forms of self-conceptualization of the methodology of Chinese classical philosophy were implemented, on the one hand, in numerology Zhou and, Hong Fanya, Tai Xuan Jing, and on the other - in protology Mo-tzu, Gongsun Long-tzu, Xun-tzu.

Hu Shi in his groundbreaking book Development of the logical method in ancient China(The Development of the Logical Method in Ancient China), written in 1915-1917 in the United States and first published in 1922 in Shanghai, sought to demonstrate the existence of a "logical method" in ancient Chinese philosophy, including protology and numerology on equal terms. Hu Shi's achievement was the "discovery" of a developed general cognitive methodology in ancient China, but he failed to prove its logical nature, which was rightly noted already by V.M. Alekseev (1881-1981) in a review published in 1925. In the 1920s The most prominent European sinologists A. Forke (1867-1944) and A. Maspero (1883-1945) showed that even the teaching of the late Moists, which is closest to logic, strictly speaking, is eristic and, therefore, at best, has the status of protology.

In the mid-1930s, understanding Zhou and as a logical treatise was convincingly refuted by Yu.K. Shchutsky (1897–1938). And at the same time, Shen Zhongtao (Z.D.Sung) in the book Symbols of the I Ching, or Symbols of the Chinese logic of change(The Symbols of the Y King or the Symbols of the Chinese Logic of Changes) in expanded form showed that numerology Zhou and can be used as a general scientific methodology, since it is a harmonious system of symbolic forms that reflect the universal quantitative and structural laws of the universe. However, Shen Zhongtao left aside the question of the extent to which this potential was realized by the Chinese scientific and philosophical tradition.

But the methodological role of numerology in the broadest context of the spiritual culture of traditional China was demonstrated at the same time by the outstanding French sinologist M. Granet (1884-1940). The work of M. Granet Chinese thought (La pensée chinoise) contributed to the emergence of modern structuralism and semiotics, but for a long time, despite its high authority, did not find its proper continuation in Western Sinology. M. Granet considered numerology as a kind of methodology of the Chinese "correlative (associative) thinking".

The theory of "correlative thinking" was most developed in the works of the largest Western historian of Chinese science J. Needham (1900-1995), who, however, fundamentally divided "correlative thinking" and numerology. From his point of view, the former, due to its dialectic nature, served as a breeding ground for genuine scientific creativity, while the latter, although a derivative of the former, rather slowed down than stimulated the development of science. This position was criticized by another outstanding historian of Chinese science, N. Sivin, who, using the material of several scientific disciplines, showed the inherent organic nature of their numerological constructions.

Russian sinologists V.S.Spirin and A.M. Karapetiants adhere to radical views in the interpretation of Chinese numerology, defending the thesis of its full-fledged scientific nature. V.S.Spirin sees in it first of all logic, A.M. Karapetyants - mathematics. In a similar way, a researcher from the People's Republic of China Liu Weihua interprets the numerological theory Zhou and as the world's oldest mathematical philosophy and mathematical logic. VS Spirin and AM Karapetyants propose to abandon the term "numerology" or use it only in application to obviously unscientific constructions. Such a distinction, of course, is possible, but it will reflect the worldview of a modern scientist, and not a Chinese thinker who used a single methodology in both scientific and unscientific (from our point of view) studies.

The foundation of Chinese numerology is made up of three types of objects, each of which is represented by two varieties: 1) "symbols" - a) trigrams, b) hexagrams ( cm... GUA); 2) "numbers" - a) he tu, b) lo shu; 3) the main ontological hypostases of "symbols" and "numbers" - a) yin yang (dark and light), b) ying (five elements). This system itself is numerologized, since it is built on two initial numbers - 3 and 2.

It reflects all three main types of graphic symbolization used in traditional Chinese culture: 1) "symbols" - geometric shapes, 2) "numbers" - numbers, 3) yin yang, wu Xing - hieroglyphs. This fact is explained by the archaic origin of Chinese numerology, which has been performing a cultural modeling function since time immemorial. The most ancient examples of Chinese writing are extremely numerologized inscriptions on oracular bones. Subsequently, canonical texts were created according to numerological standards. The most significant ideas were inextricably intertwined with iconic clichés, in which the composition, number and spatial arrangement of hieroglyphs or any other graphic symbols were strictly established.

Over its long history, numerological structures in China have reached a high degree of formalization. It was this circumstance that played a decisive role in the victory of Chinese numerology over protology, since the latter did not become either formal or formalized, and therefore did not possess the qualities of a convenient and compact methodological tool (organon). From this point of view, the opposite outcome of a similar struggle in Europe is explained by the fact that here logic from the very beginning was built as a syllogistic, i.e. formal and formalized calculus, and numerology (arrhythmology, or structuralology), and in its mature state, indulged in complete content freedom, i.e. methodologically unacceptable arbitrariness.

The Chinese protology was both opposed to numerology and strongly dependent on it. In particular, being under the influence of the numerological conceptual apparatus, in which the concept of "contradiction" ("contradictory") was dissolved in the concept of "opposite" ("contrariness"), protological thought was unable to distinguish terminologically between "contradiction" and "opposition". This, in turn, had the most significant effect on the character of Chinese protology and dialectics, since both the logical and the dialectical are determined through their attitude to contradiction.

The central epistemological procedure - generalization in numerology and numerologized protology had the character of "generalization" ( cm... GUN-GENERALIZATION) and was based on the quantitative ordering of objects and the value-normative selection of the main thing from them - the representative - without logical abstraction of the set of ideal features inherent in this entire class of objects.

Generalization was associated with the axiological and normative nature of the entire conceptual apparatus of classical Chinese philosophy, which led to such fundamental features of the latter as fictionalization and textological canonicality.

In general, in Chinese philosophy, numerology prevailed with the theoretical undeveloped opposition "logic - dialectics", undifferentiated materialistic and idealistic tendencies and the general dominance of combinatorial-classification naturalism, the absence of logical idealism, as well as the conservation of the symbolic polysemy of philosophical terminology and value-normative hierarchy of concepts.

In the initial period of its existence (6-3 centuries BC), Chinese philosophy, in the conditions of categorical undifferentiation of philosophical, scientific and religious knowledge, presented a picture of the extreme diversity of views and directions, which were presented as "the rivalry of a hundred schools" (bai jia zheng ming ). The first attempts to classify this diversity were undertaken by representatives of the main philosophical currents - Confucianism and Taoism - in an effort to criticize all their opponents. Ch. 6 Confucian treatises Xun Tzu(4th - 3rd centuries BC) ( Against twelve thinkers, Fei shi-er tzu). In it, in addition to the propagandized teachings of Confucius and his student Tzu-Gong (5th century BC), the author singled out "six teachings" (lyu sho), presented in pairs by twelve thinkers and sharply criticized: 1) Taoists To Xiao ( 6th century BC) and Wei Mou (4th – 3rd centuries BC); 2) Chen Zhong (5–4 centuries BC) and Shi Qiu (6–5 centuries BC), who can be regarded as unorthodox Confucians; 3) the creator of moism Mo Di (Mo-tzu, 5th century BC) and the founder of the independent school of Song Jian (4th century BC), which is close to Taoism; 4) Taoist-legists Shen Tao (4th century BC) and Tian Pian (5-4 centuries BC); 5) the founders of the "school of names" (ming jia) Hoi Shi (4th century BC) and Deng Xi (6th century BC); 6) the later canonized Confucians Tzu-Si (5th century BC) and Meng Ke (Meng-tzu, 4–3 centuries BC). In the 21st chapter of his treatise, Xun-tzu also, giving the teachings of Confucius the role of "the only school that reached the universal Tao and mastered its application" (Yun, cm... TI - YUN), identified six opposing "disorderly schools" (luan jia): 1) Mo Di; 2) Song Jian; 3) Shen Dao; 4) the legist Shen Buhai; 5) Hoi Shi; 6) the second after Lao-tzu patriarch of Taoism Chuang Zhou (Chuang-tzu, 4th-3rd centuries BC).

An approximately synchronous (although, according to some assumptions, even later, up to the turn of our era) and typologically similar classification is contained in the final 33rd chapter Chuang Tzu(4th - 3rd centuries BC) "Celestial" ("Tien-xia"), where the core teaching of the Confucians inheriting the ancient wisdom is also highlighted, which is opposed to "one hundred schools" (bai jia), divided into six directions: 1) Mo Di and his disciple Qin Guli (Huali); 2) Song Jian and his like-minded contemporary Yin Wen; 3) Shen Dao and his supporters Peng Meng and Tian Pian; 4) Taoists Guan Yin and Lao Dan (Lao Tzu); 5) Chuang Zhou, 6) dialecticians (bian-chzhe) Hoi Shi, Huan Tuan and Gongsun Lung.

These structurally similar sixfold constructions, emanating from the idea of ​​the unity of truth (Tao) and the diversity of its manifestations, became the basis for the first classification of the main philosophical teachings as such, and not just their representatives, which was carried out by Sima Tan (2nd century BC). , who wrote a special treatise on the "six schools" (liu jia), which was included in the final 130th chapter of the first dynastic history compiled by his son Sima Qian (2nd - 1st centuries BC) Shi ji (Historical notes). This work lists and describes: 1) "school of dark and light [world-forming principles]" (yin yang jia), in Western literature also called "natural philosophical"; 2) "school of scholars" (zhu jia), ie. Confucianism; 3) "school Mo [Di]" (mo jia), i.e. moism; 4) "school of names" (min jia), in Western literature also called "nominalist" and "dialectical-sophistic"; 5) "school of laws" (fa jia), ie. legalism, and 6) the “school of the Way and grace” (Tao de Jia), i.e. Taoism. The highest mark was awarded to the last school, which, like Confucianism in classifications from Xun Tzu and Chuang Tzu, presented here as a synthesis of the main advantages of all other schools. Such an opportunity is created by the very principle of its naming - by belonging to a circle of persons of a certain qualification ("intellectual scientists"), and not by adherence to a specific authority, as in the "school of Mo [Di]," or specific ideas, as reflected in the names of all other schools.

This scheme was developed in the classification and bibliographic work of the outstanding scientist Liu Xin (46 BC - 23 AD), which formed the basis of the oldest catalog in China, and possibly in the world. Yi wen zhi (Treatise on Art and Literature), which became the 30th chapter of the second dynastic history compiled by Ban Gu (32-92) Han shu (Book [about dynasty] Han). The classification, firstly, has grown to ten members, four new ones have been added to the six: the diplomatic "school of vertical and horizontal [political alliances]" (zong heng jia); eclectic-encyclopedic "free school" (tsza jia); "Agrarian school" (nong jia) and folklore "school of small explanations" (xiao sho jia). Second, Liu Xin proposed a theory of the origin of each of the "ten schools" (shi jia), covering "all philosophers" (zhu tzu).

This theory assumed that in the initial period of the formation of traditional Chinese culture, i.e. in the first centuries of the 1st millennium BC, the bearers of socially significant knowledge were officials, in other words, “scientists” were “officials”, and “officials” were “scientists”. Due to the decline of the "path of the true sovereign" (wang Dao), i.e. the weakening of the power of the ruling house of Zhou, the destruction of the centralized administrative structure took place, and its representatives, having lost their official status, were forced to lead a private lifestyle and provide their own existence with the realization of their knowledge and skills already as teachers, mentors, and preachers. In the epoch of state fragmentation, representatives of various spheres of the once united administration who fought for influence on specific rulers formed different schools of thought, the very general designation of which "jia" testifies to their private character, for this hieroglyph literally means "family."

( Liu and, Wu Jing, cm... JING-SEED; SHI SAN JING) and prioritizing humanity (ren) and due justice (s). 2) Taoism (Tao Jia) was created by immigrants from the department of chronography, who "made up chronicles of the path (Tao) of success and failure, existence and death, grief and happiness, antiquity and modernity", thanks to which they comprehended the "royal art" of self-preservation through "purity and emptiness "," humiliation and weakness. " 4) Legism was created by people from the judiciary who supplemented the administration on the basis of "decency" (li 2) with awards and punishments determined by laws (fa). 5) The “School of Names” was created by people from the ritual department, whose activities were conditioned by the fact that in ancient times the nominal and the real did not coincide in ranks and rituals, and the problem arose of bringing them into mutual correspondence. 6) Moism was created by immigrants from the temple watchmen who preached frugality, "all-encompassing love" (jian ai), the promotion of "worthy" (xian 2), reverence for "navs" (gui), denial of "predestination" (min) and "uniformity" (tun, cm... YES TUN-GREAT UNITY). 7) The diplomatic "school of vertical and horizontal [political alliances]" was created by immigrants from the embassy department, capable of "doing things as it should and being guided by instructions, not words." 8) The eclectic-encyclopedic "free school" was created by immigrants from the councilors, who combined the ideas of Confucianism and Moism, the "school of names" and legalism in the name of maintaining order in the state. 9) The "Agrarian School" was created by natives of the Department of Agriculture, who were in charge of the production of food and goods, which in Hun fane attributed respectively to the first and second of the eight most important state affairs (ba zheng). 10) "School of small explanations" was created by natives of low-rank officials, who were supposed to collect information about the mood among the people on the basis of "street gossip and road rumors."

