自然与僭政——评普鸣《作与不作》

Nature and Mankind’s Usurpation of Its Authority:A Review of Michael Puett’s The Ambivalence of Creation

普鸣认为,汉代之前的"作"字始终含有一种潜在的对于自然的僭越。借助于拆解"天人合一"对先秦思想之统摄,普鸣希望"恢复"早期中国思想的开放性,从而使之与西方古典文明就如何对待"政治"——这一人类最根本的创造或破坏——形成某种对话;同时,在早期中国思想的范畴内对两个重要问题展开探索:政治的本质是什么?政治的正当性从何而来?但是,由于有意割除了"心"与"德"的元素,普鸣似乎只能于中西比较中发掘其趋同的一面,亦即当时的思想家对"断裂"的焦虑以及对于"作"的审慎使用,却无法在精神上感受"连续性"在超时间、超历史的维度上对于中国的圣王"制作"的内在支持。

Michael Puett thinks that before the Han dynasty,the notion of“creation”(zuo作)always carried the latent sense of usurping nature’s authority.By dismantling the paradigm of the“unity between Heaven and Man”(tian ren he yi天人合一)for pre-Qin thought,Puett hopes to recover the openness of early Chinese thought,thereby letting it form a dialogue with Western classical civilization on how to regard“politics”–which is the most fundamental form of human creation or destruction.At the same time,Puett further explores two important questions within the scope of early Chinese thought:namely“What is the essence of politics?”and“Where does political legitimacy come from?”However,by intentionally excluding the elements of“the heart-mind”(xin心)and“virtue”(de德),in comparing China and the West,Puett seems to only be able to explore their convergent aspect,namely the concern of contemporary thinkers over political“disruption”and their careful usage of the notion of“creation”.Puett is unable,however,to get a feel of the“continuity”that,from the timeless and trans-historical context of Chinese civilization-motivates the support for acts of“creation”by the sage-kings of old.