中国早期思想史中的感官与认知

The Senses and Cognition in the History of Early Chinese Thought

中国思想史上,在商周时期形成了以耳口通达内外的认知传统;先秦时期,耳目被凸显,目一度被聚焦,但耳目之争,耳最终占优;秦汉时期,耳舌相争,最终舌居先。从早期耳口配合到耳目之争,耳占优可谓与商周古老传统一脉相承。秦汉时期展开的耳舌之辨,舌居先,实质上亦是如此。商周以降,口先隐而后以舌显,耳、舌的分别占优居先也是认知思想的自觉推进。最终,目、耳在诸感官之争中分别被压制,被味觉含摄,由此使中国认知思想与强调视觉优先、听觉优先的认知取向渐行渐远,最终确立了味觉优先的认知取向。味觉优先也确定了由味觉主导构成"道"等核心观念的文化路向,由此形成了中国特有的味觉思想世界。

In the history of Chinese thought,the cognitive tradition of communicating with the inner and the outer world through the ears and mouth took shape under the Shang and Zhou dynasties.In the pre-Qin period,the ear and eye were prominent,with the eye being the focus,but in the contention between ear and eye it was the ear that ultimately came out ahead.During the Qin and the Han,in the contention between ear and tongue,it was the tongue that ultimately won out.From the harmony of ear and mouth to the contention of ear and eye,the dominance of the ear could be said to have been handed down in a continuous line of transmission from ancient Shang and Zhou tradition.The tongue's dominance in the Qin and Han contention of ear and tongue was in fact also like this;after the Shang and the Zhou,the mouth's withdrawal,followed by its reappearance with the tongue,with ear and tongue taking turns to have the upper hand,showed conscious progress in cognitive thought.Eventually,eye and ear in the contention of the senses were respectively suppressed or absorbed by the sense of taste.This meant that Chinese cognitive thought was growing further and further away from its tendency to emphasize the primacy of the senses of sight and hearing towards the primacy of the sense of taste.The primacy of taste also determined the taste-led cultural direction of the Dao and other central concepts.Thus was formed the distinctively Chinese world of thought about the sense of taste.