Assessing the latter school, which was more folklore than philosophical in nature and produced "fiction" (xiao sho) as not worthy of attention, the authors of this theory recognized the nine remaining schools as "mutually opposite, but forming each other" (xiang fan er xiang cheng) , i.e. going to the same goal in different ways and based on a common ideological basis - Six canons (Liu jing, cm... SHI SAN JING). It followed from the conclusion that the diversity of philosophical schools is a forced consequence of the collapse of the general state system, which is naturally eliminated when it is restored and philosophical thought returns to a unifying and standardizing Confucian channel.

Despite the refusal to consider the "school of small explanations", which is mostly folklore and literary (hence the other meaning of "xiao sho" - "fiction"), rather than a philosophical character, in Yi wen zhi the decimal nature of the set of philosophical schools is implicitly preserved, since further in a special section the "military school" (bin jia) is highlighted, which, in accordance with the general theory, is represented by people from the military department.

The origins of this decimal classification can be traced in the encyclopedic monuments of the 3rd and 2nd centuries. BC. Lu shi chun qiu (Spring and Autumn of Mr. Liu) and Huainan Tzu ([Treatise] Huainan Teachers). The first of them (chap. II, 5, 7) contains a list of “ten outstanding men of the Celestial Empire”: 1) Lao Tzu, “exalting compliance”, 2) Confucius, “exalting humanity,” 3) Mo Di, “exalting moderation ", 4) Kuan Yin," exalting purity, "5) Le Tzu," exalting emptiness, "6) Tian Pian," exalting equality, "7) Yang Zhu," exalting selfishness, "8) Sun Bin," exalting strength ”, 9) Wang Liao,“ exalting precedence ”, 10) Er Liang,“ exalting following ”. In this set, in addition to Confucianism, Moism and various varieties of Taoism, the last three positions reflect the "military school" corresponding to the text Yi wen zhi.

In the final 21st chapter summarizing the content of the treatise Huainan Tzu the idea of ​​the socio-historical conditionality of the emergence of philosophical schools, described in the following order: 1) Confucianism; 2) moism; 3) the teachings of Kuan-tzu (4th – 3rd centuries BC), which combines Taoism with legalism; 4) the doctrine of Yan-tzu, apparently set forth in Yan-tzu chun qiu (Spring and Autumn of Master Yan) and combining Confucianism with Taoism; 5) the doctrine of "vertical and horizontal [political alliances]"; 6) the doctrine of "punishments and names" (xing ming) Shen Buhai; 7) the doctrine of the laws of the legist Shang Yang (4th century BC); 8) their own teachings imbued with Taoism Huainan Tzu... At the beginning of this chapter, the teachings of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu are highlighted, and in the 2nd chapter - Yang Zhu (along with the teachings of Mo Di, Shen Buhai and Shang Yang repeated in the classification quartet), which in general forms a ten-term set, correlating with classification Yi wen zhi, especially with the specific labeling of the "school of vertical and horizontal [political alliances]" and the general linking of the genesis of philosophical schools to historical realities.

Created during the formation of the centralized Han empire, whose name became the ethnonym of the Chinese people themselves, who call themselves "Han", the theory of Liu Xin - Ban Gu has acquired the status of classical in traditional science. Later, throughout the history of China, its development continued, a special contribution to which was made by Zhang Xuecheng (1738-1801) and Zhang Binglin (1896-1936).

In the Chinese philosophy of the 20th century. it was strongly criticized by Hu Shi, but supported and developed by Feng Yulan (1895-1990), who concluded that the six main schools were created by representatives not only of different professions, but also of different personality types and lifestyles. Confucianism was formed by intellectual scientists, Moism - by knights, i.e. wandering warriors and artisans, Taoism - hermits and hermits, "school of names" - rhetoricians-polemicists, "school of dark and light [world-forming principles]" - occultists and numerologists, legism - politicians and advisers to rulers.

Although after the creation of the Liu Xin-Ban Gu classification, schemes with even more elements arose, in particular in the official history of the Sui dynasty (581-618) Sui shu (Book [about dynasty] Sui, 7th century), fourteen schools of thought are listed, and six of them, identified already in Shi ji and are now recognized as such by the majority of specialists.

In this set, Taoism is comparable to Confucianism in terms of the duration of existence and the degree of development. The term “Tao” (“way”), which defined its name, is as wider than the specificity of Taoism, as the term “Zhu” is wider than the specificity of Confucianism. Moreover, despite the maximum mutual antinomy of these ideological currents, both early Confucianism and then neo-Confucianism could be called “Tao teachings” (Tao Jiao, Dao Shu, Dao Xue), and the adherents of Taoism could be included in the zhu category. Accordingly, the term "Tao adept" (Tao Ren, Dao Shi) was applied not only to Taoists, but also to Confucians, as well as to Buddhists and magicians-alchemists.

The last circumstance is connected with the most serious problem of the relationship between the philosophical-theoretical and religious-practical hypostases of Taoism. According to the traditional Confucian version, in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. prevailing in the West, these are diverse and heterogeneous phenomena, which correspond to various designations: philosophy - "school of Tao" (Tao Jia), religion - "teaching (veneration) of Tao" (Tao Jiao). In the historical aspect, this approach assumes that initially in the 6th and 5th centuries. BC. Taoism emerged as a philosophy, and then by the 1st or 2nd centuries, or as a result of the patronizing influence of imperial power in the late 3rd - early 2nd centuries. BC, or in imitation of Buddhism, which began to penetrate into China, radically transformed into religion and mysticism, retaining with its original form only a nominal community.

In essence, this model is similar to the traditional concept of the development of Confucianism, which arose in the 6th and 5th centuries. BC. as philosophy, and by 1–2 centuries. AD transformed into an official religious and philosophical doctrine, which some Sinologists propose to consider as an independent ideological system (“Sinist” or “imperial”) different from the original Confucianism. A broader than Confucianism proper, the ideological basis of this system was formed by pre-Confucian religious beliefs and worldviews, which Confucianism included in its own concepts.

In Western Sinology of the second half of the 20th century. the theory prevailed, according to which Taoist philosophy similarly arose on the basis of the proto-Taoist religious and magical culture of the shaman type, localized in the south of China, in the so-called "barbarian kingdoms" (primarily Chu), which were not part of the circle of the Middle States, which were considered the cradle of Chinese civilization (hence the idea of ​​China as a Middle Empire). In accordance with this theory, pioneered by the French sinologist A. Maspero (1883-1945), Taoism is a single teaching and its philosophical hypostasis, expressed primarily in the classical triad of texts Tao Te Ching (Canon of Way and Grace), Chang Tzu ([Treatise] Zhuang's teachers), Le Tzu ([Treatise] Teachers Le), was a theorizing reaction to contact with the rationalistic Confucian culture, localized in the North, in the Middle States.

The radical difference between Taoist mystical-individualistic naturalism and the ethical-rationalistic sociocentrism of all the other leading worldview systems in China during the formation and flourishing of the "hundred schools" prompts some experts to strengthen the thesis about the peripheral origin of Taoism to the assertion of foreign (primarily Indo-Iranian) influence, in according to which his Tao turns out to be a kind of analogue of Brahman and even Logos. This view is radically opposed by the point of view according to which Taoism is the expression of the Chinese spirit itself, since it is the most developed form of the national religion. This point of view is shared by the leading Russian researcher of Taoism E.A. Torchinov, who divides the history of its formation into the following stages.

1) From ancient times to the 4th – 3rd centuries. BC. the formation of religious practice and worldview models based on archaic shamanistic beliefs took place. 2) From the 4th to 3rd centuries. BC. to the 2nd - 1st centuries. BC. two parallel processes took place: on the one hand, the Taoist worldview acquired a philosophical character and written fixation, on the other hand, latent and esoteric methods of "gaining immortality" and psycho-physiological meditation of the yogic type, implicitly and fragmentarily reflected in classical texts, developed. 3) From 1 century. BC. 5 c. AD there was a convergence and merger of theoretical and practical divisions with the inclusion of the achievements of other philosophical directions (primarily numerology Zhou and, legalism and partly Confucianism), which was expressed in the acquisition by implicit material of an explicit form and written fixation of a single Taoist worldview, the previously hidden components of which began to look like fundamental innovations. 4) In the same period, the institutionalization of Taoism took place in the form of religious organizations of both "orthodox" and "heretical" directions, and also a canonical collection of its literature began to take shape Tao Zang (Treasure of Tao). The further development of Taoism proceeded mainly in the religious aspect, in which Buddhism, as its main "competitor", played a great stimulating role.

The original Taoism, represented by the teachings of Lao Dan, or Lao Tzu (traditional dating of life: c. 580 - c. 500 BC, modern: V-IV centuries BC), Chuang Zhou, or Chuang- tzu (399–328 - 295–275 BC), Le Yu-kou, or Le-tzu (c. 430 - c. 349 BC), and Yang Zhu (440–414 - 380– 360 BC) and reflected in the works named after them: Lao Tzu(or Tao Te Ching), Chuang Tzu, Le Tzu, Yang Zhu(chap. 7 Le Tzu), as well as Taoist sections of encyclopedic treatises Guan-tzu, Lü-shih chun qiu and Huainan Tzu, created the most profound and original ontology in ancient Chinese philosophy.

Its essence was consolidated in the new content of the paired categories "Tao" and "Te 1", which formed one of the first names of Taoism as "schools of Tao and Te" (Tao Te Jia) and to which the main Taoist treatise is dedicated Tao Te Ching... In it, Tao is presented in two main hypostases: 1) lonely, separated from everything, constant, inactive, resting, inaccessible to perception and verbal-conceptual expression, nameless, giving rise to "absence / nonexistence" (y, cm... Yu - U), giving rise to Heaven and Earth, 2) all-embracing, all-pervading, like water; changing with the world, acting, accessible to "passage", perception and knowledge, expressed in "name / concept" (min), sign and symbol, generating "presence / being" (u, cm... Yu - U), which is the ancestor of the "darkness of things".

In addition, the just - "heavenly" and vicious - "human" Tao are opposed to each other, and the possibility of deviations from Tao and its general absence in the Celestial Empire is also recognized. As a "beginning", "mother", "ancestor", "root", "rhizomes" (shi 10, mu, zong, gen, di 3), Tao genetically precedes everything in the world, including the "lord" (di 1 ), is described as an undifferentiated unity, "mysterious identity" (xuan tong), containing all things and symbols (xiang 1) in the state of "pneuma" (qi 1) and semen (jing 3), i.e. “Thing”, which manifests itself in the form of a lightless (objectless) and formless symbol, which in this aspect is empty-all-embracing and equal to the all-pervading “absence / nonexistence”. At the same time, “absence / nonexistence” and, therefore, Tao is interpreted as an active manifestation (“function - jun 2, cm... TI - YUN) "presence / being". The genetic superiority of “absence / non-being” over “presence / being” is removed in the thesis about their mutual generation. So the Tao in Tao te jing represents the genetic and organizing function of the unity of “presence / being” and “absence / non-being”, subject and object. The main regularity of Tao is reverse, return (fan, fu, gui), i.e. movement in a circle (zhou xing), characteristic of the sky, which was traditionally thought of as round. As following only to its nature (tzu jan), Tao opposes the dangerous artificiality of "tools" (qi 2) and the harmful supernaturalness of spirits, determining at the same time the possibility of both.

"Grace" is defined in Tao te jing as the first stage of degradation of Tao, at which “things” born by Tao are formed and then move downward: “After the loss of the Way (Tao), grace (de) follows. The loss of grace is followed by humanity. The loss of humanity is followed by due justice. Decency follows the loss of due justice. Decency [means] the weakening of loyalty and trustworthiness, as well as the beginning of turmoil ”(§ 38). The fullness of "grace", the nature of which is "mysterious" (xuan), makes a person similar to a newborn baby who, "not yet knowing the intercourse of a female and a male, raises the fertile oud", demonstrating the "limit of the spermatic essence", or "the perfection of the seed spirit ( jing 3) ”(§ 55).

With such a naturalization of ethics, "the grace of good" (de shan) presupposes the same acceptance of both good and bad as good (§ 49), which is opposite to the principle of retribution put forward by Confucius "good for good" and "straightforwardness for offense" ( Lunyu, XIV, 34/36). This implies the opposite to the Confucian understanding of the whole “culture” (wen): “Suppression of perfect wisdom and detachment from rationality / cunning (zhi) [means] the people gaining a hundredfold benefit. Suppression of humanity and detachment from due justice [means] the return of the people to filial piety and love of children. Suppression of skillfulness and detachment from profit [means] the disappearance of robbery and theft. These three [phenomena] are not enough for culture. Therefore, you still need to have a detectable simplicity and hidden primordiality, small private interests and rare desires "( Tao Te Ching, § nineteen).

IN Chuang Tzu the tendency towards convergence of Tao with “absence / non-being” is intensified, the highest form of which is “absence [even traces of] absence” (y). The consequence of this was diverging from Tao Te Ching and the thesis that then became popular, according to which Tao, not being a thing among things, makes things things. IN Chuang Tzu reinforced ideas about the unknowability of Tao: "Completion, at which one does not know why so, is called Tao." At the same time, the omnipresence of Tao, which not only "passes (sin 3) through the darkness of things", forms space and time (yu zhou), but is also present in robbery and even in feces and urine, is emphasized as much as possible. Hierarchically, Tao is placed above the "Great Limit" (Tai Chi), but already in Lü-shih chun qiu it is like the "ultimate seed" (zhi jing, cm... JING-SEED) is identified with both the “Great Limit” and the “Great One” (tai and). IN Guan Tzu Tao is interpreted as the natural state of the "seed", "subtlest", "essential", "spirit-like" (jing 3, ling) pneuma (qi 1), which is not differentiated by either "bodily forms" (sin 2) or "names / concepts "(min 2), and therefore" void-non-being "(xuy wu). IN Huainan Tzu“Absence / non-being” is presented as the “corporeal essence” of Tao and the active manifestation of the darkness of things. Tao, which is revealed in the form of "Chaos", "Formless", "One", is defined here as "pulling together space and time" and non-localized between them.

