Extreme and Mean —— Possibility of Dialogue between Postmodernism and Confucianism

Extreme and Mean —— Possibility of Dialogue between Postmodernism and Confucianism

At present, postmodernism is still a popular and influential trend of thought. Foucault, Deleuze, Derrida, talking about their things will make people feel avant-garde and profound. As their disciples and descendants, the thoughts of Badiou, Zizek, agamben and others, in the name of radical thoughts, have also attracted the attention of many people in China. Compared with them, Confucianism is conservative. People who study these two schools basically don't associate with each other, and each says his own words. As we all know, although the positions of these two schools are quite different, they can both find places and methods for dialogue. How do you say this? Listen to me slowly.

As we all know, Confucianism emphasizes the golden mean. Zhou Dunyi emphasized that "saints are determined by righteousness". "The Analects of Confucius" also said, "A gentleman is moderate, while a villain is anti-moderate; Gentleman's doctrine of the mean, when also; The meanness of the villain is also the fearlessness of the villain. " "The Doctrine of the Mean" also said: "To be neutral, the status of Heaven is not good, and everything is nurtured". In Confucianism's view, sages have a kind of practical wisdom. They can always follow the golden mean and avoid "overstepping their duties" and "failing to perform their duties". Benevolence and morality are human nature, and human nature is good. People in society do evil because they are influenced by temperament and human desires. Zhu explained that "the way of a university lies in virtue" and wrote: "Those who are well informed should depend on the sky, not on the ethereal, and should respond to everything for various reasons." But when people are caught together and want to be covered, they sometimes faint; However, if its ontology is clear, someone will never stop. "That is to say, there is a kind of morality in human nature, which is innate. Although acquired habits in society and people's physical desires can cover up this moral nature as conscience and virtue, it is still possible to break through many restrictions and show it, so The Beginning of Life is good. Behind this Confucian proposition, of course, there is a fundamental view of human nature, which is related to China's view of heaven, earth, man and the universe, that is to say, a certain view of the universe and a certain theory of human nature are presupposed.

In the contemporary context, especially in the context of post-modernism questioning and re-examining everything, many Confucian thoughts may be branded with suspicion. For example, whether human nature is good or not deserves further discussion. Since Freud, the original view that western philosophy regards man as a rational being has been greatly questioned, so people pay more attention to the irrational side of man himself. In many of his works and texts, Foucault questioned rationality/irrationality, normality/madness, normality/morbidity and so on. This kind of questioning and exploration is actually exploring the edge of human nature. We can say that he answered Mencius' question "How many people are different from animals" through knowledge, genealogy and the latest achievements in contemporary philosophy, social science and psychological science. In other words, from the perspective of human nature theory, postmodernism actually brings us new thinking and a deeper understanding of human nature. Undoubtedly, the Confucian theory of goodness of human nature is closely combined with China's traditional theory of human nature. If we still insist on the Confucian view of good human nature, we should actively face the rethinking and redefinition of human nature by postmodernism. Moreover, postmodernism's thinking on the edge of human nature has actually greatly enriched human understanding of human nature. When we know more about the edge of human nature, we can also better understand the essence and core of human nature. Of course, the defect of postmodernism is also very obvious, that is, it is a flat philosophy without any center. In such a philosophy, people can't position themselves, but they can only keep exploring the edge, and this philosophy doesn't ask whether these new edges and new possibilities bring benefits or disadvantages to human beings. Obviously, this is a negative philosophy.

Therefore, we are allowed to introduce the concept of geometry. In geometry or geography, only by determining the position of the edge in advance can we find the position of the center. Similarly, when we better understand the edge of human nature, can't we better understand the essence centered on human nature? If we have a better understanding of human nature through the extreme thinking of postmodernism, wouldn't it be better to return to the Confucian golden mean thinking? Therefore, the expansion of the periphery may better consolidate the position of the central government.

This central position and thinking based on it are exactly the advantages of China's philosophy. China's philosophy, especially Confucianism, has gained continuous vitality because of its correct position and thorough thinking. In this case, the dialogue between Confucianism and postmodernism can better enrich and supplement Confucian philosophy. At the same time, for postmodernism, through the dialogue with Confucianism, its endless marginal thinking and divergent thinking may lead to a kind of convergent reflection.