Imperial Master of the Ming Dynasty

This letter is nominally addressed to Yuan Gong.

Dao Yan did not write his name, and Yuan Gong just said that he was a monk friend of his who was inconvenient to go down the mountain.

Yuan Gong said frankly that he couldn't understand the question in the letter, so he came to ask Jiang Xinghuo for advice.

Dao Yan's letter mainly wrote about two problems that troubled him and could not figure out the solution.

Is human nature always greedy and selfish?

If so, is that unachievable?

In fact, this is also the bottleneck that makes it difficult for Daoyan to advance his magic power even after he went crazy and became a demon.

If human nature is always greedy and selfish, what else can be accomplished? Then this theory makes no sense!

Daoyan read through the classics of the three religions in Datianjie Temple, and in the end he had to admit that he couldn't figure it out on his own.

so.

Why not ask the omniscient Jiang Sheng?

Yuan Gong, who was sent to work by the emperor, took over the task of delivering the letter, and Li Jinglong also joined in the fun.

"What does Mr. Yuan think of this letter written by your friend?"

After Jiang Xinghuo read it carefully, he turned around and asked.

Yuan Gong took a sip of wine, raised his head and drank it before saying.

"Based on my old life experience, human nature is actually neither inherently good nor inherently evil."

Jiang Xinghuo nodded and said, "You might as well come and listen."

Yuan Gong put down the huge wine gourd and tried his best to speak.

"If human nature is inherently evil, then why did Qin Hui write "Ode to Boyi in the Book of Fan Wenzhenggong" in his early years?"

"Gao Xian Miao is far away, but Ling Lin is still alive."

"Han Fan exists from time to time, who can comment on this."

"At this time, doesn't Qin Hui just want to be an upright and clear minister like Han and Fan?"

Before Jiang Xinghuo could answer, Yuan Gong continued.

"So in just a few short years, Qin Hui changed from a militant who advocated the fight against Jin to a cowardly capitulator. He even made an attempt to frame Yue Fei as a "truthless" case. If it is based on the theory of evil nature, Explain, is it true that Qin Hui was originally a wicked person, but the evil hidden in his heart was temporarily suppressed due to the enlightenment of Confucius and Mencius' poems in his early years?"

"I don't think so." Yuan Gong then said sincerely.

Li Jinglong interrupted and asked at this time.

"Then what if we go the other way and say that human nature is good?"

Yuan Gong explained to Li Jinglong: "Since human nature is inherently good, let's take the simplest example. How can we explain the group of madmen and villains in the Northern Qi Dynasty since Emperor Shenwu? They made the concubine's head into a wine glass, made a pipa out of the leg bones, and swaggered naked through the market. , seize babies to feed to wolves and dogs, hold scorpions in ponds and throw them at people for fun, and make beasts princes. Is this the goodness of human nature?"

Li Jinglong said disdainfully: "Hulu are no different from animals. This is a fact."

"Then what you mean is that they are so crazy because they have Hulu blood?" Yuan Gong asked.

Seeing Li Jinglong nodding.

Yuan Gong added: "Then this raises a new question. If human nature is inherently good, isn't Hu Lu's human nature inherently good?"

Li Jinglong fell into deep thought.

Obviously, he has entered a vicious circle.

Jiang Xinghuo asked after patiently listening to Yuan Gong's argument.

"So Jushi Yuan thinks that both the theory of good nature and the theory of evil nature are wrong?"

"That's probably true." Yuan Gongfu added, "But I feel that there are still good things in human nature that do exist."

"for example?"

Yuan Gong groaned softly.

"He was the head of General Yan, and he was bloody for the servant Ji.

They are Zhang Suiyang's teeth and Yan Changshan's tongue.

Or to show off one's teachings, ghosts and gods weep heroically.

Or to cross the river and swallow Hu Jie generously.

When it penetrates the sun and moon, life and death will be settled.

The earth depends on it to stand, and the sky pillar depends on it. "

This is Prime Minister Wen's "Song of Righteousness". In the Ming Dynasty at this time, it can be said to be a classic reading known to all ages. It is perfect for explaining "the world is righteous".

