王船山的理气论

Wang Chuanshan's Theory of Li and Qi

在宋明理学研究领域,气学、理学(道学)、心学三分构架,是20世纪30年代以来的一个基本预设。张载作为宋代道学的奠基者之一,开创了所谓“气学”传统,王船山的思想以重建道学传统为根本旨趣,丰富和推进了气学理论。船山理气论呈现的思想样态表明,船山是广义道学史上的人物,而非单纯的所谓“气学家”。船山学在本体论域,接受周敦颐的太极说及朱子的本体论诠释方法,以太极释张载的“太和”,肯定太极即本体。在理气问题上,船山学在“天地之理气”的预设下,坚持理气不离、理气一体的立场,同时对朱子学的理气不杂说亦有肯定,提出“气不损益,理亦不杂”说,并承认相对于气而言,理有“秩序”义,因而在工夫上主张“以理御气”,呈现出与理学工夫论相符的一面。船山学一方面坚持“理是气之理”的气本论立场,甚至认为心、性、天、理都必须“在气上说”,另一方面又引出“诚”的观念,认为诚是气的本然之体,又是天之实理,而且诚是“极顶字”,是不可用其他字“代释”的最高概念。船山学在宇宙论本体论问题上略显复杂的观点论述表明,其理气论在实质上仍属于气学形态。总之,船山学是对濂溪学、横渠学以及朱子学的继承和创新。

In the realm of Li("理",the Reason)studies in Song and Ming Dynasties,the triple conformation of studies on Qi("气",the Vitality),Li(Dao,"道",the Way),Xin("心",the Mind)is a basic premise since 1930s.Zhang Zai,one of the founders of the Dao school in Song Dynasty,created the tradition of the Qi school,and Wang Chuanshan,aimed at reconstructing the tradition of the Dao school,enriched and promoted Qi theory.Wang's theory of the Li and the Qi,as its mode of thought represented,showed that he is a figure in the history of the Dao school in a broad sense,instead of a so-called pure"scholar of the Qi".In the realm of ontology,Wang inherited Zhou Dunyi's theory of the Taji("太极",the great ulimate)and Zhu Xi's methodology of ontological explanation,and explained Zhang Zai's"Taihe"("太和",the great harmony)with the Taiji,and proved the Taji as the ontology.Wang insisted on the position of LI-and.Qi-as-one with the premise of"the Li and the Qi of the heaven and the earth",and,at the same time,recognized Zhu Xi school's view that the Li and the Qi could not be confused,so that Wang school proposed that"the Qi does not decrease,and the Li does not mix".It also recognized that,as compared with the Qi,the Li had the meaning of"order",therefore,Zhang's"dominate the Qi with the Li"also conformed to the Li school.Wang's school insisted,on the one hand,on the position of the Qi as the ontology with that"the Li is the one of the Qi",and even held that the Mind,the Nature,the Heaven and the Li must be all"explained by the Qi",while,on the other hand,the concept of"sincerity"was introduced,and held that sincerity was innate in the Qi,as well as the true Li od the Heaven,and an"ultimate character"a highest concept which could not be"substituted and explained"by the other characters.Wang schol's a bit complicated viewpoints on the universe and the ontology shows that its theory of the Li and the Qi was still belonging to the morphology of the Qi study.All in all,Wang school inherited the other schools but with innovation.