The basic principles of the first Taoist thinkers are "naturalness" (tzu jan) and "non-action" (wu wei), which signify the rejection of deliberate, artificial, transforming the nature of activity and the desire to spontaneously follow natural nature up to complete merging with it in the form of self-identification with dominating in the world without a premise and purposeless Path-Tao: “Heaven and earth are long-lasting and durable due to the fact that they do not live by themselves, and therefore are able to live for a long time. On this basis, a perfectly wise person puts back his personality, and he takes precedence; throws away his personality, but he himself remains "( Tao Te Ching, § 7). Revealed with this approach, the relativity of all human values, which determines the relativistic "equality" of good and evil, life and death, ultimately led logically to an apology for cultural entropy and quietism: “A real man of antiquity knew neither love for life nor hatred for death. .. he did not resort to reason to resist Tao, he did not resort to human reason to help the heavenly "( Chuang Tzu, ch. 6).

However, at the turn of the new era, the preceding highly developed philosophy of Taoism appeared to be united with newborns or emerging from underworld religious, occult and magical teachings aimed at maximizing, supernaturally increasing the vital forces of the body and achieving longevity or even immortality (chang sheng wu sy). The theoretical axiom of primordial Taoism - the equivalence of life and death with the ontological primacy of meonic nonexistence over existing being - at this stage of its development was replaced by a soteriological recognition of the highest value of life and an orientation towards various types of appropriate practice, from dietetics and gymnastics to psychotechnics and alchemy. In this philosophical and religious form, the entire further evolution of Taoism took place, impregnating science and art in medieval China and neighboring countries with its influence.

One of the ideological bridges from the initial Taoism to its subsequent hypostasis was laid by Yang Zhu, who emphasized the importance of individual life: “What makes all things different is life; what makes them the same is death "( Le Tzu, ch. 7). The designation of his concept of autonomous existence - "for oneself", or "for the sake of one's self" (wei woo), according to which "one's own body is undoubtedly the main thing in life" and for the benefit of the Celestial Empire there is no point in "losing even a single hair", has become synonymous with selfishness , which the Confucians opposed to the disordered, violating ethical-ritual decency of the altruism of Mo Dee and equally denied.

According to Feng Yulan, Yang Zhu personifies the first stage in the development of early Taoism, i.e. an apology for self-preserving escapism, which goes back to the practice of hermits who left the harmful world in the name of "preserving their purity." The sign of the second stage was the main part Tao Te Ching, in which an attempt is made to comprehend the invariable laws of universal changes in the Universe. In the main piece of the third stage - Chuang Tzu the idea of ​​the relational equivalence of the changing and unchanging, life and death, I and not-I, was consolidated even further, which logically led Taoism to the self-exhaustion of the philosophical approach and the stimulation of a religious attitude, which was supported by contradictory-complementary relations with Buddhism.

The Taoist-oriented development of philosophical thought proper had another historical rise in the 3-4 centuries, when the “doctrine of the mysterious” (Xuan Xue), sometimes called “neo-Daoism”, was formed. This trend, however, was a kind of synthesis of Taoism and Confucianism. One of its founders, He Yan (190–249), suggested, "relying on Lao [-zi], to penetrate into Confucianism." The specificity of the doctrine was determined by the development of ontological problems that stood out from the traditional Chinese philosophy of immersion in cosmology on the one hand and anthropology on the other, which sometimes qualifies as a departure into "metaphysics and mysticism", and binom "xuan xue" is understood as "mysterious teaching." This was done mainly in the form of commentaries on the Confucian and Taoist classics: Zhou and, Lunyu, Tao te jing, Chuang Tzu, which later became classics themselves. Treatises Zhou and, Tao te jing and Chuang Tzu in this era were called "The Three Mysterious" (San Xuan).

The category "xuan" ("mystery, mysterious, secret, incomprehensible"), which gave its name to the "doctrine of the mysterious", goes back to the first paragraph Tao Te Ching, in which it means supernatural "unity" (tun) "absence / non-being" (y) and "presence / being" (u, cm... Yu - U). In the oldest medical treatise associated with Taoism Huang di nei jing (The Yellow Emperor's Canon of Inner, 3rd – 1st centuries. BC), the processuality included in the concept of "xuan" is emphasized: "Changes and transformations are an active manifestation (yun, cm... TI - YUN). In the [sphere] of the heavenly it is the mysterious (xuan), in the [sphere] of the human it is Tao, in the [sphere of] the earthly it is transformation (hua). The transformation gives rise to five tastes, Tao gives rise to intelligence (zhi), the mysterious gives birth to spirit (shen). " Yang Xiong (53 BC - 18 AD), who dedicated his main work to it, brought the category of "xuan" to the center of the philosophical proscenium. Tai xuan jing (Canon of the Great Mystery), which is an alternative continuation Zhou and, i.e. the universal theory of world processes, and treats Tao, "empty in form and determining the way (Tao) of things", as the hypostasis of "mystery", understood as "the limit of active manifestation" (yun zhi zhi).

As the history of the Xuan category shows, the “mystery” of the global interaction of things, signified by it, is concretized in the dialectics of “presence / being” and “absence / non-being”, “bodily essence” (ti) and “active manifestation” (yun). It was these conceptual antinomies that were in the center of attention of the "teaching about the mysterious", in which, in turn, an internal polarization occurred due to the controversy of the "theory of exaltation of absence / non-being" (gui wu lun) and the "theory of reverence for presence / being" (chun yu lun ).

He Yan and Wang Bi (226–249), based on the definitions of Tao and the thesis "presence / being is born from absence / non-being" in Tao te jing(§ 40), carried out a direct identification of Tao with “absence / non-being”, interpreted as “one” (i, gua 2), “central” (zhong), “ultimate” (tszi) and “dominant” (zhu, zong) “Primordial essence” (ben ti), in which “corporeal essence” and its “active manifestation” coincide with each other.

Developing the thesis Tao Te Ching(§ 11) about “absence / non-being” as the basis of “active manifestation”, i.e. Of "use" of any subject, the largest representative of the "doctrine of the mysterious" Wang Bi recognized the possibility for absence / nonexistence to act not only as a youth, but also as a ty, thus in a commentary to § 38 Tao Te Ching he was the first to introduce into philosophical circulation the direct categorical opposition "ti - yun". His follower Han Kanbo (332-380) in a commentary to Zhou and completed this conceptual construction of two pairs of correlative categories to the end by correlating presence / being with youth.

On the contrary, the main theoretical opponent of Wang Bi - Pei Wei (267-300), in the treatise Chun yu lun (On honoring presence / being) who asserted the ontological primacy of presence / being over absence / non-being, insisted that it is the first that represents ti and that everything in the world arises due to “self-generation” (tzu sheng) from this bodily essence.

Xiang Xu (227-300) and Guo Xiang (252-312) took a compromise position of recognizing the identity of Tao with absence / non-being, but denying the original generation from the last presence / being, which eliminated the possibility of a creation-deistic interpretation of Tao. According to Guo Xiang, the actually existing presence / being is a naturally and spontaneously harmonized set of "self-sufficient" (tzu de) things (u 1), which, having "their own nature" (zi xing, cm... SIN), "self-generated" and "self-transformed" (du hua).

Depending on the recognition of the all-pervading power of absence / non-being or the interpretation of the generation of presence / being only as the self-generation of things, "perfect wisdom" was reduced to the embodiment in its bearer (preferably the sovereign) of absence / non-being as its bodily essence (ty y) or to the "undeveloped" (wu wei), i.e. unintentional and "unintentional" (wu xin), that is, non-attitudinal, following things in accordance with their "natural" (tzu jan) self-movement.

The "doctrine of the mysterious", which developed in aristocratic circles, was associated with the dialogical tradition of speculative speculation - "pure conversations" (qing tan) and the aestheticized cultural style of "wind and stream" (feng lu), which had a significant impact on poetry and painting.

In the field of philosophy, the "doctrine of the mysterious" played the role of a conceptual and terminological bridge through which Buddhism penetrated into the depths of traditional Chinese culture. This interaction led to the decline of the "teaching of the mysterious" and the flourishing of Buddhism, which could also be called "xuan xue". Later, the "teaching about the mysterious" had a significant impact on neo-Confucianism.

Moism

was one of the first theoretical reactions to Confucianism in ancient Chinese philosophy. The creator and only major representative of the school named after him is Mo Di, or Mo Tzu (490-468 - 403-376 BC), according to Huainan Tzu, was originally a supporter of Confucianism, and then came out with its sharp criticism. Moism is distinguished from other philosophical currents of ancient China by two specific features: theologization and organizational form, which, together with an increased interest in logical and methodological problems, painted it in scholastic tones. This peculiar sect of people from the lower strata of society, primarily artisans and freelance warriors-daredevils ("knights" - Xia), was very reminiscent of the Pythagorean union and was headed by a "great teacher" (tszyu tzu), who, according to Chuang Tzu(ch. 33), was considered "perfectly wise" (sheng) and whom Guo Moruo (1892-1978) compared with the Pope. The following succession of the holders of this post is reconstructed: Mo Di - Qin Guli (Huali) - Meng Sheng (Xu Fan) - Tian Xian-tzu (Tian Tszi) - Fu Dun. Then at the end of the 4th century. BC, apparently, there was a disintegration of a single organization into two or three branches of "seceded moists" (be mo), headed by Xiangli Qin, Xiangfu (Bofu), Denglin. After the theoretical and practical defeat of Moism in the second half of the 3rd century. BC, due to his own disintegration and anti-humanitarian repression during the Qin dynasty (221–207 BC), as well as Confucian prohibitions in the Han era (206 BC - 220 AD), he continued exist only as a spiritual heritage, collectively developed by several generations of its representatives, wholly attributed to the head of the school and enshrined in a deep and extensive, but poorly preserved treatise Mo-tzu.

The teachings of Mo-tzu himself are set out in ten initial chapters, the titles of which reflect his fundamental ideas: "Honoring the Worthy" ( Shang xian), "Honoring Unity" ( Shang Tong), "Uniting love" ( Jian ah), "Denial of attacks" ( Fei gong), "Consumption reduction" ( Jie Yong), "Reduction of burial [expenses]" ( Jie zang), "The Will of Heaven", ( Tian Zhi), "Spiritual vision" ( Ming gui), "Denial of Music" ( Fei Yue), "Denial of predestination" ( Fei min). All of them are divided into three parts similar to each other, which was a consequence of what was noted in Ch. 33 Chuang Tzu and ch. fifty Han Fei-tzu division of moists into three directions, each of which left its own version of the presentation of general provisions. In the middle of the treatise are the chapters "Canon" ( Jing), "Explanation of the Canon" ( Jing sho), each in two parts; "Big choice" ( Yes qu) and "Small choice" ( Xiao Qu), which together are called the "Moist Canon" ( Mo jing), or "Moist dialectics » (Mo bian), and represent a formalized and terminologized text demonstrating the highest achievements of ancient Chinese protological methodology, obtained by the 3rd century. BC. in the circles of the later Moists or, according to the hypothesis of Hu Shi, followers of the "school of names." Contents of this section Mo-tzu, covering primarily epistemological, logical-grammatical, mathematical and natural-science problems, due to its complexity and specific (intensional) form of presentation, it has become obscure even for the immediate descendants. The final chapters of the treatise, later in time of writing, are devoted to more specific issues of the defense of cities, fortification and the construction of defensive weapons.

The main pathos of the social and ethical core of Moist philosophy is ascetic love of the people, which presupposes the unconditional primacy of the collective over the individual and the struggle against private egoism in the name of social altruism. The interests of the people are mainly reduced to the satisfaction of elementary material needs that determine their behavior: "In a harvest year, people are humane and kind, in a lean year, they are inhumane and evil" ( Mo-tzu, ch. five). From this point of view, traditional forms of ethical-ritual decency (li 2) and music are seen as manifestations of waste. Strictly hierarchical Confucian humanity (ren), which the Moists called “dividing love” (be ai), aimed only at their loved ones, they opposed the principle of all-encompassing, mutual and equal “uniting love” (jian ai), and due justice (s) over benefit / benefit (li 3), - the principle of "mutual benefit / benefit" (xiang li).

The Moists considered the deified Heaven (tian) to be the highest guarantor and accurate (like a compass and a square for a circle and square) criterion for the validity of this position, which brings happiness to those who experience unifying love for people and brings them benefit / benefit. Acting as a universal "model / law" (fa), "blessed" (de) and "disinterested" (wu sy) Heaven, from their point of view, having neither personal nor anthropomorphic attributes, nevertheless has a will (zhi 3), thoughts (and 3), desires (yui) and equally loves all living things: "Heaven desires the life of the Celestial Empire and hates her death, desires her stay in wealth and hates her poverty, wants her to be in order and hates the turmoil in her" ( Mo-tzu, ch. 26). One of the sources that make it possible to judge the will of Heaven was recognized as intermediaries between it and the people "Navi and Spirits" (gui Shen), the existence of which is evidenced by historical sources reporting that with their help "in ancient times, perfectly wise rulers put things in order in the Celestial Empire." as well as the ears and eyes of many contemporaries.