At first glance, it sounded impassioned and inspiring, but Jiang Xinghuo's mind felt a little dazed, and then he fell into memories.

That was the third life, Suiyang City (Shangqiu).

This is the northernmost fulcrum of the Jianghuai defense line. It was here that Chen Qingzhi started his "White Robe Entering Luo".

This is "the Suiyang area, where there have been more than a hundred large-scale conquests in the past dynasties. It is difficult to say the right and wrong. However, historians have all noticed that it was this ancient battlefield that determined the rise and fall of many dynasties. Therefore, Since ancient times, there has been a saying about aspiration to conquer the Central Plains."

It is a real key to the Central Plains.

Therefore, Suiyang became the place where the war between Tang Dynasty and Yan Dynasty was most frequent and fierce.

And in this towering and precipitous city, in a vast military camp, more than a dozen generals in military uniforms sat around, and the atmosphere was so dull and oppressive that it was suffocating!

One of the older generals stood up, bowed and saluted the old man sitting at the head of the table, and said: "Reporting to Zhongcheng, the Puppet Yan has regrouped 180,000 cavalry, and may invade our Jianghuai hinterland from the south at any time. What does Cheng plan?"

Jiang Xinghuo, as the captain of the accompanying army, sat closest to the entrance of the camp. He held the knife and had already lost the energy to speak.

The situation in Suiyang City is very bad. The food is almost running out. Each soldier only has one spoonful of rice per day. As for the people, many women and children have died of starvation, and the men are barely surviving. That's all.

As a witness, Jiang Xinghuo's focus has never been on how brutal the Suiyang city defense battle was.

It's about the complexity of human nature here.

The old man in the first seat sighed, looked up at the outside of the tent, and said slowly: "The money, food and taxes in the Jianghuai River are the foundation for our Tang Dynasty to turn defeat into victory. Your Majesty is worried about this and can't sleep at night. We will guard Suiyang and defend the Jianghuai defense line. Today, the Puppet Yan attacks southward again. If we don’t defend the city, the tens of millions of Jianghuai people behind us will suffer!”

When the generals heard this, their eyes dimmed one after another.

Although Guanlong has a strong folk custom since the Western Wei Dynasty, its polemic power is now far inferior to that of Hebei. Especially when the Yan army broke through Tongguan and took advantage of the situation to expand its sphere of influence, the Tang army had to retreat to Shu and Hedong for defense. The new emperor in Hedong had long been cut off from Shu and Jianghuai. Once Suiyang fell, When the Yan army marches south to the Yangtze River and Huaihe River, the fate of the Tang Dynasty will take a turn for the worse.

So, in the end, a city of 100,000 soldiers and civilians died.

Or were millions of households in Jianghuai massacred?

The smaller collective has made active sacrifices to preserve the larger collective. Does this reflect the goodness of human nature?

Seeing the saddened soldiers, the old man shook his head and said comfortingly: "Don't worry, although the Yan army seems to be powerful, it is only a moment of bravery after all. As long as we can resist, His Majesty will dispatch more reinforcements soon." Come here. If we insist on holding on, Datang will have a chance to make a comeback sooner or later!"

The spirit of the generals is still sluggish. No matter how hard they want to hold on, there is no food at this time. How can they hold on?

Jiang Xinghuo, who had good eyesight, even saw that when the old man spoke, there were not many teeth left in his mouth.

As soon as the old man finished speaking, rapid footsteps suddenly sounded outside the door. An anxious scout ran into the tent and knelt down: "Report to the Prime Minister, the situation is not good, the Yan Army's cavalry has arrived at the city!"

"What?!"

The expressions of the generals suddenly changed, and the old man suddenly stood up from his chair.

That night, in the wilderness fifty miles away from Suiyang City, flags were waving, horses were neighing and thundering. Under the dark night, they looked like a pack of hungry wolves. Countless armors flashed with cold light, and a chilling atmosphere filled the surrounding areas.

