“新儒学”(Neo-Confucianism)、道学、理学构成了理学的不同之名。以“新儒学”指称理学,体现了理学与传统儒学之间的历史传承关系,用“道学”概括理学,表明了理学以“性与天道”为对象,理学之名折射了理学从普遍之理和殊理的统一中来把握世界和人自 身的趋向。以理与气、理与心性、道心与人心、气质之性与天地之性、心与物、知与行等为概念系统,理学既在天道观的层面辨析“何物存在”“如何存在”等形而上问题,又通过追问“何为人”“如何成就理想之人”而展现了人道之域的关切。在更一般的层面上,理学突出“理之当然”,以此拒斥佛老,上承儒家的价值立场。理之当然与实然、必然、自然相联系,既展现了当然的不同维度,也蕴含了天道与人道的交融以及本体论、价值论、伦理学之间的理论关联。
■ 作者简介 杨国荣,哲学博士,华东师范大学中国现代思想文化研究所暨哲学系教授、博士生导师;上海 200241。
What is the School of Li(理)
The Inner Philosophical Orientation of Neo-Confucianism
Yang Guorong (East China Normal University)
Abstract Neo-Confucianism, the learning of Dao and the learning of Li( 理 )(principle/law)are different names of the same school of the learning of Li( 理 ). The name of “Neo-Confucianism” is manifested the historical relation between the school of learning of Li(理) and traditional Confucianism while the name of “the learning of Dao” means the school of learning of Li (理) involving the metaphysical issues. Comparatively, the name of “learning of Li(理)” itself points at the tendency of understanding the world through the unification of universality and particularity. Based on Li(理) and Qi(气), Li(理) and mind/nature, mind and thing, knowing and doing, and the like, the school of learning of Li( 理 ) inquires both the metaphysical problem of what is being and the ethical issue of how to become the sage. Moreover, the school of learning of Li( 理 ) pays more attention to the issue of ought as well as the relation between ought and the necessity and that of ought and the nature, which implies the unity of ontology, ethics, and axiology.
Key words Neo-Confucianism; the school learning of Li(理); a Confucian school of philosophy of the Song Dynasty; Li(理); Qi(气); mind; nature