Abstract
A thorough interpretation of the ideological structure of the recently unearthed Daoist text Hengxian 恒先 has not yet been achieved, and a few doubtful and difficult points still remain to be discussed. Based on the concepts of “hengxian”, “Qi”, “the Field”, “beginning”, “movement”, “spontaneity”, and “name”, this paper comprehensively discusses the text of Hengxian with respect to the primordial state of the cosmos, the evolution of the cosmos, the production and existence of Heaven, Earth, and the myriad things, and the measure of human behaviors in a society. It further addresses why the word “Dao” does not appear in Hengxian, why it contains a theory of production instead of an ontology, and what is meant by a series of special concepts including “the Field” and “wuxian 物先 (the state before the myriad things)”.
摘要
新出土道家佚文 «恒先» 的整体性思想构造尚未得到深入揭示, 个别疑点和难点也有待探讨。 以“恒先”、 “域”、 “气”、 “始”、 “往”、 “自然” 和“名”等概念为中心, 从宇宙的“原初”及其“状态”、 宇宙的演化和天地的生成、 “万物” 的生成和存在、 以及人间行为的尺度等方面, 对«恒先»进行全面讨论, 有助于阐明«恒先»中为何不出现“道”, 为何不是本体论而是生成论等问题, 以及“域”、 “物先”等特殊概念。
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Translated by Kuang Zhao from Wen shi zhe 文史哲 (Literature, History and Philosophy), 2008, (2): 45–56
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Wang, Z. The construction of the view of the cosmos and the human world in Hengxian . Front. Philos. China 4, 493–510 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11466-009-0032-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11466-009-0032-3