“先其算命”:早期中國知識系統中的“數”及其性質和意義

The Nature and Meanings of Numbers in the Knowledge System of Early China

早期中國和古希臘一樣,都具有“數爲萬物之原”的觀念。此一觀念所基於的“數”及其具體内容早已不是原始文化的數字崇拜,也不屬於密契式的領悟,而是對度量衡及具體計算、樂律學、占卜和天文曆法中發展出來的“數”及數學知識,進一步加以總結而得到的抽象認識。“數”作爲知識系統的核心,是早期中國關聯式宇宙論、自然宇宙論及各種形而上學思想的重要基礎。思想史研究如果忽略對知識史的探討,不僅易流於空疏,而且會發生謬誤。

Both Greek and Chinese had the concept of that everything is disposed according to numbers.This concept was no longer the number worship of primitive culture,nor was it a mystical speculation,but rather the abstract knowledge which drew fromn“number”and mathematics developed in weights and measures andspecific calculations,music temperament,divination,and astronomical calendars.As the core of knowledge system,“number”was an important basis for early Chinese cosmology,cosmogony and various metaphysical ideas.If the study of the history of thought ignores the study of the history of knowledge,it is not only easy to be superficial,but also fallacious.