In late Moism, which reoriented from theistic arguments to logical ones, the comprehensiveness of love was proved by the thesis "To love people does not mean to exclude oneself", which presupposes the entry of the subject ("oneself") into the number of "people," and the contradictory opposition between the apology of benefit / benefit and the recognition of due justice "Desirable to Heaven" and being "the most valuable in the Celestial Empire" was removed with a direct definition: "due justice is a benefit / benefit."

Struggling with the assimilated Confucianism, the ancient belief in "heavenly predestination" (tian min, cm... MIN-PRESENTATION), the Moists argued that there is no fatal predestination (min) in the fate of people, therefore a person should be active and active, and the ruler should be attentive to the merits and talents that should be honored and promoted regardless of social belonging. The result of the correct interaction between the top and bottom on the basis of the principle of equal opportunities, according to Mo-tzu, should be a universal "unity" (tun), i.e. overcame animal chaos and primitive troubles of universal mutual enmity, centrally controlled, like a machine, a structural whole that is made up of the Celestial Empire, the people, rulers, the sovereign and Heaven itself. This idea, according to some experts (Tsai Chance, Hou Weilu), gave rise to the famous social utopia of Great Unity (da tun), described in Ch. nine Li Yun("Circulation of Decency") Confucian Treatise Li ji... In connection with the special attention from the representatives of the “school of names” to the category “tun” in the meaning of “identity / similarity”, the later Moists subjected it to a special analysis and identified four main varieties: “Two names (min 2) of one reality (shi) - [ it is] tun [like] repetition (chun). Non-separation from the whole is [this] tun [like] one-corporeality (ty, cm... TI - YUN). Being in a room together is [this] tun [like] a coincidence (he 3). The presence of a basis for unity (tun) is [this] tun [as] kinship (lei) "( Jing sho, part 1., ch. 42). The most important conclusion from the Moist ideal of universal "unity" was the call for anti-militarist and peacekeeping activities, which was supported by the theory of fortification and defense. To defend and promote their views, the Moists developed a special technique of persuasion, which led to the creation of an original eristic-semantic protology, which became their main contribution to Chinese spiritual culture.

Up to 18-19 centuries. treatise Mo-tzu occupied a marginal position in traditional Chinese culture, a specific manifestation of which was its inclusion in the 15th century. to the canonical Taoist library Tao Zang (Treasure of Tao), although already in Mencius the opposition of Moism and Taoism (represented by Yang Zhu) was noted. Increased interest in Moism, which arose in the late 19th - early 20th century. and supported by such prominent thinkers and public figures as Tan Sytong (1865-1898), Sun Yatsen (1866-1925), Liang Qichao (1873-1923), Lu Xin (1881-1936), Hu Shi and others, - firstly, the general tendency to see in him the ancient proclamation of utilitarianism, socialism, communism, Marxism and even Christianity, which then turned into his denunciation of Guo Moruo as a totalitarianism of the fascist type, and secondly, stimulated by the clash with the West by the intensification of the search for Chinese analogues of Western scientific methodology.

Legism,

or "school of law", is formed in the 4th-3rd centuries. BC. theoretical substantiation of the totalitarian-despotic government of the state and society, which was the first in Chinese theory to achieve the status of a single official ideology in the first centralized Qin empire (221–207 BC). The Legist doctrine is expressed in authentic treatises of the 4th and 3rd centuries. BC. Guan Tzu ([Treatise] Guan Teachers [Zhong]), Shang Jun Shu (Ruler's book [areas] Shang [Gongsun Yang]), Shen Tzu ([Treatise] Master Shen [Plump]), Han Fei-tzu ([Treatise] Han Fei's teachers), as well as less significant due to doubts about the authenticity and substantive undifferentiation regarding the "school of names" and Taoism Deng Xi-tzu ([Treatise] Teacher Dan Xi) and Shen Tzu ([Treatise] Shen teachers [Tao]).

In the latent period of the 7th-5th centuries. BC. protolegistic principles were developed in practice. Guan Zhong (? - 645 BC), an adviser to the ruler of the Qi kingdom, apparently the first in the history of China to put forward the concept of governing the country based on the "law" (fa), which he defined as "the father and mother of the people" ( Guan Tzu, ch. 16), which was previously used only as a definition of the sovereign. Guan Zhong's law opposed not only the ruler, over whom he must rise and whom he must restrict in order to protect the people from his unbridledness, but also wisdom and knowledge that distract people from their duties. To counteract vicious tendencies, Guan Zhong, also, apparently, the first, suggested using punishment as the main method of management: "when they are afraid of punishment, it is easy to manage" ( Guan Tzu, ch. 48).

This line was continued by Zi Chan (c. 580 - c. 522 BC), the first adviser to the ruler of the Zheng kingdom, according to Zuo Zhuang(Zhao-gun, 18 y., 6 y.), Who believed that "the path (Tao) of Heaven is far, but the path of man is close and does not reach him." He broke the tradition of "judgment by conscience" and for the first time in China in 536 BC. codified criminal laws, ebb in metal (apparently, on vessels-tripods) "code of punishments" (xing shu).

His contemporary and also a dignitary of the Zheng kingdom, Deng Xi (c. 545 - c. 501 BC) developed and democratized this initiative by publishing the "bamboo [code of] punishment" (zhu xing). According to Deng Xi-tzu, he expounded the doctrine of state power as the one-time implementation by the ruler through the "laws" (fa) of the correct correspondence between "names" (min 2) and "realities" (shi). The ruler must master a special "technique" (shu 2) management, which assumes the ability to "see through the eyes of the Celestial Empire", "listen with the ears of the Celestial Empire", "reason with the mind of the Celestial Empire." Like Heaven (tian), it cannot be “generous” (hou) to people: Heaven allows natural disasters, the ruler does not do without the use of punishments. He should be “serene” (tsi 4) and “closed in himself” (“hidden” - tsang), but at the same time “majestic and imperious” (wei 2) and “enlightened” (min 3) with respect to the lawful correspondence of “names” and "Reality".

In the period from the 4th to the first half of the 3rd century. BC. on the basis of individual ideas formulated by predecessors, practitioners of public administration, and under the influence of certain provisions of Taoism, Moism and the "school of names", legism was added to an integral independent doctrine, which became the sharpest opposition to Confucianism. Legism opposed humanism, love for the people, pacifism and ethical-ritual traditionalism of the latter to despotism, reverence for power, militarism and legalistic innovation. From Taoism, the Legists drew the idea of ​​the world process as a natural Way-Tao, in which nature is more important than culture, from Moism - a utilitarian approach to human values, the principle of equal opportunities and deification of power, and from the "school of names" - the desire for the correct balance of "names" and "reality".

These general attitudes were concretized in the work of the classics of legalism Shen Dao (c. 395 - c. 315 BC), Shen Buhai (c. 385 - c. 337 BC), Shang (Gongsun) Yang (390 –338 BC) and Han Fei (c. 280 - c. 233 BC).

Shen Tao, originally close to Taoism, later began to preach "respect for the law" (shang fa) and "respect for power in power" (zhong shi), since "the people are united by the ruler, and affairs are decided by the law." The name Shen Tao is associated with the advancement of the category "shi" ("power of power"), which combines the concepts of "power" and "strength" and gives meaningful content to the formal "law". According to Shen Tao, "it is not enough to be worthy to subdue the people, but it is enough to have powerful power to subdue the worthy."

Another important Legist category of "shu" - "technique / art [of government]", which defines the relationship between "law / pattern" and "power / force", was developed by the first adviser to the ruler of the Han kingdom, Shen Buhai. Following in the footsteps of Deng Xi, he introduced into legalism not only the ideas of Taoism, but also the "school of names", reflected in his teaching on "punishments / forms and names" (xing ming), according to which "realities must correspond to names" (xun ming tse shi). Focusing on the problems of the administrative apparatus, Shen Tao called for "raising the sovereign and belittling officials" in such a way that they would have to bear all the performing duties, and he, demonstrating "non-action" (wu wei) to the Celestial Empire, secretly exercised control and powers.

Legist ideology reached its apogee in the theory and practice of the ruler of the Shang region in the Qin kingdom, Gongsun Yang, who is considered the author of the masterpiece of Machiavellianism. Shang Jun Shu... Perceiving the Moist idea of ​​the machine-like structure of the state, Shang Yan, however, came to the opposite conclusion that it must win and, as Lao Tzu advised, make the people stupid, and not benefit them, for “when the people are stupid, it is easy for them to rule ”With the help of the law (Ch. 26). The laws themselves are by no means inspired and subject to change, since “the clever makes laws, and the fool obeys them, the worthy changes the rules of decency, and the worthless is restrained by them” (Ch. 1). “When the people overcome the law, confusion reigns in the country; when the law conquers the people, the army grows stronger ”(Ch. 5), therefore the authorities should be stronger than their people and take care of the might of the army. The people, however, must be encouraged to engage in a two-pronged, most important matter - agriculture and war, thereby relieving them of innumerable desires.

Managing people should be based on an understanding of their vicious, selfish nature, the criminal manifestations of which are subject to severe punishment. "Punishment gives rise to strength, strength gives rise to power, power gives rise to greatness, greatness (wei 2) gives birth to grace / virtue (de)" (Ch. 5), therefore “in an exemplary government, there are many punishments and few rewards” (Chapter 7). On the contrary, eloquence and intelligence, decency and music, mercy and humanity, appointment and promotion only lead to vices and disorder. The most important means of combating these "poisonous" phenomena of "culture" (wen) is war, which inevitably presupposes iron discipline and general unification.

Han Fei completed the formation of legalism by synthesizing Shang Yang's system with the concepts of Shen Dao and Shen Buhai, as well as introducing into it some general theoretical provisions of Confucianism and Taoism. He developed the outlined Xun-tzu and the most important for subsequent philosophical systems (especially neo-Confucian) connection of the concepts of "Tao" and "principle" (li 1): "Tao is what makes the darkness of things such that determines the darkness of principles. Principles are signs that form things (wen). Tao is what forms the darkness of things. " Following the Taoists, Han Fei recognized for Tao not only a universal formative (cheng 2), but also a universal generative and revitalizing (sheng 2) function. Unlike Song Jian and Yin Wen, he believed that Tao could be represented in "symbolic" (xiang 1) "form" (xing 2). Grace incarnating Tao (de) in a person is strengthened by inaction and lack of desires, for sensory contacts with external objects waste "spirit" (shen) and "seed essence" (jing 3). Hence it follows that in politics it is useful to adhere to calm secrecy. One must indulge in one's nature and one's predestination, and not teach people humanity and proper justice, which are as indescribable as intelligence and longevity.

The next extremely short historical period in the development of legalism became historically the most significant for him. Back in the 4th century. BC. it was adopted by the Qin state, and after the conquest of neighboring states by the Qin people and the emergence of the first centralized empire in China, it acquired the status of the first all-Chinese official ideology, thus surpassing Confucianism, which had great rights to do so. However, the illegal celebration did not last long. The Qin empire, which existed for only a decade and a half, but left an unkind memory of itself for centuries, struck by utopian gigantomania, cruel servility and rationalized obscurantism, the Qin empire at the end of the 3rd century. BC. collapsed, burying the formidable glory of legism under its rubble.

Confucianism, by the middle of the 2nd century. BC. achieved revenge in the officially orthodox field, effectively taking into account the previous experience through the skillful assimilation of a number of pragmatically effective principles of the Legist doctrine of society and the state. Morally ennobled by Confucianism, these principles were implemented in the official theory and practice of the Middle Empire until the beginning of the 20th century.

Even in spite of the persistent Confucian idiosyncrasy of legism in the Middle Ages, the prominent statesman, reformer chancellor and Confucian philosopher Wang Anshi (1021-1086) included in his socio-political program legist provisions on reliance on laws, especially punitive ones (“severe punishments for minor misdemeanors "), on the encouragement of military valor (in 2), on the mutual responsibility of officials, on the refusal to recognize the absolute priority of" antiquity "(gu) over modernity.

In the late 19th - early 20th century. legalism attracted the attention of reformers, who saw in it a theoretical justification for limiting the imperial omnipotence by law, consecrated by official Confucianism.

After the fall of the empire, in the 1920s – 1940s, the “statists” (guojiazhui pai) and, in particular, their ideologist Chen Qitian (1893–1975), who advocated the creation of “neolegism”, began to promote the legist apologetics of statehood. The theorists of the Kuomintang, headed by Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975), adhered to similar views, who declared the legist nature of state planning of the economy and the policy of “people's welfare”.

In the PRC, during the campaign of "criticism of Lin Biao and Confucius" (1973-1976), the Legists were officially declared progressive reformers who fought against conservative Confucians for the victory of nascent feudalism over obsolete slavery, and the ideological predecessors of Maoism.

School of names

and the related more general tradition of bian ("eristics", "dialectics", "sophistry") in the 5th – 3rd centuries. BC. accumulated in the teachings of its representatives protological and "semiotic" problems, which were partly touched upon in the Taoist theory of sign relativism and verbal inexpressibility of truth, in the Confucian concept of methodological constructions of legalism associated with judicial practice.

