“阴阳”张力与战国诸子气观念的历史维度

The Tension Between Yin and Yang as Perceived by Philosophers in China’s Warring States Period

战国时期,阳阴消息被视为天地大化的规律,诸子以阴阳二气来阐述天道、社会与人生,把阴阳消息之"变"及其运转机制之"常"归结为气的机理,阴阳二气包含着对立与迭运,相互构成张力而相反相成,阴阳两极的相互作用与自然和人文紧密关联,由此形成天人相应的战国气观念体系。战国诸子气观念的主流是与所谓天道秩序挂钩,而与宗法分封制脱钩、与人心脱钩。宗法分封观念下沟通天命神权和人心的阴阳之气,更变为系联天道秩序和功利的纽带,这是在时代剧变中对天人关系的重构,实际上诸子所论天道主要从人事中悟出来,这个天道秩序其实也是一种天命,是不受人心影响的自然天命。作为战国时期重要的社会思想,诸子气观念为中国古代天道和人事一致的思想传统奠定了基础。

In China’s Warring States period,the information contained in and expressed through Yin and Yang’s endless counteraction was regarded as the Order of Heaven,through which philosophers of various schools at the time expounded the workings of Heaven,society and life,reducing the changing phenomena caused by the two kinds Qi to the unchanged Law of them,viewing them as opposed,overlapped,and integrated,closely related to both nature and man,hence the concept of Qi of the Warring States,the mainstream of which was linked to the socalled Order of Heaven,but dissociated from the feudal patriarchal clan system and the human mind. Yin and Yang that had been considered communicating the divine right of heaven and the human mind was replaced with patriarchal feudalism linking the Order of Heaven to utilitarianism of man. This was the reconstruction of the relationship between heaven and man amid the dramatic changes of the times. Such Order of Heaven came as a result of the then philosophers’ comparing and contrasting between Heaven’s working and man’s affairs;it was thought essentially predestined and thus immune to man’s mind and will. As part of important social thoughts in the Warring States Period,the concept of Qi of the Warring States laid a foundation for the ideological tradition of harmony between heaven and man in ancient China.