contemporary chinese study of mencius in taiwan

StateoftheFieldReportIVContemporaryChineseStudyofMenciusinTaiwanHUANGChun-chieh(Junjie)*Inthisarticle,IshallreviewcontemporaryChinesestudiesofMenciusinTaiwan.Inorderforthisreviewtobemorefocused,IshallnotattempttoincludeallthebooksandarticlespublishedonMencius.Instead,Ishallfocusonmaterialsthatfollowthesetwoapproaches:(1)philosophicaland(2)intel-lectual-historical.ContemporaryscholarswhotakethefirstapproachseetheMendusasaphilosophicaltextindependentofsocial,political,andeconomicchanges.Consciouslyorunconsciously,theyassumethatideasinMencius'philosophicalsystemareindependentoftheseforces.ThosewhotakethesecondapproachexamineMencius'thoughtinhistoricalandculturalcontext,andareparticularlyinterestedinthewaysMencius'thoughtsareviewedindifferenthistoricalandculturalbackgrounds.Althoughthesetwoapproachesaremethodologicallydifferent,theyarealsocomplementary.Inthefollowing,Ishallexaminesomemainstudiesdoneusingthesetwodifferentapproaches,focusingonthemainissuesidentifiedandmaincontributionsmade.I.PhilosophicalApproachesThemainissuescontemporaryscholarsoftheMendusareinterestedinin-clude:(1)thebasisforMencius'viewofthegoodnessofhumannature,therelationshipbetweenhumannatureandheart/mind,andcontemporarysignificanceofMencius'viewofthegoodnessofhumannature;(2)thees-senceoftheheart/mindinMencius'philosophyandtherelationshipbe-tweenheart/mindandbody;and(3)theimplicationofMencius'concep-tionofcultivationofqi(yangqi~)andtherelationshipsbetweenqiandheart/mindandbetweenqiandMngtf~(materialform).I.1.GoodnessofHumanNature*ProfessorofHistoly,NationalTaiwanUniversiqr,ResearchFellow,AcademiaSiniea,Taipei,Taiwan;e-mail:[e-mail]:AJournalofCompara~vePhilosop~December2004,VotIV,No.1,pp.151-166.92004byGlobalScholarlyPublications.152Dao:AJournalo/ComparativePhilosophyO'V.1)ThegoodnessofhumannatureisoneofMencius'mostimportantideas.WearetoldthatwhenMenciustalkedaboutthegoodnessofhumannature,healwayscitedYaoandShunasexamples(Mendus3al).However,scholarsdonotagreeonwhatMenciusmeantbythegoodnessofhumannature.InhisEssentialsofMendus,QIANMut~arguesthatthegoodnessofhumannatureisoneofthethreemostimportantideasinMencius(theothertwobeingcultivationofqtandinsightintowords(zhiyan~)(Qian1978:155-158).InQian'sview,thebestwaytounderstandtheorigi-nalmeaningofMencius'viewofthegoodnessofhumannatureistostudytheoriginaltextoftheMendus:tousethewordsthatMenciususedhimselftoexplainhisideasandtousetheexamplesthatMenciususedhimselftoproveMencius'ownintention.Followingthismethodology,Qiancon-cludesthatMencius'viewofthegoodnessofhumannaturemeans:(1)tobuildourconfidencetoimproveourselves,and(2)toencourageoureffortstoimproveourselves(Qian1980:103).Therefore,anyonewholackssuchconfidenceandeffortscannotclaimtohaveunderstoodthetruemeaningofMencius'viewofthegoodnessofhumannature.Fromadifferentper-spective,QianalsoarguesthatthisviewofMenciusindicatestheideasofhumanequalityandfreedominthehighestsenses.Humansareallequalbecausetheyallhavethenaturaltendencytogoodness;andhumansareallfreebecauseeveryoneisabletoreachthisgoal(Qian1980).Thisinsight,thatMencius'viewofthegoodnessofhumannatureimpliesequalityandfreedom,canbeappropriatelyseenasauniquecontributionQianmadetotheMenciusstudy,asnooneelsehaseverseenthisconnection.MouZongsan~E.madethemostspectacularstudyofMencius'conceptionofheart/mind.HisoriginalthoughtsonMenciuscanbesum-marizedwithhiseightwords:renyineizai,xingyouxinxian~-~I~''~,6(humanityandrighteousnessareinternalandhumannatureismanifestedbyheart/mind).AccordingtoMou,Mencius'viewofthegoodnessofhu-mannaturecannotbeseparatedfromhisconceptionofheart/mind:theessenceoftheviewofthegoodnessofhumannatureisthatmoralityisin-herentinhumanheart/mind.Thus,Moustated:ThepurposethatMenciusinsistsonthegoodnessofhumannatureis,nega-tively,toargueagainstGaozi'sviewthatwhatoneisbornwithishumanna-ture;and,positively,toshowthathumanityandrighteousnessareinternal.Internalmeansinternaltoheart/mind.Internaltoheart/mindmeansthatonedoesnotabsorbhumanitiesandrighteousnessintoheart/mindandmakethemintoone;rather,itmeansthatheart/mindistheheart/mindofhumanityandrighteousness,andhumanityandrighteousnessareoriginatedfromheart/mind....Thisheart/mindiswhatMenciuscalledoriginalheart/mind(ben.x'ing5~,)....Heretheoriginalheart/mindisnotapsychologicalonebutatranscendentalandmoralone.(Mou1979:216-217)TherearemanyothercontemporaryscholarswhohavetriedtoarguethatMencius'viewofthegoodnessofhumannaturecannotbeseparatedfromhisconceptionofheart/mind,butMou'sideasarethemostoriginal.Inrecentyears,YUANBaoxin~{~g~i:andLIMinghui~l~]j~i,bothstu-Huang:ContemporaryChineseStudyofMencius153dentsofMou,havemadeimportantcontributionstothestudyofMencius'viewofthegoodnessofhumannature.InhisAHistoricalExaminationofMendus'ThreeDebatesandTheirContemporaryInteq~retations(Yuan),particularlyinchaptersthreeandfour,YuanpointsoutthatMencius'viewofthegood-nessofhumannaturewasdevelopedprimarilytocounterotherviewsofhumannatureagainsttheConfucianmoralcultivation(suchasthoseofYANGZhu'sandGaozi's).YuanarguesthatthedebatebetweenMenc