First of all, through the efforts of the philosophers of the "school of names", as well as the late Moists who experienced their influence and who combined Confucianism with the legalism of Xun-tzu, an original protological methodology was created in China, which was in the 5th and 3rd centuries. BC. a real alternative to the ultimately victorious numerology.

The leading representatives of the school were Hoi Shi (4th century BC) and Gongsun Long (4th - 3rd centuries BC), but from numerous writings of the first of them, which, according to Chuang Tzu, could fill five carts, now only a few sayings have survived, scattered across ancient Chinese monuments and collected mainly in the final 33rd chapter Chuang Tzu... According to these data, Hoi Shi appears to be the author of paradoxes designed to demonstrate the similarity (or even identity) of entities that differ in the name, due to which he is considered the ancestor of the trend that asserted the "coincidence of similar and different" (he tun yi). Based on this attitude, according to which "all the darkness of things are both similar and different", Hoi Shi introduced the concepts of "great one", which is "so great that it has nothing outside", and "small one", which is "so small that has nothing inside. " Following Zhang Binglian and Hu Shi, they are sometimes ontologically interpreted as representing space and time, respectively.

Unlike Hoi Shi, Gongsun Long's treatise bearing his name has survived to this day and, being mostly authentic, is the main source representing the ideas of the "school of names" hardness and whiteness ”(li jian bai) as fixed by different names of different qualities of a single thing. Gongsun Long, like Hoi Shi, and sometimes with him, is attributed to a number of paradoxical aphorisms. Some of them remind Zeno of Elea's aporias: “In the rapid [flight] of an arrow there is a moment of absence of both movement and stopping”; "If you take half a day from a stick [length] of one chi, it will not end even after 10,000 generations." According to Feng Yulan, Hoi Shi preached universal relativity and mutability, while Gongsun Long emphasized the absoluteness and permanence of the world. They were united by a method of argumentation based on language analysis. In its development, Gongsun Long went much further than Hoi Shi, trying to build a "logical-semantic" theory, syncretically combining logic and grammar and called upon "by straightening names (min 2) and realities (shi 2), to transform the Celestial Empire." As a pacifist and a proponent of "all-encompassing love" (jian ai), Gongsun Long developed the eristic aspect of his theory, calculating through evidence-based persuasion to prevent military conflicts.

The world, according to Gongsun Long, consists of separate "things" (3), which have independent heterogeneous qualities perceived by various senses and synthesized by the "spirit" (Shen 1). What makes a "thing" such is its existence as a concrete reality, which must be uniquely named. The ideal of unambiguous correspondence between "names" and "realities" proclaimed by Confucius gave rise to the famous thesis of Gongsun Long: "White horse is not a horse" (bai ma fei ma), expressing the difference between "names" "white horse" and "horse". According to the traditional interpretation, coming from Xun Tzu, this statement denies the relation of belonging. Modern researchers more often see in it: a) the denial of identity (the part is not equal to the whole) and, accordingly, the problem of the relationship between the individual and the general; b) the assertion of the non-identity of concepts based on the difference in their content; c) ignoring the volume of concepts when accentuating the content. Apparently, this thesis of Gongsun Lung testifies to the correlation of "names" not according to the degree of generality of concepts, but according to the quantitative parameters of denotations. Gongsun Long viewed signs in the same naturalistic way as the objects they represent, reflecting his aphorism "A rooster has three legs," which implies two physical legs and the word "leg."

In general terms, Gongsun Long solved the problem of reference with the help of the most original category in his system, "zhi 7" ("finger", nominative indication), interpreted by researchers in an extremely diverse way: "universal", "attribute", "sign", "definition", "Pronoun", "sign", "meaning". Gongsun Long revealed the meaning of "zhi 7" in paradoxical characteristics: the world as a whole set of things is subject to zhi 7, since any thing is accessible to nominative designation, but this cannot be said about the world as a single whole (Celestial Empire); defining things, zhi 7 are at the same time determined by them, for they do not exist without them; the nominative designation itself cannot be nominatively indicated, etc. The study of the treatise Gongsun Lung with the help of a modern logical apparatus reveals the most important features of the cognitive methodology of ancient Chinese philosophy.

Besides quotes and descriptions in Chuang-tzu, Le-tzu, Xun-tzu, Lui-shi chun qiu, Han Fei-tzu and other ancient Chinese monuments, the teaching of the "school of names" is reflected in two special treatises entitled by the names of its representatives Deng Xi-tzu and Yin Wen Tzu, which, however, raise doubts about their authenticity. Nevertheless, they somehow reflect the main ideas of the "school of names", although (in contrast to the original Gongsun Long Tzu), with a significant admixture of Taoism and legalism. So, using the simplest logical and grammatical techniques ("the art of statements" - yan zhi shu, "the doctrine of dual possibilities", ie dichotomous alternatives - liang ke sho), in the aphoristic and paradoxical Deng Xi-tzu expounds the doctrine of state power as a one-time implementation by the ruler through laws (fa 1) of the correct correspondence between "names" and "realities". With the help of the Taoist antinomy of the mutual generation of opposites, the treatise proves the possibility of supersensible perception, superintelligent knowledge (“not seeing with the eyes”, “hearing not with the ears”, “comprehending not with the mind”) and the realization of the omnipresent Tao through “non-action” (wu wei 1). The latter implies three superpersonal "arts" (shu 2) - "seeing through the eyes of the Celestial Empire", "listening with the ears of the Celestial Empire", "reasoning with the mind of the Celestial Empire" - which the ruler must possess. Like Heaven (tian), it cannot be “generous” (hou) to people: Heaven allows natural disasters, the ruler does not do without the use of punishments. He should be “serene” (tsi 4) and “closed in himself” (“hidden” - tsang), but at the same time “authoritative and autocratic” (wei 2) and “enlightened” (min 3) regarding the lawful correspondence of “names” and "Reality".

School of dark and light [world-forming principles] specialized in natural-philosophical-cosmological and occult-numerological ( cm... XIANG SHU ZHI XUE). The pair of fundamental categories of Chinese philosophy “yin yang”, included in its name, expresses the idea of ​​universal duality of the world and is concretized in an unlimited number of binary oppositions: dark - light, passive - active, soft - hard, internal - external, lower - upper, feminine - masculine, earthly - heavenly, etc. The time of origin and the composition of the representatives of this school, originally astronomers-astrologers and natives of the northeastern coastal kingdoms of Qi and Yan, have not been precisely established. Not a single detailed text of this school has survived, its ideas can only be judged by their fragmentary presentation in Shi ji, Zhou and, Lü-shi chun qiu and some other monuments. The central concepts of the "school of dark and light [world-forming principles]" - the universal dualism of the yin-yang forces and the cyclical nature of the interactions of the "five elements » , or phases (wu Xing 1) - wood, fire, soil, metal, water - formed the basis of all ontology, cosmology and, in general, the traditional spiritual culture and science of China (especially astronomy, medicine and occult arts).

Probably until the middle of the 1st millennium BC. yin yang and five elements concept » expressing various classification schemes - binary and quintuple, developed in separate occult traditions - "heavenly » (astronomical-astrological) and "earthly » (mantico-economic). The first tradition was primarily reflected in Zhou and, implicitly - in the canonical part I Ching and explicitly in the comments Yi zhuan also called Ten wings (Shi and). The most ancient and authoritative embodiment of the second tradition is the text Hong Fan, which is sometimes denied the standard dating of the 8th century. BC. and refer to the creativity of representatives of the "school of dark and light [world-forming principles]" and specifically Zou Yan (4–3 centuries BC). The specificity of both traditions and the monuments reflecting them is their reliance on "symbols and numbers" (xiang shu), i.e. universal spatial-numerical models of the world description.

In the second half of the 1st millennium BC, having acquired a philosophical status, these concepts merged into a single doctrine, which is traditionally considered the merit of the only currently known major representative of the "school of dark and light [world-forming principles]" - Zou Yan, although in the surviving generally recognized there is no clear evidence of the concept of yin-yang in the evidence of his views.

Zou Yan spread the concept of the "five elements » to the historical process, represented by the circular change of their headship as the "five graces » (u de, cm... DE), which greatly influenced the official historiography and, in general, the ideology of the new centralized empires of Qin and Han (3rd century BC - 3rd century AD). Among ancient Chinese thinkers, the numerological concept of the division of the Celestial Empire into 9 regions (tszyu zhou) in the form of a nine-cell square was generally accepted, which has been used since ancient times as a universal descriptive structure. Mencius in connection with the development of the utopian-numerological concept of "well fields" (jing tien), or "well lands" (jing di), which was based on the image of a plot of land (field) in the form of a nine-cell square with a side of 1 li ( more than 500 m), specified the size of the territory of the Chinese ("middle") states (Zhong go). According to him, it "consists of 9 squares, the side of each of which is 1000 li" ( Mencius, I A, 7). Zou Yan declared this nine-cell territory (Zhong Guo) to be the ninth part of one of the nine world continents and, accordingly, the entire Celestial Empire. When Mencius' numerical data is inserted into his scheme, a square with a side of 27,000 li is obtained.

This numerological ternary-decimal value (3 3 ґ10 3) was transformed into a formula for the size of the Earth "within four seas: from east to west - 28,000 li, from south to north - 26,000 li", contained in encyclopedic treatises of the 3rd and 2nd centuries ... BC. Lü-shih chun qiu(XIII, 1) and Huainan Tzu(chap. 4). This formula no longer looks like a speculative numerological construction, but a reflection of the real dimensions of the Earth, since, firstly, it corresponds to the actual flattening of the Earth at the poles, and secondly, it contains numbers that are strikingly close to the values ​​of the earth's axes from east to west and from the south to the north: here the average error is slightly more than 1%. In the Western world that the "width" of the Earth is greater than its "height" was declared already in the 6th century. BC. Anaximander, and Eratosthenes (about 276-194 BC) calculated the close to true dimensions of the Earth. Perhaps here there was an information exchange between the West and the East, since Zou Yan was a native of the Qi kingdom, which developed sea trade and, accordingly, foreign relations, and his scheme is ecumenical, generally atypical for China and especially that time.

For the first time as a single teaching covering all aspects of the universe, the concept of yin yang and "five elements » are represented in the philosophy of Dong Zhongshu (2nd century BC), who integrated the ideas of the "school of dark and light [world-forming principles]" into Confucianism, thus developing and systematizing its ontological, cosmological and methodological basis. Subsequently, the natural-philosophical component of the "school of dark and light [world-forming principles]" found continuation in the Confucian tradition of canons in "new writings » (jin wen) and neo-Confucianism, and the religious-occult - in the practical activities of fortune-tellers, soothsayers, magicians, alchemists and healers associated with Taoism.

Military school

developed a philosophical teaching on the art of war as one of the foundations of social regulation and the expression of general space laws. She synthesized the ideas of Confucianism, Legalism, Taoism, "the school of the dark and light [of the world-forming principles]" and Moism. IN Han shu, in chapter Yi wen zhi its representatives are divided into four groups of experts: strategy and tactics (quan mou), the deployment of troops on the ground (xing shi), the temporary and psychological conditions of war (yin yang), and combat techniques (ji jiao).

The theoretical foundation of this school is constituted by the Confucian principles of attitude to military affairs, set forth in Hun fane, Lun yue, Xi Tsi Zhuang: military action is the last on the scale of state affairs, but a necessary means of suppressing unrest and restoring "humanity" (ren 2), "due justice" (and 1), "decency" (li 2) and "compliance" (jean).

The most important works representing the ideas of the "military school" - Sun Tzu(5-4 centuries BC) and Wu tzu(4th century BC). Together with five other treatises, they were combined into The seven books of the military canon (Wu jing qi shu), the provisions of which formed the basis of all the traditional military-political and military-diplomatic doctrines of China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam.

Compound The seven books of the military canon was finally determined only in the 11th century. It includes treatises created from the 6th century. BC. to 9 century. AD: Liu tao (Six plans), Sun Tzu[bin fa] (Master Sun [about the art of war]), Wu tzu[bin fa] (Teacher Wu [about the art of war]), Sima fa(Sima rules), San lue (Three strategies), Wei Liao-tzu, ([Treatise] Wei Liao teachers), Li Wei-gong wen dui (Dialogues [Emperor Taizong] with Wei prince Li). In 1972, another fundamental treatise of the "military school" was found in the PRC, which was considered lost by the middle of the 1st millennium - Sun Bing Bing Fa (Sun Bin's military laws).

The worldview of the "military school" is based on the idea of ​​the cyclical nature of all cosmic processes, which are the transition of opposites into each other according to the laws of the interconversion of yin-yang forces and the circulation of the "five elements". This general course of things is the path of "turning to the root and returning to the beginning" ( Wu tzu), i.e. tao. The representatives of the "military school" put the concept of Tao at the basis of all their teachings. IN Sun Tzu Tao is defined as the first of the five foundations of the art of war (along with "the conditions of Heaven and Earth", the qualities of a commander and the law-fa 1), consisting in the unity of the willful thoughts (and 3) of the people and the top. Since war is viewed as a "path (Tao) of deceit," Tao is associated with the idea of ​​selfish independence and individual cunning, which was developed in late Taoism ( Yin fu jing). According to Wu tzu, Tao pacifies and becomes the first in a series of four general principles of successful activity (the rest are "due justice", "planning", "exactingness") and "four graces" (the rest are "due justice", "decency / etiquette", "humanity ").