The Yan army stood in formation, and the three thousand heavy cavalry in the vanguard had already approached Suiyang City, only five arrows away.

Jiang Xinghuo asked in a daze as the memory faded.

"Then Jushi Yuan said that Zhang Xun defended Suiyang to the death, and the soldiers guarding the city also fought to the death to serve the country, and thus protected Jianghuai. This is good, and it shows that human nature also has a good side in desperate situations. Zhang Xun is a loyal minister with righteousness, but What happened next also illustrates the evil of human nature.”

Yuan Gong also hesitated.

"Song of Righteousness" has never mentioned that as a representative figure with righteousness, how is Zhang Xun's human nature explained from different perspectives?

Yuan Gong let out a long sigh and said with a complicated expression: "So, what the monk said is wrong, and what the old man said is also wrong."

Li Jinglong looked at Jiang Xinghuo steadily and asked, "What does Mr. Jiang think about the discussion of human nature?"

Jiang Xinghuo pondered and said while studying ink to write a reply.

"I think this letter needs to answer two parts of the question about the theory of human nature."

"The first aspect is [criticizing the errors of the transcendental theory of human nature]."

“The second aspect is [from a metaphysical point of view, human nature is social].”

"That is to say, first criticize why the 'transcendental theory of human nature' is wrong, and then explain what the nature of human beings is from a 'metaphysical' perspective. Only in this way can we understand where the fallacy of the theory of human nature lies. "

Li Jinglong was stunned.

He understands every word,

But connect them together,

What means?

Yuan Gong, on the other hand, became thoughtful. The debate between nature being inherently good and nature being inherently evil has been going on for nearly two thousand years since the pre-Qin Dynasty. There has never been an overwhelmingly authoritative statement. Everyone has their own opinions.

Now Jiang Xinghuo said that he could explain it clearly in two aspects?

Yuan Gong couldn't help but have some doubts from the bottom of his heart.

This doubt is not about Jiang Xinghuo's own wisdom.

But I am doubting that Jiang Xinghuo can write it clearly in a letter for a problem that has not been resolved for two thousand years?

After grinding the ink, Jiang Xinghuo began to write a reply to the monk he had never met.

The title of the letter is "A Metaphysical Critique of the 'Transcendental Theory of Human Nature'".

"In the first part, Jiang wants to [criticize the errors of the transcendental theory of human nature]."

"Jiang believes that the fallacy of the theory of human nature lies in its insistence on a priori views."

"What is 'prior'?" Li Jinglong couldn't help but ask as he looked at the words on the letter.

Yuan Gong is also a little confused. Like Dao Yan, Yuan Gong is also proficient in the three religions, but he is convinced that he has never heard of this term.

Jiang Xinghuo pointed at the letter, and he was writing carefully one stroke at a time.

"The so-called transcendental is also the fundamental characteristic of idealistic knowledge, that is, human consciousness is considered the most important, and the things (matter) existing in the world are secondary. Therefore, human consciousness is believed to be something innate and is That precedes the things that exist in this world.”

"That is to say, the transcendental theory of human nature holds that

——Human nature is an abstract concept of living real people. "

Li Jinglong rubbed his eyes and asked in confusion: "Isn't human nature innate?"

"No." Jiang Xinghuo signaled him to calm down, and then continued to write.

"This transcendental theory of human nature believes that the abstract concept of 'human nature' actually determines everyone's actions. That is, good people do good things and evil people do evil things. This abstract concept determines human behavior. I call it 'conceptualism'."

Li Jinglong asked while watching from the side.

"Then what is 'ideal theory'?"

"Eight words." Jiang Xinghuo replied simply, "Go back to the origin, the origin is the origin."

Jiang Xinghuo then wrote on the letter paper.

“Ideological theory often goes beyond things to reach the ‘origin’ of things, and attempts to trace the ‘origin’ of things from the ‘origin’.”

"In this way, people often think that the 'origin' of things is equal to the 'origin', and the 'origin' is also equal to the thing, confusing the three levels of meaning."

