Criticism And Integration: Zhang Zai’s Epistemology And Lao-zhuang’s Theories

How did Zhang Zai develop his own distinctive epistemic system by criticizing and integrating Lao-Zhuang’s（老庄）theories?This study addresses this subject from two aspects:the acquisition of knowledge（Zhizhide,知之得）and the expression of knowledge（Zhizhida,知之达）.Zhang Zai took lessons from Lao-Zhuang’s theory of Qi（气）in terms of cosmogenesis and the view of life and death,but compared to the latter,Zhang Zai paid greater attention to the dialectical link between the unified Tao（道）and split objects.Their epistemological agreements and disagreements are determined by their understanding of existential forms.In the aspect of"the acquisition of knowledge",Zhang Zai and Lao-Zhuang agreed on the source and limit of knowing by seeing and hearing（Jianwenzhizhi,见闻之知）,but Lao-Zhuang placed a greater focus on the drawbacks of knowing by seeing and hearing.Zhang Zai not only drew lessons from their theories on the drawbacks of knowing by seeing and hearing,but also paid more attention to the rationality of knowing by seeing and hearing;On the issue of obtaining the"true knowledge"（Zhenzhi,真知）,Zhang Zai and Lao-Zhuang all agreed that the drawbacks of knowing by seeing and hearing might be overcome by"emptying the heart-mind"（Xuxin,虚心）and the"true knowledge"could be gained by intuition.Zhang Zai,on the other hand,criticized the religious mystery of Lao-Zhuang’s conception of real person（Zhenren,真人）,and demonstrated that the development of an ideal person is a process of mutual cultivation of knowledge（Zhi,知）and virtue（De,德）.In the aspect of"the expression of knowledge",Lao Tzu,Chuang Tzu and Wang Bi gave relevant criticisms on whether the words（Ming,名）can reach the Tao,while Zhang Zai paid more attention to the dialectical link between Tao and words.Zhang Zai also replied to Lao-Zhuang’s criticism of"meaning is beyond the words"（Yanbujinyi,言不尽意）by developing a new understanding of the relationship between words and image（Xiang,象）;In terms of how to express Tao,Zhang Zai opposed Lao-Zhuang’s thinking method of"straight words seem crooked"（Zhengyanruofan,正言若反）with"yi wu liang ti"（一物两体）,and rejected Lao-Zhuang’s approach of knowing tacitly by virtue cultivation.