和辻哲郎与“日语哲学”的探索

Watsuji Tetsujirou and His Exploration of “Japanese Philosophy”

随着近代初期日本对于“Philosophy”之学的接受并以“哲学”译语得以广泛传播,在20世纪初至30年代,学界出现了关于“日本哲学”以及“日本哲学史”的最初探索,开始阐述“哲学”在日本的传统学术中如何存在的问题。然而,和辻哲郎却与其他学者不同,他认为近代以前的日本传统学术只是用汉语思考,从而发出了日本哲学必须“用日语思考”的呼吁,并着手进行“日语哲学”的探索性尝试。他试图通过所谓的“纯粹日语”,分析、阐释“日语”所具有的“哲学”意蕴,探索既具有日语的语言特质,又符合“西方哲学”思辨性特征的“日本哲学”。由此,他采用所谓的“纯粹日语”,并以纯粹假名的表现形式,围绕“あるということはどういうことであるか”这一哲学根本之问,展开他关于“日语哲学”的探索。然而,为了分析这句以纯粹假名日语来表现的哲学之问中各种语言要素的含义,他又不得不采用汉字汉语替换相应的假名单词进行哲学意蕴的分析与阐发,使他那所谓的“纯粹日语”中汉字的存在成为不可或缺的构成要素,这也正是他区别于其他学者,不主张废除日语中汉字存在的原因之所在。由于“あるということはどういうことであるか”只是关于“所言存在(有)这件事究竟是怎样言之事”的问题,他所揭示的“日语哲学”,则仅仅停留在语言层面的诘问与探索。然而,这种“是怎样”的诘问并非关于“是什么”的探索,其作为“哲学”的根本之问显然并不成立。

With the acceptance of“philosophy”in Japan in the early modern times and its wide spread as the translation of“philosophy”,from the beginning of the 20th century to the 1930s,the academic circles began to explore“Japanese philosophy”and“the history of Japanese philosophy”and began to explain how“philosophy”existed in Japan’s traditional academia.However,Watsuji Tetsujirou was different from other scholars.He believed that the traditional Japanese academia before modern times was only thinking in Chinese,so he called for Japanese philosophy to“think in Japanese”and began to make an exploratory attempt to“Japanese philosophy”.Through the so-called“pure Japanese”,he tried to analyze and explain the“philosophical”meaning of“Japanese”and explore the“Japanese philosophy”which not only has the linguistic characteristics of Japanese,but also conforms to the speculative nature of“Western philosophy”.Therefore,he adopted the so-called“pure Japanese”and expressed it in the form of pure kana Japanese,centering on“あるということはどういうことであるか?”this philosophical fundamental question,launching his exploration on“Japanese philosophy”.However,in order to analyze the meaning of various language elements in this philosophical question expressed in pure kana Japanese,he had to use Chinese characters to replace the corresponding kana words for the analysis and elucidation of the philosophical meaning,making the existence of Chinese characters in his so-called“pure Japanese”an indispensable constituent element.This is the reason why he is different from other scholars and does not advocate the abolition of the existence of Chinese characters in Japanese.Because the“Japanese philosophy”he revealed only stays at the level of language,that is,“あるということはどういうことであるか?”It’s just about“how on earth to talk about what is called as the existence(being)”.This kind of“how”question is not about the exploration of“what”,and it is obviously not tenable as the fundamental question of“philosophy”.