After not writing for a long time, his wrist was a little sore. He turned to look at the confused Yuan Gong and Li Jinglong, Jiang Xinghuo put down his pen and said.

"Don't you understand? It doesn't matter. I know you don't understand now. I'll just explain it to you."

Yuan Gong and Li Jinglong nodded and listened with an open mind.

Jiang Xinghuo said simply and straightforwardly.

"On the first level, real people are things, right?"

"right."

"Second level, the transcendental theory of human nature believes that 'human nature' is the 'origin' that determines human beings, right?"

"right."

"Third level, the reason why there is a debate between the theory of good nature and the theory of evil nature is because we can't figure out the 'source' of human nature at all, right?"

".It seems, yes."

"Then why can't you figure it out?" Jiang Xinghuo asked with a smile, and then answered by himself, "Because the theory of human nature was wrong from the beginning!"

Yuan Gong asked in confusion.

"Then what Mr. Jiang means is that the theory of human nature itself is wrong?"

"It's impossible. So many sages have debated this question. How can it be that the question itself is wrong?"

Li Jinglong was also in disbelief.

Jiang Xinghuo put down his pen and said: "So, if I want to answer the question of the theory of human nature, this is why my first aspect is to write [Criticizing the Errors of the Transcendental Theory of Human Nature]."

Jiang Xinghuo picked up the pen and continued writing on the paper.

"Jiang believes that in the past two thousand years, the theory of human nature feels that it has seen the second layer, which is the 'nature' of human beings, but has not seen the third layer, which is the 'source' of human nature. Therefore, it is difficult to distinguish whether nature is inherently good or inherently good. The debate about evil is about what the 'source' of human nature is."

"But in fact, the theory of human nature is wrong from the second level."

Yuan Gong looked at Jiang Xing's fire pen and thought for a moment.

The theory of human nature is wrong from the second level?

Isn’t human nature created by humans innately?

The sages of all ages have said this!

It is precisely because of the determination of the ‘origin’ of the second level, that is, the prerequisite that ‘human nature is born innately’ that we have to debate whether human nature is inherently good or evil at the third level.

If it was wrong from the beginning and human nature is not innate, then it means that the sages went astray from the beginning!

Yuan Gong's back began to emit waves of chills.

Yuan Gong suddenly realized that this seemed to be a historic moment that could be recorded in the history of Chinese philosophy!

The young prisoner in front of him is using his pen to overturn two thousand years of debate on the theory of human nature!

Let me tell you, what the sages have been fighting for for two thousand years is all wrong!

And this "Metaphysical Critique of the 'Transcendental Theory of Human Nature'" will also be witnessed by him and become a ground-breaking work in a new era of the history of Chinese philosophy!

Yuan Gong's fingers began to tremble slightly unconsciously.

Li Jinglong also held his breath, waiting for Jiang Xinghuo to continue writing, explaining why the theory of human nature was wrong from the beginning, and why human nature is not generated innately.

Jiang Xinghuo continued to write.

"If you want to understand human nature, you should focus on real people. People are existences with infinite richness."

“And any abstraction of human beings comes at the expense of losing the richness of human nature, especially the transcendental theory of human nature.”

"Transcendental human nature theory thinks that it has obtained the essence of human beings in concepts through abstraction, but it has lost the essence of real human beings. Abstract concepts cannot completely replace people and explain them."

Li Jinglong finally got out of the dead loop. He suddenly realized that if what Jiang Xinghuo said was right, then the theory of human nature was indeed a false proposition.

Because human nature is not innate at all!

It doesn't matter whether one is born good or evil!

Seeing this, Yuan Gong frowned and asked: "Since Mr. Jiang believes that the theory of good nature and evil nature was wrong from the beginning, and the mistake is that the concept of 'human nature' is not innate, then Mr. Jiang thinks, where does human nature come from? Woolen cloth?"

Jiang Xinghuo wrote.

“The second aspect is [from a metaphysical point of view, human nature is social].”

