从“无极而太极”的自然意志到伦理秩序——周敦颐自然观的价值构建与审视

From the Natural Will of “ the Ultimate of Nonbeing and the Supreme Ultimate ”to the Ethical Order: Value Construction and Review of Zhou Dunyi's View of Nature

作为理学开山,周敦颐认为,"无极而太极"使自然的生成成为可能。他的自然观具有人文性质,是一种伦理型的自然观。其主要内容包括三个方面:1."无极而太极"是周敦颐自然观的伦理核心;2."诚"是周敦颐自然观的伦理原则;3."善"是周敦颐自然观的伦理体现。从自然价值的角度来审视周敦颐的自然观,他将一种无形无象虚空的"无极而太极"作为自然宇宙生成的本源,这在宇宙自然的起源上,并不符合科学依据,显得荒谬。从人文价值的角度上来说,周敦颐的自然观是在应对佛教挑战儒家的"文化焦虑"中产生的。其贡献在于试图为发源于先秦儒家学说建立一个新的,足以与佛教思想相抗衡的自然观的理论框架。不仅如此,他还将这种"实有"的"无极而太极"自然世界作为伦理秩序和道德世界合理性的依据,为儒家道德价值世界的生成与超越奠定了坚实的理论基础。这为后世儒家尤其是宋明理学的发展,起到了重要的推动作用。

As the earliest founder of Neo - Confucianism, Zhou Dunyi thought,＂ the Ultimate of Nonbeing and the Supreme Ultimate＂ made the generation of nature possible. His view of nature is a kind of ethic view of nature with humanity. Its main contents include three aspects： 1. ＂ The Ultimate of Nonbe- ing and the Supreme Ultimate ＂ is the ethical core of Zhou Dunyi g view of nature; 2. ＂ Honesty＂ is the ethics principle of Zhou Dunyig view of nature; 3. ＂ Good＂ is the ethics reflection of Zhou Dunyi＇s view of nature. Examining Zhou Dunyi＇s view of nature from the perspective of nature value, he regar- ded intangible and vanity＂ the Ultimate of Nonbeiug and the Supreme Ultimate＂ as generation source of nature universe, which did not conform to the sci- entific basis and was absurd on the origin of the nature universe. From the perspective of humanistic value, Zhou Dunyi＇s view of nature was produced in the Confucian ＂cultural anxiety＂ dealing with the Buddhism＇ s challenge. His contribution was that he tried to create a new natural view of theoretical framework that was advanced enough to compete with Buddhism thoughts for Confucianism originated in the Pre - Qin. Not only that, he regarded the ＂real＂ natural world of ＂ the Ultimate of Nonbeing and the Supreme Ultimate＂ as the basis of rationality of ethics order and moral world, which laid a solid theoretical basis for the generation and surmounting of Confucian moral value world. It played an important role for the later generations of Confucianism, especially the development of Neo - Confucianism.