On The Study Load Of Zhang

Zhang Zai’s works includes Zhengmeng, Hengqu Yi Shuo, Jing Xue Li Ku, The Analects of Zhangzi, etc. These are basic texts referenced by the author to study Zhang Zai’s philosophy on nature of being in this paper. On the one hand, it studies the concept nature in a philosophy history viewpoint; On the other hand, it studies the meaning and function of nature by investigating the relationships between nature and taixu, nature and dao, nature and ming, nature and mind. This paper also references some academic viewpoints in western philosophy in a few paragraphs. It’s divided into five chapters and the primary viewpoints are as follows:Zhang Zai’s nature theory is based on his predecessors’achievements. According to Zhang’s viewpoints, nature is not limited to the the meaning of human nature, Zhang Zai thinks "nature is the origin of every being", nature generally exists in everything. The difference between human and other beings is they get peculiar degrees of spirituality of nature. Nature lasts forever and is a being’s inner cause of interactions among beings. So every being interacts with each other, forming the forever developing lively world.Zhang Zai proposes two kinds of human nature:prior nature and emotion nature. Prior nature is pure good and IS human moral will ability. Emotion nature refers to human disposition, understanding ability, instinct, emotion. In Zhang’s opinion, This emotion nature is derived from prior nature. A person can transform all of his emotion nature back into prior nature through the efforts of training moral will. Zhang firmly believes that prior nature has the absolute moral value which is emphasized by every Confucianists follower. Emotion nature is proposed by Zhang to explain the logic origin of evil. Zhang argues a person will become a Saint when he sucessfully transforms all of his emotion nature to prior nature.Zhang Zai expounds that taixu equates to nature in order to show that nature is immaterial, able to generate interaction, invisible and penetrable."Dao IS just nature", this viewpoint of Zhang put human being and tian in the same class, raises the dignity and ability of human theoretically. On the relationship between nature and ming, Zhang deems that completely accomplished nature will reach the domain of ming. The process of accomplishing human nature is within the ability of human free will, while ming belongs to the inevitable causal scope and is beyond the ability of human free will.On the relationship between nature and mind, Zhang Zai inherits the Mencius’ theory and ignores his former standpoint which is close to Yijing. He recognizes that mind is the fundamental fateful force that determines the process of understanding and the accomplishing of nature. This viewpoint of him is inconsistent with his former theory on the relationship between nature and dao, as a result, the standard of evaluating moral behaviour is obscure. For if dao is the fundamental fateful force, the behaviour that corresponds with dao is good, otherwise it is evil, the standard is dao; if mind is the fundamental fateful force, dao is determined by mind, so the accomplishments of goodness and evil depend on that whether human behavioral is subordinated to his moral will. Besides, Zhang declares "mind contains nature and emotion." Though this viewpoint is not thorough, it obviously influences the later philosopher Zhu Xi.On the relationship between nature and li, Zhang Zai deems nature is the core and foundation of li, nature determins the principles of li. The practice of trying to understand li and complying with li could help a person correspond with dao, and gradually accomplish his nature. Zhang is one of the famous philosophers who emphasizes li greatly after Xunzi, his viewpoint on the relationship between nature and li is similar to Xunzi’s correlative idea.Unidimensional simplification is one of the features of Zhang’s nature theory. Zhang Zai emphasizes the prior nature of every being, and ignores the nature of diferent kinds of objects. It causes logic difficulties in his theory:nature is seen as dao, at the same time dao is already implemented in every being. The absolute only dao should produce the same nature in every kind of objects, this means that logically the difference of spirituality degree of objects will never appear. So there is no clear distinction between human and other beings. It’s an apparent imperfection for a Confucianism philosophy theory.Zhang Zai demonstrates the nature of humanity and the universe is the same through his nature doctrine. The steps of his demonstration include:dao=prior nature, prior nature=human nature, taixu=nature, implementation of nature=ming. His whole theory is centre on human nature, answering these metaphysical questions:what is the true meaning of human being, how to behave ethically and what will a man achieve finally. Zhang Zai argues "there is no metaphysical difference between material existence and immaterial existence." Follow this thinking, he creates his new ontology in which nature is seen as the only noumenon. In his nature theory, nature do not logically determine the essence of dao, taixu, etc. nature is just constrainedly considered the same as dao, taixu, etc. So Zhang Zai’s nature theory is imperfect. The serious theoretical faultiness is:the illogicality inside nature which contains the nature of universe and the ethical nature of human being. Nature is considered not only to include material qi, but also immaterial virtues which are believed in by the Confucianists. But logically principle of qi In the universe would not deduce spiritual virtues, there is radical difference among them. Nature of universe and spiritual virtues of human nature will never unified among nature perfectly.