Yuan Gong understood the word metaphysics without any hindrance.

This is a saying in Taoism. Metaphysics is called Tao. What is Tao? Lao Tzu has a saying: Mystery is mysterious, the door to all mysteries, the best is like water, so it is closer to the Tao.

What Jiang Xinghuo wrote, if normal people can understand it, is that from the perspective of Tao/principle, human nature is social.

Jiang Xinghuo spoke slowly while writing.

"Jiang believes that from a metaphysical point of view, the essence of human beings is sociality. The so-called human nature of a certain historical stage is endowed by the social nature of this historical stage. In other words, the second level of 'human nature' The concept itself is constantly changing with the progress of historical stages.”

"Every living person must be a person living in society. Once a person is abstracted from the society in which he lives, he is no longer a 'person'. The essence of human beings is sociality."

Yuan Gong seemed to have some realization, and suddenly frowned and asked Li Jinglong hastily.

"If no one knows you and everyone forgets you, will you still be you?"

Li Jinglong replied with some confusion: "Of course it's me. Otherwise, who else would it be?"

"Are you really still you?"

Seeing that Li Jinglong was hesitant, Yuan Gong changed his explanation.

"If you are a prisoner who has been held in solitary confinement for the rest of your life, and everyone who remembers you is dead, and only the jailer brings you meals through the door every day, even if you are still alive, in society, will you still be you? "

"I'm not me?"

Yuan Gong simply said: "I understand what Mr. Jiang means. People are not individuals. People only have meaning in society. In other words, individual humanity is meaningless!"

The hair on Li Jinglong's body stood on end, as if an electric current had passed through him, and his whole body hunched up.

If he was really imprisoned by Zhu Di for a lifetime, without connections, power, or status, then would Cao Guogong Li Jinglong still be Cao Guogong Li Jinglong?

Does it matter whether you live or die to people in the outside world?

Do you still exist?

Jiang Xinghuo was only distracted by their conversation for a moment, and then continued writing.

“Human nature is not a priori, nor is it created innately, but acquired from society.”

"It is in sociality that the existence of human nature can be found. People must become themselves in society and in practice."

“Man is a product of society, not of some transcendent essence.”

"Human nature is not predetermined innately, but constructed in society."

Seeing these words in the letter, Yuan Gong was enlightened.

Yuan Gong's brain was always trying to release the excitement that made him tremble.

This is an epoch-making conclusion in the history of Chinese philosophy!

Human nature is not innate, it is acquired in society!

Whether it is Mencius’ theory of good nature or Xunzi’s theory of evil nature, they are fundamentally wrong!

And he, Yuan Gong, witnessed with his own eyes how this letter destined to go down in history was produced!

What an honor is this?

When Yuan Gong thought about how much impact this letter would have on the entire Confucian system, he couldn't help but be fascinated.

It is as if the Confucian thinking, a building built by sages and saints over thousands of years, has been dug out of its foundation!

Immediately, the collapse of one corner will cause a chain reaction like a landslide and tsunami.

The entire Confucian world of Ming Dynasty will undergo an unprecedented change!

This is a revolutionary change in thinking!

And he was lucky enough to be a part of it!

At the end of the letter, Jiang Xinghuo systematically responded to several questions raised by Dao Yan.

"So why will the ideal society be realized in the future? Why does the transcendental theory of human nature (theory of evil nature) seem to directly refute this possibility now? Are people always greedy and selfish?"

"Jiang's answer is no just because the human nature (greed and selfishness) of this historical stage is endowed by the social nature (social oppression and insufficient material and spiritual supply) of this historical stage. When we extend our horizons and take the millennium as the scale , as the historical stage evolves in the future, 'human nature' at that time will be completely different from now, Jiang has no doubt about this."

At the end of the letter, Jiang Xinghuo wrote a sentence from Nietzsche's "Morning Glow: Thoughts on Moral Prejudice" as a conclusion.

“Our eyes are our prisons, and wherever we look there are walls.”

——Jump out of the present to see the future.

So...do you understand?