“天下”宇宙观的衍变及其哲学意蕴

The Creation and Evolution of the Cosmological Concept "Tianxia"(the World or China) and Its Philosophical Implications

"天下"这个术语既有自己的历史演变,又有文化哲学的意义,"天下"不仅仅有地域和空间的含义,而且也指涉着形而上的道德建构意义。对"天下"历史含义进行梳理,可以明确"天下"意义的衍变不但体现了华夏民族的宇宙构想、道德信仰、自我认同,而且彰显了近代中国社会从"天下"到"民族—国家"衍变的历史过程。同时,"天下"宇宙观的消解打破了中国人一统天下的时空观念,"儒教中国"正日益失去其活力,民族国家的意识正日益增强,从而为新时代的"天下"观增添了包容性和开放性的内容。

The concept 'Tianxia'(the world or China) has both a historical evolution of its own and cultural philosophical implications. This concept not only denotes a geographical and spatial meaning,but also refers to the moral construct of the metaphysics. Through a systematic study of its historical and cultural implications, the author demonstrates that the evolution of the meaning'Tianxia'not only embodies the cosmological construction, moral belief and self-identity of the Chinese nation, but also manifests the historical processes of modern China evolving from 'Tianxia'to a nation-state. Meanwhile,as the concept deconstructs with the history, the Chinese have broken through the spatial boundary of living under one world and Confucian China has been increasingly losing its grasp to the nation. However, the concept of nation-state has been gaining its way into people' s mind, which embraces more pluralities and openness to the concept of Tianxia.