邓曼:中国第一女哲

Deng Mann:The First Female Philosopher in China

春秋早期的邓曼,堪称“中国第一女哲”。她对中国哲学的贡献,不仅在于具有涵盖形上学、形下学以及“天人之际”关系的思想系统,更在于她做出的三个思想首创:一是“天道”概念(天帝显示的必然法则);二是“天不假易”命题(天帝绝不宽容傲慢轻率之人);三是“天道盈荡”命题(事物发展到满盈状态时,就会动荡不安,这是天帝确定的必然法则)。此外,她特别表述了以“德”“信”“刑”为核心范畴的政治哲学思想,并以形上的天帝信仰来为这种形下的政治哲学奠基,意味着人对天的一种应有态度——必须敬畏天命以尽人事。

Deng Mann,also known as“the belle Mann”,was a woman with the surname Mann from the Deng State in the early Spring and Autumn period.She was the daughter of Mann Wuli,a Marquis of Deng,and the sister of Mann Qi,also a Marquis of Deng.She was the wife of Xiong Tong,King Wu of Chu State,and the mother of Xiong Zi,King Wen of Chu State.As a historical figure in the early Spring and Autumn period,Deng Mann was not only one of the first Chinese philosophers of the Axial Age,but also the first female philosopher in China,because her thoughts already possessed the basic conceptual framework of Chinese philosophy,covering the thoughts of the way of tian( Logos of God) as the metaphysics,the human way as the sub-metaphysics,and the relationship between tian( God) and man.Moreover,she was the first to put forth the following three ideas at the very beginning of the history of Chinese philosophy.1.The concept of the tian dao( Logos of God),which is the inevitable law displayed by the God.The term tian here refers to the supreme god,and dao refers to the inevitable law displayed by tian,that is,the expression of the will of the supreme god.The concept of tian dao or“the way of tian”was not found in the ancient classics of the Book of Songs,the Book of Documents,or the Book of Changes before the Spring and Autumn period.It was mentioned in the Spring and Autumn period in the Zuo Zhuan and Guoyu,books far later than the time of Deng Mann.Obviously,the“way of tian”as a fundamental concept in Chinese philosophy was first proposed by Deng Mann,at least according to the records in the extant historical literature.This alone is enough to establish Deng Mann's position as the first female philosopher in China.2.The proposition of tian bu jia yi,meaning that God will never tolerate the arrogant and reckless people.Here,yi refers to reckless and arrogant people,while jia means“to tolerate”.Deng Mann's belief in the supreme and ancestral gods was not original,but rather a common religious concept of her time.However,the proposition that God will never tolerate the arrogant and reckless people and the idea that it is the way of tian that things will become unstable when developing to a state of full abundance are original creations of Deng Mann.3.The proposition of tian dao ying dang,which means it is the way of tian( the inevitable law determined by the God)that things will become unstable when developing to a state of full abundance.The term ying here means fullness,overflow,and exhaustion,and generally refers to the state in which things develop to a state of fullness;dang originally refers to the shaking of water,which extends figuratively to the turbulence,instability,and instability of things.This is also an original idea of Deng Mann's.Wu Zixu had a similar proposition:it is the way of tian that fullness is bound to ruin,but it was also later than Deng Mann's.In addition to the three pioneering points mentioned above,Deng Mann specifically expressed the political philosophy with “virtue”,“promise keeping ” and “punishment ” as the core categories,and laid the foundation for this submetaphysical political philosophy with the metaphysical belief in tian,which means that one must fear God in order to fulfill human affairs.The aforementioned Deng Mann's idea that God will never tolerate the arrogant and reckless people reflects a punitive effect of tian on humans,and also contains a proper attitude of humans,that is,awe,towards tian.