In social life, opposites also operate, in it "culture" (wen) and the opposition to it "militancy" (u 2), "education" (jiao) and "management" (zheng 3) are interdependent; in some cases it is necessary to rely on Confucian "virtues" (de 1): "humanity", "due justice", "decency", "trustworthiness" (blue 2), and in others - on the opposite legist principles: "legality" ( fa 1), “punishable” (sin 4), “usefulness / profitability” (li 3), “cunning” (gui). The military sphere is an important area of ​​state affairs, and the main thing in the art of war is victory without a battle, and those who do not understand the harmfulness of war are unable to understand its “usefulness / profitability” either. In such a dialectic, the "rulers of the destinies (min 1) of the people" are well versed - talented and calculating commanders who, in the hierarchy of victorious factors, follow Tao, Heaven (tien), Earth (di 2) and ahead of the law (fa 1), and therefore (how and according to the teachings of the Moists) should be honored and not dependent on the ruler.

School of vertical and horizontal [political alliances], existed in the 5th and 3rd centuries. BC, included theorists and practitioners of diplomacy, who served as advisers to the rulers of the kingdoms who fought among themselves. They gained the greatest fame in this field in the 4th century BC. Su Qin and Zhang Yi, whose biographies as chapters 69 and 70 were included in Shi ji... The first of them sought to substantiate and create a coalition of states located along the "vertical" (zong) south - north in order to resist the strengthening of the Qin kingdom, in which the Legist ideology prevailed. The second tried to solve a similar problem, but only with respect to the states located horizontally (heng) east-west, in order, on the contrary, to support Qin, which eventually prevailed and, defeating its competitors, created the first centralized Qin empire in China. This political and diplomatic activity determined the name of the school.

According to the description in Ch. 49 Han Fei-tzu(3rd century BC), "adherents of the" vertical "rally many weak in order to attack one strong, and adherents of the" horizontal "serve one strong, in order to attack the crowd of the weak." The reasoning of the former is presented in Han Fei-tzu as moralistic: “If you do not help the small and do not punish the big, then you will lose the Celestial Empire; if you lose the Celestial Empire, then you expose the state to danger; and if you expose the state to danger, you will humiliate the ruler, "the latter argued as pragmatic:" If you do not serve the great, then the enemy's attack will lead to misfortune. "

The theoretical basis for such argumentation was a combination of the ideas of Taoism and Legalism. In Su Qin's biography Shi ji it is reported that he was prompted to his activities by reading a classic Taoist treatise Yin fu jing (Canon of Intimate Destinations), in which the universe is presented as an arena of universal struggle and mutual “robbery”.

IN Shi ji it is also said that Su Qin and Zhang Yi learned from a mysterious character called Guigu-tzu - the Teacher from the Navei Gorge, about whom little is known and who is therefore sometimes identified with more specific figures, including Su Qin himself.

The pseudonym Guigu-tzu gave the title to the treatise of the same name attributed to him, which traditionally dates back to the 4th century. BC, but, apparently, was formed or even written much later, but no later than the end of the 5th - beginning of the 6th century. Guigu-tzu Is the only surviving work that more or less fully expresses the ideology of the "school of vertical and horizontal [political alliances]."

Theoretical basis Guigu-tzu- the idea of ​​the genetic-substantial origin of all things - a single Tao, material ("pneumatic" - qi 1) and "principle-like" (li 1), but "bodily" (sin 2), the unformed initial state of which is called "refined spirit" ( shen ling). The highest regularity of Tao is a circulating (“reverse” and “inverting” - fan fu) transition from one opposite to another (bi tsy). Opposite phases of the main structures of the universe - Heaven (tien) and Earth (di 2), yin and yang, "longitudinal-vertical" (zong) and "transverse-horizontal" (heng) - are summarized in the original categories of "opening" (bai) and "Closing" (he 2), which together with a similar pair "li" (synonym for "buy") and "he 2" from Zhou and (Xi ci zhuan, I, 11) go back to the mythological image of the gate, philosophically and poetically meaningful in Tao te jing(§ 1, 6) as a symbol of the innermost womb of the all-generating mother nature. Universal and constant variability according to the "open-close" model serves to Guigu-tzu theoretical substantiation of the legalistic principles of political pragmatism and utilitarianism, combined with complete autocracy. The proposed practice of manipulating people on the basis of preliminary encouragement and disclosure of their interests is designated by the term "ascending ticks" (fei qian). But "in order to know other people, you need to know yourself." Therefore, mastering both oneself and others presupposes "reaching the depths of the heart (blue 1)" - "the master of the spirit." "Spirit" (Shen 1) is the main one among the five "pnem" of a person; the other four are “higher soul” (hun), “dolny soul” (po), “seed soul” (jing 3), “will” (zhi 3). According to Guigu-tzu, names (min 2) are "born" from "realities" (shi 2), and "realities" - from "principles" (li 1). Expressing sensory properties together (qing 2), “names” and “realities” are interdependent, and “principles” are “born” from their harmonious “improvement” (de 1).

Agrarian school

nowadays little known, since the works of its representatives have not survived. From the fragmentary reports about it, it follows that the basis of its ideology was the principle of the priority of agricultural production in society and the state as the most important factor in ensuring the life of the people. Some of the rationales for this principle developed by the “agrarian school” are set out in separate chapters of encyclopedic treatises of the 4th and 3rd centuries. BC. Guan Tzu(chap. 58) and Lü-shih chun qiu(XXVI, 3-6).

In the directory created by the Confucians Yi wen zhi the basic attitude of the "agrarian school" is recognized as consistent with the Confucian view of the importance of food and consumer goods production reflected in Hun fane from canon Shu jing and in the saying of Confucius from Lunyu... However, in an earlier classical Confucian treatise Mencius(III A, 4) sharply criticized the ideas of the most famous representative of the "agrarian school" Xu Xing (3rd century BC).

Xu Xing is represented as a "southern barbarian with a bird's voice" who seduced unstable Confucians with a demagogic heresy. The true "way" (Tao) preached by him demanded that all people, including the rulers, combine their activities with self-sufficiency and self-service, doing agricultural work and cooking. Mencius rejected this position, showing that, firstly, it contradicts the basic principle of civilization - the division of labor, and secondly, it is practically impracticable, since it is violated by its spokesman himself, wearing clothes not sewn by him, using tools not made by him, and etc.

Such an apology for a subsistence economy, direct trade, price determination by quantity rather than quality of goods and, in general, social equalization associated with the "agrarian school" allowed Hou Weil and Feng Yulan to put forward a hypothesis that its representatives participated in the creation of a social utopia Yes tun (great union).

Free school

is a philosophical trend, represented either by eclectic works of individual authors, or collections composed of texts by representatives of various ideological trends, or encyclopedic treatises intended to be compendiums of all contemporary knowledge.

Determining the general guidelines of this school, the canonologist of the 6-7 centuries. Yan Shigu noted the combination of the teachings of Confucianism and Moism, the "school of names" and legalism. However, the special role of Taoism is also generally recognized, due to which the "free school" is sometimes qualified as "late" or "new Taoism" (Xin Tao Jia).

Classical examples of the "free school" creations were encyclopedic treatises of the 3rd and 2nd centuries. BC. Lü-shih chun qiu (Spring and Autumn mister Lu [Bouway]) and Huainan Tzu ([Treatise] Huainan Teachers).

According to legend, the content of the first of them after the completion of work on the text in 241 BC. guaranteed by a premium of a thousand gold coins to everyone who is able to add or subtract it by even one word. The authors of Huainan Tzu, largely based on the vast (more than two hundred thousand words) content Lü-shih chun qiu.

The forerunner of both works was the text of the 4th century, similar in ideological and thematic diversity and size (about 130 thousand words). BC. Guan Tzu ([Treatise] Guan Teachers [Zhong]), which presents the widest range of knowledge: philosophical, socio-political, economic, historical, natural science and others, gleaned from the teachings of various schools.

Subsequently, the hieroglyph "tsza" ("mixed, heterogeneous, combined, variegated") included in the name of the "free school" began to denote the bibliographic heading "Miscellaneous" along with the classic headings: "Canons" (jing), "History" (shi), " Philosophers "(tzu), and in modern language has become the formant of the term" journal, almanac "(tzu-zhi).

Confucianism.

And in the "axial time" of the emergence of Chinese philosophy, and in the era of "rivalry of a hundred schools", and even more so in subsequent times, when the ideological landscape lost such a magnificent diversity, Confucianism played a central role in the spiritual culture of traditional China, therefore its history is pivotal for the entire history of Chinese philosophy, or at least that part of it that begins with the Han era.

From its inception to the present, the history of Confucianism in its most general form is divided into four periods, and the beginning of each of them is associated with a global socio-cultural crisis, the way out of which Confucian thinkers invariably found in theoretical innovation, clothed in archaized forms.

First period: 6–3 centuries. BC.

The original Confucianism arose in the "axial time", in the middle of the 1st millennium BC, when China was torn apart by endless wars, which the isolated decentralized states waged with each other and with the "barbarians" who were attacking from different directions. Spiritually, the early Zhou religious ideology was decomposing, undermined by the relics of the Sub-Zhou (Yin) beliefs, neo-Shamanist (protodaossian) cults and foreign cultural trends brought to the Middle States by their aggressive neighbors. The reaction to this spiritual crisis was the canonization by Confucius of the ideological foundations of the early Chou past, captured in the classical texts. Wu Jing (Penticanonia, cm... SHI SAN JING), and the result is the creation of a fundamentally new cultural education - philosophy.

Confucius put forward the ideal of a state structure in which, in the presence of a sacredly ascended, but practically inactive ruler, real power belongs to the zhu, who combine the properties of philosophers, writers, scientists and officials. From its very birth, Confucianism was distinguished by a conscious socio-ethical orientation and a desire to merge with the state apparatus.

This aspiration was consistent with the theoretical interpretation of both state and divine ("heavenly") power in family-related categories: "the state is one family", the sovereign is the Son of Heaven and at the same time "the father and mother of the people." The state was identified with society, social ties - with interpersonal, the basis of which was seen in the family structure. The latter was derived from the relationship between father and son. From the point of view of Confucianism, the father was considered "Heaven" to the same extent that Heaven was the father. Therefore, "filial piety" (xiao 1) in the canonical treatise specially dedicated to it Xiao Jing was raised to the rank of "the root of grace / virtue (de 1)."

Developing in the form of a kind of socio-ethical anthropology, Confucianism focused its attention on man, the problems of his innate nature and acquired qualities, position in the world and society, the ability to know and act, etc. Refraining from his own judgments about the supernatural, Confucius formally approved the traditional belief in an impersonal, divinely naturalistic, “fateful” Heaven and the ancestral spirits (gui shen) mediating with it, which later largely determined the acquisition of the social functions of religion by Confucianism. At the same time, Confucius considered all the sacred and ontological-cosmological problems related to the sphere of Heaven (tien) from the point of view of their significance for man and society. He made the focus of his teaching on the analysis of the interaction of “internal” impulses of human nature, ideally covered by the concept of “humanity” (Ren 2), and “external” socializing factors, ideally covered by the concept of ethical-ritual “decency” (li 2). The normative type of a person, according to Confucius, is a "noble man" (tszun tzu), who cognized the heavenly "predestination" (min 1) and "humane", combining ideal spiritual and moral qualities with the right to a high social status.

Compliance with the ethical and ritual norms of Li 2 Confucius also made the highest epistemological principle: “You should neither look, nor listen, nor say whether it is inappropriate 2”; "By expanding [one's] knowledge in culture (wen) and tightening it with the help of Li 2, one can avoid violations." Both ethics and epistemology of Confucius are based on the general idea of ​​universal balance and correspondence, which in the first case results in the “golden rule” of morality (shu 3 - “reciprocity”), in the second - in the requirement of correspondence between the nominal and the real, word and deed (zheng min - "straightening names"). The meaning of human existence, according to Confucius, is the assertion in the Celestial Empire of the highest and universal form of socio-ethical order - the "Way" (Tao), the most important manifestations of which are "humanity", "due justice" (and), "reciprocity", "rationality" (zhi 1), "courage" (yong 1), "[respectful] caution" (jing 4), "filial piety" (xiao 1), "brotherly love" (ti 2), "dignity", "loyalty" (zhong 2), "mercy" and others The concrete embodiment of Tao in each individual being and phenomenon is "grace / virtue" (de 1). The hierarchized harmony of all individual de 1 forms the universal Tao.

After the death of Confucius, his numerous disciples and followers formed various directions, which by the 3rd c. BC, according to Han Fei's testimony, there were already at least eight: Tzu Zhang, Tzu Sy, Yan Hui, Mencius, Qi Diao, Zhong Liang, Xun-tzu and Yue Zhang. They also developed explicit ethical and social ( Da Xue, Xiao Jing, comments to Chun qiu), and implicit ontological-cosmological ( Zhong Yong, Xi ci zhuan) representations of Confucius. Two holistic and opposite to each other, and therefore subsequently recognized as orthodox and unorthodox, respectively, interpretation of Confucianism in the 4th and 3rd centuries. BC. suggested by Meng-tzu (Meng Ke) and Xun-tzu (Xun Kuan). The first of them put forward the thesis about the primordial "kindness" of human "nature" (syn 1), in which "humanity", "due justice", "decency" and "rationality" are inherent in the same way as a man has four limbs (ty, cm... TI - YUN). According to the second, human nature is inherently evil, i.e. from birth strives for profit and carnal pleasures, therefore, the indicated good qualities must be instilled in her from the outside through constant learning. In accordance with his original postulate, Mencius focused on the study of the moral and psychological, and Xun Tzu - the social and epistemological aspects of human existence. This discrepancy was reflected in their views on society: Mencius formulated the theory of "humane government" (ren zheng), based on the priority of the people over the spirits and the ruler, including the right of subjects to overthrow a vicious sovereign; Xun-tzu compared the ruler with the root, and the people with the leaves and considered the task of the ideal sovereign to "conquer" his people, thereby drawing closer to Legism.

