东亚儒学之基本问题

Fundamental Issues of Confucianism in East Asia

东亚各国的儒学研究倾向于围绕本国所受影响范围进行展开。可是,单单以各国儒学为基轴而扩展的研究是不充分的,还需要从一开始就跟进把握东亚儒学的整体状况。因此有必要存在两种儒学史。一种是以各国为基轴的儒学史,另一种则是一开始便着眼于东亚全体来书写的儒学史。各地的儒学深受中国的影响,即从中国单向地传往各地,而非相互交流影响。各地的儒学之所以独立性强,是受到了各地域国家意识较强的影响。而儒学的“天下”本来是指世界整体,并非某一个国家。在日本有言论称日本为“天下”,把日本看作一个世界,即各个国家是一个个不同的世界,而这多个世界又包含在以中国为中轴的大世界当中。在这里各个国家处于“生态隔离”状态。儒学使用的概念能够包含多样的内容,各国才能利用它的特性来构筑本国特有的思想。日本特有的思想感受性能够获得表达方式,是以中国儒学为基础才得以实现的。值得重视的是,在东亚地区,儒学是基础素养,儒学形成了文化知识的共同基础。现在我们应该做的是:首先,通过系统理论地说明东亚儒学的历史存在意义,使之与西欧思想相对化;其次,要系统理论地说明儒学在多样社会中具有明确的存在意义。

The study of Confucianism in East Asian countries tends to focus on the scope of the influence made by Confucianism in their own country.However,the studies based on the Confucianism of one country alone are not sufficient,and it is necessary to grasp the overall conditions of Confucianism in East Asia from the very beginning.Therefore,it is necessary to have two types of history of Confucianism.One is the history of Confucianism based on each country alone,and the other is the history of Confucianism that focuses on the overall conditions of East Asia from the very beginning.Confucianism in of East Asia countries is greatly influenced by China.In other words,Confucianism was transmitted from China to each country in a single direction,rather than interacting with each other.The strong independence of Confucianism in each country was influenced by the high level of nationalism in each country.The concept of“all-under-heaven”in Confucianism refers to the whole world,instead of any single country.In Japan,however,they refer to themselves as“all-under-heaven”,which means that Japan is seen as a world.In other words,each country is a unique world,which are contained in the larger world with a central axis of China.Here the countries are in the condition of“ecological isolation”.The concepts used by Confucianism can embrace a wide variety of contents,so that each country can use its characteristics to construct its own unique philosophy.Japan's unique intellectual sensibility was expressed on the basis of Chinese Confucianism.In East Asia,it is important to note that Confucianism is the basic literacy.Confucianism forms the common foundation of culture and knowledge.What we should do now is,first,to relativize East Asian Confucianism to Western European philosophy by systematically theorizing the historical significance of it;second,to systematically theorize that Confucianism is of clear significance in a plural society.