History of Chinese Theory of Human Nature

Author: Xu Fuguan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-11-01
Features: To mention only the word "sex," to explain the meaning of the character, this is a linguistic issue. What I want to narrate is the "history of human nature theory," which is to describe the fundamental views of various schools and factions in Chinese cultural history on the origin of human life and the origin of morality, which is a historical issue of thought. Without first clarifying the perspectives of linguistics and the history of thought, it is impossible to avoid unnecessary confusion in the discussion. For decades, some scholars of the history of thought in China have advocated adopting the method of "explaining a historical issue of thought from a linguistic perspective." The basis for this comes from a biased argument held by a few Westerners that "philosophy is a byproduct of language," which is linked to the mainstream of China's Qian-Jia school. Regarding the relationship between philosophy and language, or the relationship between thought and language, it is a mutually restrictive and mutually influential relationship. This book is divided into 14 chapters, including: the surge of humanistic spirit in the early Zhou religion, the status of Confucius in the history of Chinese culture and his issues of "sex" and "heavenly way," the synthesis of pre-Qin Confucian thought—the way of the Great Learning, the Taoist branches and their later stream of thought on the nature of the mind and self, etc.