Second period: 3 c. BC. - 10 c. AD

The main stimulus for the formation of the so-called Han Confucianism was the desire to restore the ideological supremacy lost in the struggle with the newly formed schools of thought, primarily Taoism and Legalism. The response was also retrograde in form and progressive in nature. Using ancient texts in the first place Zhou changes (Zhou and) and Majestic sample (Hong Fan), the Confucians of this period, led by Dong Zhongshu (2nd century BC), significantly reformed their own teaching, integrating into it the problems of their theoretical competitors: methodological and ontological Taoists and the yin-yang school, political and legal - moists and legists ...

In the 2nd century. BC, in the Han era, Confucius was recognized as an "uncrowned king", or "true ruler" (su wang), and his doctrine acquired the status of official ideology and, having defeated the main competitor in the field of socio-political theory - legalism, integrated a number of his cardinal ideas, in particular, recognized a compromise combination of ethical and ritual norms (li 2) and administrative and legal laws (fa 1). Confucianism acquired the features of an all-embracing system thanks to the efforts of the "Confucius of the Han era" - Dong Zhongshu, who, using the corresponding concepts of Taoism and the yin-yang jia school ( cm... YIN YANG), developed in detail the ontological-cosmological doctrine of Confucianism and gave it some religious functions (the doctrine of the "spirit" and "will of Heaven") necessary for the official ideology of a centralized empire.

According to Dong Zhongshu, everything in the world comes from the "beginning" ("root causes" - yuan 1), similar to the "Great limit" (tai chi), consists of pneuma (qi 1) and obeys the unchanging dao. The action of Tao is manifested primarily in the successive predominance of the opposing forces of yin-yang and the circulation of the "mutually generating" and "mutually overcoming" "five elements" (wu Xing 1). For the first time in Chinese philosophy, the binary and fivefold classification schemes - yin yang and wu xing 1 - were brought together by Dong Zhongshu into a single system covering the entire universe. "Pneuma" fills Heaven and Earth like invisible water, in which a person is like a fish. It is a microcosm, to the smallest detail similar to the macrocosm (Heaven and Earth) and directly interacting with it. Like the Moists, Dong Zhongshu endowed Heaven with “spirit” (shen 1) and “will” (and 3), which it, without speaking or acting (wu wei 1, cm... WEI-ACTION), manifests through the sovereign, "perfectly wise" (sheng 1) and natural signs.

Dong Zhongshu recognized the existence of two types of fateful "predestination" (min 1): emanating from the nature of "great predestination" and emanating from a person (society) "changing predestination". Dong Zhongshu presented the story as a cyclical process, consisting of three stages ("dynasties"), symbolized by colors - black, white, red and virtues - "devotion" (zhong 2), "reverence" (xiao 1), "culture" (wen ). From this, He Xiu (2nd century) deduced the historiosophical "doctrine of three eras," popular up to the reformer Kang Yuwei (19th - early 20th century).

An important stage in the development of Confucianism was Dong Zhongshu's holistic ontological and cosmological interpretation of the social and state structure, based on the doctrine of the mutual "perception and response of Heaven and man" (tian ren gan ying). According to Dong Zhongshu, it is not "Heaven follows Tao," like Lao Tzu, but "Tao comes from Heaven," being a link between Heaven, Earth and man. A vivid embodiment of this connection is the hieroglyph "van 1" ("sovereign"), consisting of three horizontal lines (symbolizing the triad: Heaven - Earth - Man) and the vertical crossing them (symbolizing Tao). Accordingly, comprehension of Tao is the main function of the sovereign. The foundation of the social and state structure is made up of "three pillars" (san gan), derived from the unchanging, like Heaven, Tao: "The ruler is the pillar for the subject, the father is for the son, the husband is for the wife." In this heavenly "path of the sovereign" (wang dao), the first member of each pair marks the dominant yang force, the second - the subordinate yin force. This construction, close to the position of Han Fei, reflects the strong influence of legalism on the socio-political views of Han and later official Confucianism.

In general, in the Han era (late 3rd century BC - early 3rd century AD), "Han Confucianism" was created, the main achievement of which is the systematization of ideas born of the "golden age" of Chinese philosophy (5–3 cc. BC), and textological and commentary treatment of the Confucian and Confucian classics.

The reaction to the penetration of Buddhism into China in the first centuries AD. and the associated revival of Taoism became a Taoist-Confucian synthesis in the "doctrine of the mysterious (secret)" (xuan xue). One of the founders and the most prominent representative of this doctrine, as well as the associated dialogical tradition of speculative speculation - “pure conversations” (qing tang), was Wang Bi (226–249).

In an effort to substantiate the Confucian views of society and man with the help of Taoist metaphysics, and not the natural philosophy of his predecessors, the Confucians of the Han era, Wang Bi developed a system of categories that subsequently significantly influenced the conceptual apparatus and concepts of Chinese Buddhism and neo-Confucianism. He was the first to introduce the fundamental opposition ti - yun in the meaning: "corporeal essence (substance) - active manifestation (function, accident)". Based on the definitions of Tao and the thesis "presence / being (s) is born from absence / non-being (y 1)" in Tao te jing(§ 40), Wang Bi identified Tao with “absence / non-being” (y 1), interpreted as “one” (i, gua), “central” (zhong 2), “ultimate” (ji 2) and “dominant” (zhu, zong) "primordial essence" (ben ti), in which the "bodily essence" and its "manifestation" coincide with each other ( cm... Yu - U). Wang Bi understood the supremacy of the universal tao as lawful and not fatalistic, interpreting both Tao and “predestination / destiny” (min 1) with the help of the category “principle” (li 1). He considered "principles" to be constitutive components of "things" (in 3) and opposed to "deeds / events" (shi 3). The variety of unpredictable phenomena, according to Wang Bi, is also due to the opposite (fan, cm... GUA) between their "bodily essence" and "sensory properties" (qing 2), the natural basis (zhi 4, cm... WEN) and aspirations, being realized primarily in time.

Wang Bi interpreted the teachings Zhou and as a theory of temporal processes and changes, defining that the main elements of the treatise - the symbolic categories of gua are "times" (shi 1). However, the general procedural laws recorded in the gua are not reducible to specific images and cannot serve as a basis for unambiguous predictions - “calculating the lot” (suan shu). This is a philosophical interpretation of the doctrine Zhou and was directed against its mantic interpretation in the previous numerological (xiang shu zhi xue) tradition and was further continued by the neo-Confucian Cheng Yi (11th century). In neo-Confucianism, the interpretation of category li 1 proposed by Wang Bi was also developed, and the provision on the dichotomy of li 1 and shi 3 was also developed in the teachings of the Buddhist Huayan school.

The gradual increase in both the ideological and social influence of Buddhism and Taoism caused the desire to restore the prestige of Confucianism. The forerunners of this movement, which resulted in the creation of neo-Confucianism, were Wang Tong (584-617), Han Yu (768-824) and his student Li Ao (772-841).

Third period: 10–20 centuries.

The emergence of neo-Confucianism was caused by another ideological crisis caused by the opposition of official Confucianism with a new competitor - Buddhism, as well as Taoism, which was transformed under its influence. In turn, the popularity of these teachings, especially in their religious and theological incarnations, was due to the socio-political cataclysms taking place in the country. The Confucians' response to this challenge was the advancement of original ideas with references to the founders of their teachings, primarily Confucius and Mencius.

Neo-Confucianism set itself two main and interrelated tasks: the restoration of authentic Confucianism and the solution with its help on the basis of an improved numerological methodology of a set of new problems put forward by Buddhism and Taoism.

Unlike the original Confucianism, neo-Confucianism is based mainly on the texts of Confucius, Mencius and their closest students, and not on protophilosophical canons. His new approach was embodied in the formation Four books (Si shu), which most adequately reflects the views of these first Confucian philosophers. During the folding of neo-Confucianism, the normative form Thirteen canony (Shi san jing) covered the ancient protophilosophical classics. The first place in it was taken by the methodological "organon" - Zhou and, which sets out numerological ideas, fully explicated (including by means of graphic symbols) and developed in neo-Confucianism. The neo-Confucians actively developed the ontological, cosmological, and epistemological-psychological problems, which were much less developed in the original Confucianism. Borrowing some abstract concepts and concepts from Taoism and Buddhism, neo-Confucianism assimilated them through ethical interpretation. The moral dominant of Confucianism in neo-Confucianism turned into ethical universalism, within which any aspect of being began to be interpreted in moral categories, which was expressed through successive mutual identifications of human ("humanity", "[individual] nature", "heart") and natural ("Sky "," Predestination "," grace / virtue ") entities. Modern interpreters and successors of neo-Confucianism (Mou Zongsan, Du Weiming and others) define this approach as "moral metaphysics" (dao-de de sin-er-shang-xue), which is at the same time theology.

The ideology of neo-Confucianism began to be created by "three masters of the doctrine of the principle" - Sun Fu, Hu Yuan (late 10th - 11th centuries) and Shi Jie (11th century). 1073). The leading direction in neo-Confucianism was the direction of its followers and commentators, namely the Cheng Yi school (1033-1107) - Zhu (1130-1200), originally opposition to the official ideology, but canonized in 1313 and retained this status in China until the beginning of the 20th century.

According to Zhou Dunyi's extremely lapidary treatise Tai ji tu sho, (Explaining the Plan of the Great Boundary) all the diversity of the world: the forces of yin yang, "five elements" (wu xing 1, in the treatise are called "five pneuma" - wu qi), four seasons and up to the "darkness of things" (wan wu), as well as good and evil (shan - e), "five constancies" (wu chan, called "five natures" - wu sin 3) and up to "darkness of deeds" (wan shi, cm... LEE-PRINCIPLE; Y-THING; WEI-ACTION), - comes from the "Great limit" (tai chi). That, in turn, follows the "Infinite", or the "Limit of absence / nonexistence" (wu chi). The term "wu chi", which allows for a double understanding, originated in the original Taoism ( Tao Te Ching, § 28), and the correlative term "tai chi" - in Confucianism ( Xi ci zhuan, I, 11). The generative function of the “Great Limit” is realized through the mutually conditioning and replacing each other “movement” and “rest” (jing 2, cm... DONG - JING). The latter has priority, which coincides with the principles and formulas of the original Taoism ( Tao Te Ching, § 37; Chuang Tzu, ch. 13). For a person, the reagentless and immobile essence of the universe, that is, "wu chi", manifests itself as "authenticity / sincerity" (Cheng 1). This category, combining ontological ("the way of Heaven", DAO) and anthropological ("way of man") meaning, was put forward by the first Confucians (in Mencius, Zhong Yune, Xun Tzu, 4–3 centuries BC), and Zhou Dunyi's Tung shu (Penetration book) took center stage. Determining the highest good (zhi shan) and "perfect wisdom" (sheng 1) "authenticity / sincerity" ideally requires "the supremacy of peace" (zhu jing), that is, the absence of desires, thoughts, deeds. The main theoretical achievement of Zhou Dunyi is the reduction of the most important Confucian categories and related concepts into a universal (from cosmology to ethics) and extremely simple, based primarily on Zhou and the worldview system, within the framework of which not only Confucian, but also Taoist-Buddhist issues received coverage.

Zhu Xi interpreted the connection between Zhou Dunyi's “Great Limit” (Tai Chi) and “Infinite / Limitless Absence” (wu chi, cm... TAI JI; Yu - Wu) as their essential identity, using the concept of a universal global "principle / reason" (li 1) developed by Cheng Yi. Tai Chi, according to Zhu Xi, is the totality of all li 1, the total unity of structures, ordering principles, the laws of the entire "darkness of things" (wan wu). In each specific "thing" (at 3), i.e. object, phenomenon or deed, tai chi is present in full, like the image of the moon - in any of its reflection. Therefore, without separating from the real world as an ideal entity, the “Great Limit” was defined as “formless and vacant”, that is, nowhere localized as an independent form. The fullness of his presence in "things" makes the main task of a person their "verification", or "classifying comprehension" (ge wu), which consists in "perfect [disclosure] of principles" (qiong li). This procedure of "bringing knowledge to the end" (zhi zhi) should result in "sincerity of thoughts", "alignment of the heart", "improvement of personality", and then - "alignment of the family", "orderliness of the state" and "poise [of the whole] Celestial Empire. "(Formulas Yes xue), since whether 1 combines the signs of a rational principle and a moral norm: "the real principle has no evil", "the principle is humanity (Ren 2), due justice (and 1), decency (Li 2), rationality (Zhi 1 ) ". Each "thing" is a combination of two principles: a structural-discrete, rational-moral "principle" (li 1) and a substrate-continual, vital-sensual, mental, morally indifferent pneuma (chi 1). Physically, they are inseparable, but logically, whether 1 takes precedence over qi 1. Perceiving the distinction made by Cheng Yi between the "extremely root, completely original nature" (ji ben qiong yuan zhi xing) and the "nature of pneumatic matter" (qi zhi zhi xing), linking them with li 1 and qi 1, respectively, Zhu Xi finally formed the concept initially - the general “good” human “nature” (syn 1), which has secondary and specific modes, which are inherent in “good” and “evil” to varying degrees.

