“理”在中国文化中的意义

The Significance of Li in Chinese Culture

"理"在整个中国文化发展史上是非常核心的范畴,也是文化转型的标志性概念。在先秦诸子百家的文献中,实际上都不大讲"理"。"理"的概念演变史就是一部儒家思想融合与发展的历史。其第一个层面是所谓"事理";第二个层面是所谓"情理";第三个层面是所谓"义理";第四个层面是所谓"道理"。"理"和"性"在中国传统中是各有意指的,理学中有时讲"性理",亦非今人所谓"理性"。西方的"理性"观念传入中国之后,有一个逐步理解和消化的过程,中间还存在着很多变形与融合。"理性"往往是和客观的认识活动、科学实验、自然发现等工作联系在一起的,是实证性科学的另外一种表达方式,代表了科学的根本精神。二程讲"天理"其实是从本体论意义上立言的,天理含摄了万物,或者说天理就是万物存在的依据,是最高的"一",是"本体论的存有",是人的存在价值得以实现和能够被说明的根本依据。

The idea of Li(principle)plays a pivotal role in the history of Chinese culture and is indicative ofcultural transformations.The sages in the pre-Qin period did not give much thought to Li.The development of conceptof Li reflects the history of fusion and development of Confucianism.Li could be talked about in different senses:firstly,shili(the intelligibility of events);secondly,qingli(the reason involved in human emotions);thirdly,yili(moral principle);fourthly,daoli(the principle of the Way).Li and Xing(nature)signify different things in theChinese tradition.However,the Neo-Confucians of the Song and Ming sometimes talk about xingli(the principle ofnature),which is not the same as what we call today Lixing(reason).The Western idea of Lixing(reason)was newto the Chinese tradition.It took time for the Chinese intellectuals to integrate it into their own culture.Distortions andfusions are unavoidable.Lixing(reason)in the Chinese context is mainly connected with objective cognition,scientificexperiments and discoveries of natural phenomena.It points to the positive science and represents the scientific spirit.The Cheng brothers established Tianli(the heavenly principle)as an ontological category.Tianli governs everything inthe universe,or,in other words,Tianli is the ground of the being of everything.It is“the One”,or ontological being.Tianli is the principle by which we understand human existence and values.