On The Philosophical Foundation Of Wang Chuanshan’s Thought Of Filial Piety

As the core content of Confucianism,filial pietyis not only the significant part of Chinese traditional culture,but also thebackground of life in traditional society.Today,in the context of increasingly intense cultural clashes,how to absorb Confucian filial piety in the contemporary social life is animportant social issue.On account of Chuanshan reforming Confucian ethics and morality in the special historical circumstances,this paper will take the philosophical basis of the filial piety thought of Wang Chuanshan as the topic,and try to sort out the value structure and philosophical base of his filial piety thought,providing reasons to modernization of filial piety.About the existence of filial piety,Wang Chuanshan established the inner connection between filial piety and the real existence of human from the perspective of his ontology of Qi(气).Based on the real existence and fluxion of Qi,Chuanshan established the basis and connotation of filial piety in the framework of“harmony between Heaven and parents”(天亲合一).On the basis of the penetration of Qion Heaven and parents,Chuanshan affirmed the value of parents as a concrete existence,and believed that value of parents is connect with the Sheng-li(生理)of Qi.Hence,he held the view that the practice of filial piety is actually the inheritance and manifestation of the Sheng-li of parents originated from Heaven,and confirmed the transcendental value of filial piety.And due to the fact that the distance be tween the Heaven and people is farther than the distance between parents and people,Wang Chuanshan argued that parenting is virtually the expression of the creation of the Heaven for humans anddepends on parents’inheritanceto Li and Qi.Therefore,based on the cognition that parents arethe direct origin of human,Chuanshan emphasized that the people’s practiceof filial piety is in fact the start of understanding the Sheng-li of Heaven.On the basis of the framework of Li(理)existing in the Qi,Chuanshancanceled the philosophical mode of“li preceding Qi”issued by Zhu-xi,and indicated that the value structure of the“Heavenly Principle—filial piety”lies on the transformation of Qi to person.Therefore,under the framework of Tao existing in the Qi(器),Chuanshan affirmed the dependence of filial piety on human’s concrete existence,andregarded the realistic individual as the substantial basis of the filial piety.Based on this.Chuanshan developed the thought that“keeping oneself body to taking care of parents”by the thought of“the research on Qi(器)is called Tao”,and argued that the key of real existence of filial piety is people’s development of their own presence.According to people’s comprehensive body and nature granted by parents,Chuanshan affirmed the realistic significance of the practice of filial piety is to manifesting the different between animals and humans,and indicated that“keeping oneself body”is not keeping physical body,but holding the bottom line of value of humanity.Concerning the value basis of filial piety,Wang Chuanshan developed the thought of“human nature being the intrinsic basis of value”issued in Cheng-Zhu’s(程朱)Neo Confucianismwith the theory of the Nature inthe body(气质之性),in his ontology of Qi(气).Based on the thoughts of“human nature being cultivated by habit”and“human nature being cultivated step by step”,Chuanshan confirmed that Human Nature as the real value characteristics is not an absolute entity which includes the contents concerning filial piety,but thefactual basis which makes filial piety real,andassured the realistic relationship of“applying one’s nature to filial piety”.Andbased on human being the intelligent part of the universe,he affirmed the concept that filial piety is universal ethic unique to human,with the thoughts of“benevolence being human’s unique feature”and“benevolence being common in humanity”.Based on the realistic relation of Human Nature and filial piety,Chuanshan regarded people as the moral subject and emphasized people’s independence and self-sufficiency in the practice of filial piety.At the same time,he defined that the connotation of filial piety is principle of love instead of love,by inheriting the thoug hts issued by Zhu-xi that the principle of love is Human Nature and love is the emotion.Furthermore,on the basis of inheriting the Mencius thought regarding the conscience,Chuanshan claimed the thoughts of“Human Nature beingmore decisive than learning in the practice of filial piety”.Besides,he imaged that the core prerequisite of implement of filial piety is one’s conscience and the effect of“learning”is the supplementary to specific expression of filial piety.Based on the fact that filial piety i s the closest expression of Human Nature,he believed that the practice of filial piety is the beginning of recognizing Human Nature.In the aspect of implemented of filial piety,based on the inclusion and manifestation of Human Nature by“heart”,Wang Chuanshan stressed that he heart of benevolence is the internal motivation for people to carry out filial piety according to Human Nature,and developed the theoretical framework of carrying out filial piety with Human Nature into the practice mechanism of carrying out filial piety according to their heartof benevolence.Based on the characteristics of the heart of benevolence,Chuanshan affirmed that one’s heart of benevolencedominates the practice of filial piety,and canceled the possibility of practicin g filial piety according to the external actions.And founded by the upholding of one’s heart of benevolence,he developed thecultivation called the investigation of things(格物)being connected with recognizing and manifesting conscience(致知).In this cultivation,recognizing and manifesting conscience is internal,which is the upholding of benevolence;the investigation of things is external,which is the study of principles of things.The implementation of investigating things is dominated by one’s benevolent heart founded by recognizing and manifesting conscience,and people’s recognition and manifestation of conscience is embodied in amid of studying phenomena of things.Because of the heart of benevolence being the inner power of filial piety,Wang Chuanshan emphasized the effect of“conscience”in the process of“being filial,being benevolent,and treating everything kindly”.In the way of expanding the heart of benevolence,he confirmed the existence of filial piety and stressed that“filial piety is the foundation of benevolence”.In terms of the implementation of humanity,Chuanshan affirmed the existence of the love of difference according to the content of Heavenly Principle,and pointed out that the love of difference is the necessary form of the practice of humanity,thus affirming that there is no conflict between practicing filial piety and loving people.Along with the philosophical framework of noumenon,Human Nature and cultivation,Wang Chuanshan systematically elaborated the real basis,intrinsicvalue basis and internal motivation of the existence of filial piety.On basis of the ontology of Qi,he realized the reflection and reconstruction of thought of filial piety issued by ancient Confucians according to the virtual existence of Qi.Mo re importantly,in the pursuit of the value of reality,he not only brought the filial piety back to the level of the concrete existence of human beings from the level of transcendental Heavenly Principle,but also highlighted the connection of filial piety to the spirit of Heaven in the practice of filial piety,and affirmed the unique value of it.