談甲骨文“中”的觀念

語言文字與人的邏輯思維有密切的關連。本文嘗試通過甲骨文的字詞和載體歸納殷商人民重視'中'的觀念。殷人不但普遍掌握正、反二分的觀念,而且已經兼具平面的中和縱綫的中的想法。通過大量甲骨字形和用例的分析,可以發現殷人早已瞭解中道對於文字的發生和書寫的重要性。這種守中的思維,由殷文化進一步影響日後的兩周文明,成就了中國文化的基本思想。

Logic thinking is closely associated with language,both spoken and written.Here,based on the analysis of some specific terms in oracle bone inscriptions,we argue that the Shang people attached great import to the concept of“zhong中”.The Shang people not only grasped the dialectic methodology,but also paid great attention to the use of vertical line of“zhong中”to differentiate the four cardinal directions at two dimensional level and left/right and front/back at the three dimensional level.This idea of applying“zhong中”to the two-or three-dimension was extended to almost every aspects of Shang culture,from the role of symmetry in designing and constructing written graphs to the strong emphasis of balance and moderation in developing philosophical thoughts.It is fair to say that this great affinity of the Shang people for the concept of“zhong中”provided a key element in developing the Chinese culture.