中国哲学简史笔记1

中国哲学简史笔记

Reading note: A short story of Chinese philosophy

 

第一章，                    中国哲学的精神 （The spirit of Chinese Philosophy）

 

哲学在中国文化中的地位，历来被看为可以和宗教在其它文化中的地位相似。

The Place which philosophy has occupied in Chinese civilization has been comparable to that of religion in other civilizations.

 

哲学和宗教的含义并不十分明确，不同的人对哲学和宗教的理解可能全然不同。

The terms philosophy and religion are both ambiguous, Philosophy and religion may have entirely different meanings for different people.

 

哲学是对人生的系统的反思。人只要还没死，他就是还在人生之中，但并不是所有的人都对人生进行反思，至于作系统反思的人就更少。

Philosophy is systematic, reflective thinking of life. Every man, who has not yet died, is in life.  But there are not many who think reflectively on life, and still fewer whose reflective thinking is systematic.

 

宗教也和人生关联，任何一种大的宗教，它的核心部分必然有哲学。 每一种大宗教就是某种哲学加上一定的上层建筑， 包括迷信，教义，礼仪和体制。

Religion also has something to do whit life.  In the heart of every great religion there is a philosophy. And every great religion is a philosophy with a certain amount of superstructure, which consists of superstitions, dogmas, rituals, and institutions.

 

在西方人眼里， 中国人的生活渗透了儒家思想， 儒家俨然成为一种宗教。 而事实上， 儒家思想并不比柏拉图或亚里士多德思想更像宗教。 “四书”在中国人心中诚然具有《圣经》在西方人心中的地位，但“四书”中没有上帝创世，也没有天堂地狱。

To the Westerner, who sees that the life of the Chinese people is permeated with Confucianism, it appears that Confucianism is a religion.  As a matter of fact, however, Confucianism is no more a religion that, say, Platonism or Aristotelianism.  It is true that the Four Books have been the Bible of the Chinese people, but in the Four Books there is no story of creation, and no mention of a heaven or hell.

 

中国教育：三字经 – 论语，孟子，大学, 中庸 （四书）

Chinese education: Three Characters Classic, — Confucian Analects, The Book of Mencius, The Great Learning and the Doctrine of the Mean. (the Four Books)

 

因此，理论上儒家不是一种宗教

Therefore, theoretically Confucianism cannot be considered a religion.

 

许多人习惯的人为，儒，佛，道是中国三种宗教。

People have been accustomed to say that there were three religions in China: Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism.

 

道家和道教是不同的两回事， 道家是一种哲学， 道教是一种宗教。 它们的内涵不仅不同， 甚至是互相矛盾的：道家哲学教导人顺乎自然，道教却教人逆乎自然。 举例来说， 按老庄思想，万物有生必有死，人对于死，顺应自然，完全不必介意， 而道教的宗旨却是长生术。

As to Taoism, there is a distinction between Taoism as a philosophy, which is call Tao chia (the Taoist School), the Taoist religion (Tao chiao).  Their teachings are not only different: they are even contradictory.  Taoism as a philosophy teaches the doctrine of following nature, while Taoism as a religion teaches the doctrine of work against nature. For example, according to Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu, life followed by death is the course of nature, and man should follow this natural course calmly. But the main teaching of the Taoist religion is the principle and technique of how to avoid death.

 

佛学和佛教也是有区别的。 对于中国知识分子来说，佛学比佛教有趣的多。

As to Buddhism, there is also the distinction between Buddhism as a philosophy, which is called Fo hsiieh (the Buddhist learning), and Buddhism as Fo Chiao (the Buddhist religion). To the educated Chinese, Buddhist philosophy is much more interesting that the Buddhist religion.

 

中国人并不认为宗教思想和宗教活动是生活中的重要组成部分。 中国文化的精神基础不是宗教（至少不是由组织形式的宗教），而是伦理（特别是儒家伦理）。 这一切使中国和其它主要文明国家把教会和神职人员看为文明的重要组成部分，有基本的不同。

The Chinese are not a people for whom religious ideas and activities constitute an all important and absorbing part of life. It is ethics (especially Confucian ethics), and not religion (at least not religion of a formal, organized type), that provided the spiritual basis in Chinese civilization. All of which, of course, marks a difference of fundamental importance between China and most other major civilizations, in which a church and a priesthood have played a dominant role.

 

中国人不像其它民族那样重视宗教。

Chinese people have been less concerned with religion than other people are.

 

比伦理道德更高的脚趾可以称之为超伦理道德价值， 爱人是一个道德价值，爱神是一个超越道德价值，有的人或许喜欢称为宗教价值。

The values that are higher than the moral ones may be called super-moral values. The love of man is moral value, while the love of God is a super-moral value. Some people may be inclined to call this kind of value a religious value.

 

这个超越道德价值不仅限于宗教。

The super-moral value is not confined to religion.

 

例如，基督徒爱神是一个宗教价值；而在斯宾诺莎的哲学思想里， 神的含义就是宇宙。 严格说来，基督徒所说的爱神，也并不是超越伦理的， 基督教所信仰的神是具有位格的， 因此基督徒爱神可以比拟为儿子爱父亲， 而这是一个伦理价值。 因此基督教中所讲的爱神是否超越道德，就成了问题。 只能说是类似超导的，而斯宾诺莎哲学中的“爱神”才是真正超越道德的价值。

For example, the love of God in Christianity is a religious value, while the love of God in the philosophy of Spinoza is not, because what Spinoza called God is really the universe. Strictly speaking, the love of God in Christianity is not really super-moral. This is because God, in Christianity, is a personality, and consequently the love of God by man is comparable to the love of a father by his son, which is moral value.  Therefore, the love of God in Christianity is open ot question as super-moral value.  Its is a quasi super-moral value, while the love of God in the philosophy of Spinoza is a real super-moral value.

 

人不满足于现实世界而追求超越现实世界， 这时人类内心深处的一种渴望， 在这一点上， 中国人和其他民族的人并无二致。 但是中国人不那么关切宗教，是因为他们太关切哲学了；他们宗教仪式不浓， 是因为他们的哲学意识太浓了。他们在哲学里找到了超越现实世界的那个存在， 也在哲学里表达和欣赏那个超越伦理道德的价值；在哲学生活中，他们体验了这些超越伦理道德的价值。

The carving for something beyond the present actual world is one of the innate desires of mankind, and the Chinese people are no exception to this rule.  They have not had much concern with religion because they have had so much concern with philosophy.  They are not religious because they are philosophical.  In philosophy they satisfy their carving for what is beyond the present actual world.  In philosophy also they have the super-moral values expressed and appreciated, and in living according to philosophy these super-moral values are experienced.

 

根据中国哲学的传统，哲学的功能不是为了增进正面的知识（这里所说的正面知识是对客观事物的信息），而是为了提高人的心灵， 超越现实世界，体验高于道德的价值。

According to the tradition of Chinese philosophy, its function is not the increase of positive knowledge (by positive knowledge means information regarding matters of facts), but the elevation of the mind – a reaching out for what is beyond the present actual world, and for the values that are higher than the moral ones.