The teachings of Cheng Yi - Zhu Xi were supported by the foreign Manchu Qing dynasty (1644-1911), which ruled in the last period of the imperial history of China. In the 1930s, it was modernized by Feng Yulan (1895–1990) in the "new doctrine of principle" (xin li xue). A number of Chinese philosophers living outside the PRC and representing the so-called post-Confucianism, or post-neo-Confucianism, are now actively making similar attempts.

The main competition for this trend in neo-Confucianism was the school of Lu Juyuan (1139–1193) - Wang Yangming (1472–1529), which ideologically prevailed in the 16–17 centuries. The rivalry between the Cheng - Zhu and Lu - Wang schools, which defended sociocentric objectivism and personocentric subjectivism, respectively, which is sometimes qualified through the opposition "doctrine of the principle" (li xue) - "doctrine of the heart" (xin xue), spread to Japan and Korea, where , as in Taiwan, the updated forms continue to this day. In the struggle of these schools at a new theoretical level, the original opposition for Confucianism was revived between externalism (Xun Tzu - Zhu Xi, who only formally canonized Mencius) and internalism (Mencius - Wang Yangming), which in neo-Confucianism took shape in opposite orientations to the object or subject , the outer world or the inner nature of man as a source of comprehension of the "principles" (li 1) of all things, including moral norms.

All of Lu Juyuan's reasoning was permeated with the general idea of ​​such an isomorphic unity of subject and object, in which each of them is a complete analogue of the other: "The universe is my heart, my heart is the universe." Since the "heart" (blue 1), i.e. the psyche of any person, according to Lu Juyuan, contains all the "principles" (li 1) of the universe, all knowledge can and should be introspective, and morality is autonomous. The idea of ​​the absolute self-sufficiency of each person also conditioned Lu Juyuan's disregard for doctrinal scholarship: “Six canons should comment on me. Why should I comment on the six canons? " Confucian orthodoxies criticized these views as Ch'an Buddhism in disguise. For his part, Lu Juyuan saw Taoist-Buddhist influence in Zhu Xi's identification of the Confucian interpretation of the “Great Limit” (Tai Chi) with the Taoist doctrine of “Unlimited / Limit of Absence” (wu Chi).

Like Lu Juyuan, Wang Yangming also saw in the Confucian canons ( cm... SHI SAN JING) is nothing more than exemplary material evidence of absolute truths and values ​​inherent in the soul of every person. The primary thesis of this teaching: "the heart is the principle" (xin chi li), ie. whether 1 - the structure-forming principles of all things - are initially present in the psyche. The "principles" that must be revealed by means of "verifying things" (ge y) should be sought in the subject himself, and not in the external world that is independent of him. Wang Yangming's concept of "li 1" was on a par with the ethical ideals of "due justice" (and 1), "decency" (li 2), "trustworthiness" (blue 2), etc. Wang Yangming supported this position with the authority of the Confucian canons, interpreting them accordingly.

A specific element of Wang Yangming's belief system is the doctrine of the "concurrent unity of knowledge and action" (zhi xing he yi). It presupposes an understanding of cognitive functions as actions, or movements, and the interpretation of behavior as a direct function of knowledge: knowledge is action, but not vice versa. This doctrine, in turn, defines the essence of the main category of Wang Yangming's teachings - "comprehension" (liang zhi). His thesis on "bringing goodwill to the end" (zhi liang zhi) is a synthesis of the concepts "bringing knowledge to the end" (zhi zhi) from the Confucian canon Yes xue and "prudence" (translation options - "innate knowledge", "natural knowledge", "intuitive knowledge", "pre-experienced moral knowledge", etc.) from Mencius... "Grace" - "what [a person] knows without reasoning", in Mencius parallel to the concept of "benevolence" (liang nen), which encompasses "what [a person] is capable of without learning." In Wang Yangming, "comprehension" is identical to the "heart" and has an extensive semantic range: "soul", "spirit", "cognition", "knowledge", "feelings", "will", "consciousness" and even "subconsciousness". It is self-arising and without preconditions, supra-individual, inherent in everyone and at the same time intimate, cannot be transmitted to others; identified with the inexhaustible and limitlessly contained "Great emptiness" (tai xui), conditions all knowledge and cognition; is the focus of "heavenly principles" (tien li), the basis of an innate moral feeling and moral duty. Thus, Wang Yangming interpreted the Confucian thesis about "bringing knowledge to the end", which in the Zhuxian tradition was interpreted as a call for the maximum expansion of knowledge (to "depletion of principles" - qiong li), using the category of "prudence" and the provision of "coinciding unity knowledge and action ”as the fullest possible embodiment of the highest moral ideals.

The epistemological views of Wang Yangming found a condensed expression in the "four postulates" (si zu zong zhi): "The absence of both good and evil is the essence (literally:" body "- ti 1, cm... TI - YUN) hearts. The presence of good and evil - such is the movement of thoughts. Knowledge of good and evil - such is prudence. Doing good and eliminating evil - such is the adjustment of things. " Before Wang Yangming, neo-Confucians proposed solutions to the question of the "heart" and its activities, focusing mainly on the resting, unmanifest "essence of the heart." This strengthened the position of schools that preached meditation, withdrawal. In contrast to this tendency, Wang Yangming, substantiating the unity of "substance and function" (ti - yong), "movement and rest" (dong - jing), "non-manifestation [spiritual state] and manifestation" (wei fa - and fa), etc. etc., made a conclusion about the need for active practical activity and the perniciousness of leaving life.

He rejected the concept of consciousness of the Buddhist Ch'an school, believing, in particular, that the demand for liberation from "attachment" to the phenomenal world and a return to the nondiscrimination of good and evil leads to detachment from socio-ethical responsibilities and attachment to the egoistic self. Ascending to the disciple of Huineng (638-713) - Shenhui (868-760), the concept of “no thought” as the return of the spirit to the original state of “calmness” is untenable, since “prudence” cannot but “be aware” even in a dream. Huineng's teaching about "instant enlightenment" - the spontaneous comprehension of one's own "Buddha-nature", according to Wang Yangming, is based on "vacuum emptiness" (kun xui) and is not associated with real spiritual progress - "bringing knowledge to the end", "making sincere thoughts" and "correcting the heart." At the same time, the teachings of Wang Yangming and Ch'an Buddhism have many points of contact, including a general attitude towards a purposeful change in the psychology of adepts, a resonant interaction of the minds of a teacher and a student.

From the very beginning, two narrower trends separated from the two main directions in neo-Confucianism, the Cheng-Zhu and Lu-Wang schools: representatives of the first showed increased attention to natural-philosophical problems and numerological ( cm... XIANG SHU ZHI XUE) constructions (Shao Yong, 11th century; Tsai Jiufeng, 12-13th centuries; Fang Yizhi, Wang Chuanshan, 17th century), representatives of the second emphasized the social and utilitarian meaning of knowledge (Lu Zuqian, Chen Liang, 12 c .; Ye Shi, 12-13th centuries; Wang Tingxiang, 15-16th centuries; Yan Yuan, 17th - early 18th centuries).

In the 17th and 19th centuries. The dominant teachings of Cheng - Zhu and Lu - Wang were attacked by the "empirical" school, which emphasized the empirical study of nature and the critical study of classical texts, taking the textology of Han Confucianism as a model, which gave it the name "Han teaching" (Han Xue). The forerunner of this trend, now also called "the doctrine of nature", or "concrete doctrine" (pu xue), was Gu Yanwu (1613-1682), and the largest representative was Dai Zhen (1723-1777). Further development of neo-Confucianism, starting with Kang Yuwei (1858-1927), is associated with attempts to assimilate Western theories.

Gu Yanwu advocated the study and restoration of "genuine" Confucianism ("teachings of the perfectly wise" - sheng xue) in the oldest orthodox interpretation developed in the Han era. In this regard, he advocated the introduction of new, higher standards of accuracy and usefulness of knowledge. Gu Yanu deduced the need for empirical validity and practical applicability of knowledge in the general ontological plan from the fact that “there is no place for Tao outside tools (qi 2)”, i.e. outside the concrete phenomena of reality. "The way-teaching (Tao) of the perfect wise" he defined by two formulas of Confucius from Lunyu: "Expanding knowledge in culture (wen)" and "preserving a sense of shame in their actions," thus combining epistemology with ethics. In contrast to Huang Zongxi (1610-1695), in the dilemma "laws or people", Gu Yanu considered the human factor to be decisive: the abundance of legal norms is pernicious, because it obscures morality. "Straightening people's hearts and improving morals" can be achieved through free expression of public opinion - "frank discussion" (qing yi).

Dai Zhen developed the methodology of "[philologically] evidence-based research" (kao ju), basing the explication of ideas on the analysis of the terms expressing them. He expounded his own views in textological commentaries on the Confucian classics, contrasting them with the distorted, in his opinion, Taoist-Buddhist influences, the commentaries of the preceding Confucians.

The main tendency of Dai Zhen's theoretical constructions is the desire to harmonize the most general conceptual oppositions as a reflection of the universal and harmonious integrity of the world. Coming from Xi Tsi Zhuang(commentary part Zhou and) and the fundamental opposition of neo-Confucianism between the “supraform” (sin er shan) dao to “subform” (sin er sya) “tools” (qi 2) he interpreted as a temporary, not a substantial difference in the states of a single “pneuma” (qi 1): on the one hand, constantly changing, "generating generation" (sheng sheng) according to the laws of yin yang and "five elements" forces (wu xing 1), and, on the other, already taking shape in a set of concrete stable things. Dai Zhen substantiated the inclusion of the "five elements" in the concept of "Tao" by the definition of the last term, which has the lexical meaning of "path, road", with the help of the etymological component of the hieroglyph "Tao" - a graphic element (in another spelling - an independent hieroglyph) "Xing 3" ( "Movement", "action", "behavior") included in the phrase "wu sin 1". "[Individual] nature" (xing 1) of each thing, according to Dai Zhen, is "natural" (zi jan) and is determined by "good" (shan), which is generated by "humanity" (ren 2), ordered by "decency" (li 2 ) and is stabilized by "due fairness" (and 1). Cosmologically, “good” is manifested in the form of Tao, “grace” (de 1) and “principles” (li 1), and anthropologically, in the form of “predestination” (min 1), “[individual] nature” and “abilities” (tsai ).

Dai Zhen opposed the opposition of “principles” to “feelings” (qing 2) and “desires” (yu), canonized by the early (period of the Song Dynasty, 960-1279) neo-Confucianism, arguing that “principles” are inseparable from “feelings” and “desires. ".

"Principle" is something unchanging that is specific to the "[individual] nature" of each person and each thing, the highest subject of knowledge. Unlike the previous neo-Confucians, Dai Zhen believed that "principles" are not explicitly present in the human psyche - "heart", but are revealed through in-depth analysis. The abilities of people for cognition, according to Dai Zhen, differ like fires with different intensity of luminescence; these differences are partly offset by training. Dai Zhen substantiated the priority of the empirical-analytical approach both in cognition and in practice.

The fourth period

- the last and incomplete, which began in the 20th century. The post-Confucianism that emerged at that time was a reaction to global catastrophes and global information processes, expressed, in particular, in the rooting of heterogeneous Western theories in China. For their innovative rethinking, post-Confucians again turned to the old arsenal of Confucian and neo-Confucian constructs.

The last, fourth form of Confucianism is most different from all the others, primarily because extremely alien spiritual material has got into the sphere of its integrative intentions.

Already from the end of the 19th century. the development of Confucianism in China is in one way or another connected with attempts to assimilate Western ideas (Kang Yuwei) and a return from the abstract problems of the Sung-Ming neo-Confucianism and Qing-Han textual criticism to the concrete ethical and social themes of the original Confucianism. In the first half of the 20th century, especially in the opposition of the teachings of Feng Yulan and Xiong Shili, the intra-Confucian opposition of externalism and internalism, respectively, revived at a higher theoretical level, combining neo-Confucian and partly Buddhist categories with knowledge of European and Indian philosophy, which allows researchers to talk about the emergence of this is the time of a new, historically fourth (after the original, Han and neo-Confucian) form of Confucianism - post-Confucianism, or rather, post-Neo-Confucianism, based, like the two previous forms, on the assimilation of foreign and even foreign-cultural ideas. Modern Confucians, or post-neo-Confucians (Mou Zongsan, Tang Junyi, Du Weiming and others), in the ethical universalism of Confucianism, which interprets any layer of life in a moral aspect and gave rise to the "moral metaphysics" of neo-Confucianism, see an ideal combination of philosophical and religious thought.

In China, Confucianism was the official ideology until 1912 and spiritually dominated until 1949; today, a similar situation persists in Taiwan and Singapore. After the ideological defeat in the 1960s (the campaign of "criticism of Lin Biao and Confucius"), since the 1980s, it has been successfully revived in the PRC as well as the bearer of the national idea awaiting demand.

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