This paper chooses a philosophical transcendental perspective to reflect on the nature of biodiversity, so as to promote human beings to raise their awareness of the problem, deeply grasp the "principle" of governance, or indirectly provide a suggestion for spiritual governance with a slight long-term vision for subsequent sustainable development and biodiversity conservation.
Liu Xiaoting, director of the Institute of The History of Science and Philosophy of Science of Beijing Normal University, believes that with the constructive exploration and practice of common, everything we have, especially the meaning of life, will be newly explained, so the realization of the common principle of diversity also means a significant improvement in the level of human civilization.
More exciting perspectives
01
The "co-root" of biodiversity
People have begun to emphasize and highlight biodiversity, in addition to the urgent pressures such as the environmental crisis brought about by the large number of species disappearing, but also the basis and reasons for thought and reason itself.
From Xi to reflection
Arguments about natural values and biodiversity, which proceed from the perspective of immediacy, are very little convincing to those who oppose or do not support diversity, so we must consider whether we can dig up new sources of thought to provide a more rational logical support.
From the poles to the intermediary
First of all, only diversity can have wholeness; the whole and the individual are mutually constructive, and only with diversity is it worth discussing wholeness. So we should define wholeness in terms of diversity.
Secondly, "common" also recognizes the status and value of individual factors outside the common, and protects the differences between the same and the middle.
Third, methodological communionism may break through the situation that holism and individualism must choose between each other, and then lead the problem to a new realm. To do this, we must transform our basic thinking as subjects by broadening the interface of thought.
From common to common
First of all, only diversity can cover the distribution of various forms of life, which in itself is the abundance and integrity of life, and is the embodiment of "common".
Secondly, "common" seeks unity, and the "common" concept of existence pulls together two different concepts of existence from the standpoint of "common", and they belong to each other and communicate with each other.
In addition, we need to move from the simple utilitarian or mechanistic utilitarianism of the past to a practical perspective of life.
02
Together with thoughts
Coexistence
Communism itself has existential properties, that is, all existence is co-existence and universality.
(1) Man is a common man. Human problems are themselves "common" problems. Species are actually collectively "evolved", and evolution itself means that there is a "common" link between the other, the structural other (the same generation) and the processary other (the offspring). That is to say, we are actually forever in the iteration of the relationship with the other, in the "common" world of the relationship with the other.
(2) The world is a common world. Principle 1: The whole and the individual are like the poles of probability 0 and 1, the rest are "common" between the two, and the two poles are only special states of the intermediate state. Principle 2: Existence is coexistence, there is no solitary existence. Any solitary being is an individual of the system or society, a coexistence with the other. Principle 3: A simple individual mind (individual mind) does not exist, and the "individual mind" is just a "common mind" living in an individual with the physical body as the boundary, but a functional collection.
(3) The root of the common. Principle 1: The elements of the common world have a mutually other-to-other relationship. The earliest other is collective in the systematic or organizational sense, referring to other ethnic groups or clans, etc. Civilization is the appearance of the ethnic "I". "Individuals" and individual consciousnesses (such as Greek citizens) were formed among some of the people of the city-state. Principle 2: The Other in the Age of the Individual has a double meaning. Among them, one is the other as a whole, that is, the race or system, which is opposed to the individual; the other is the individual other as an individual of the same kind. Although the other and the "I" have different compositions or structures, as individuals they will always coexist and define each other. Principle 3: The self has otherness. But "I" is structured, and from a taxonomic point of view, it is a relational aggregate that exists "one me-group me-superego".
It's hard to knot together
When a consciousness is able to realize that "I" is there, it must have a certain reflexive ability. As modern people put individual roles and consciousness at the base and core of their worldview, as the starting point for all actions, the tension of the world has emerged. On the one hand, there is a conflict between the individual and the whole; on the other hand, although in many places the task of individual self-awakening is far from being completed, in other places there has been an overarching phenomenon that has led to the rapid qualitative reversal of the existence of the common world.
Thus, when history has come to this day and humanity has begun to realize the need to reconnect into a super-super-community, the world has entered a complex and almost unmanageable situation.
First, it has been found that the traditional holistic-based discussion of the other is rather inadequate and needs to be improved, but at the other extreme, the discussion of the other based on the individual, is also problematic. Second, even with good theories, human beings may not be able to truly implement them in practice. Third, new technologies have highlighted the problem of "common" in a unique way, further complicating the problem. Finally, humanity has not been able to work together so far, resulting in the danger of interruption or extinction of the history of mankind and the history of civilization that has lasted for millions of years.
Towards a communist philosophy
Now, through the examination of the overall state of human civilization, it can be roughly estimated that philosophy has entered another great stage of new development, that is, the stage of "communism". Humanity needs to devote more energy to summarizing the experiences and lessons of past philosophies while exploring a new way of thinking that can cope with major changes and crises in the future.
03
The construction of a common philosophy
Human beings have explored many models that describe the common world, and if we trace back to the source, the most concise example of which is the ancient Chinese model of yin and yang mutual construction and mutual benefit. The future as the present or the past has a "mutually permeable" relationship, which is a kind of Taiji yin-yang relationship, according to which the Chinese philosophers have formed one of the world's most concise and pluralistic philosophical models - Taiji Wisdom (referred to as Taihuixue), and today based on this original model, through revisionary expansion, a new philosophical paradigm that is different from the Western rational path and contains diverse ideas can be constructed.
The characteristics of Taihui learning
With its yin and yang twins, Taihuixue integrates static and dynamic, structure and process, potential and reality, introverted and open, already and unattainable, and gives a more inclusive and accessible systematic interpretation model of the laws and rules of the operation of all things in the world.
First, and real creatures. There are two things, all things are negative yin and yang, that is to say, yin and yang are the basic relationship mode, Tai Chi provides a basic mode of mutual construction and symbiosis of all things on the body, and the two sides construct each other to achieve a win-win situation, so this is a mutual "completion-complete" model, that is, the so-called "synogenesis" of "Yi". The two sides of Tai Chi are mutually integrated, cyclically interacted, symbiotic and co-prosper, and everything is derived from it.
Second, a book of all kinds. In terms of how to face the complex world, ancient China formed the two generation views of "Tai Chi sheng two wings, two wings born four elephants" of Yi Chuan and "Dao Sheng one, one life two, two births three" of Lao Tzu, as well as the movement view of "Dao Fa Nature" and the transformation view of "things must be reversed".
Third, the Tao Fa is natural. There was no shortage of ideas about nature in ancient China, especially the idea of "nature" that was understood by the West as nature, and Lao Tzu's "Taoist Nature" is embodied. At the same time, the nature of the East does not only refer to the natural world, but also includes the highest ideal of human social governance.
Fourth, things must be reversed. The German philosopher Heidegger, as the contemporary confidant of Lao Tzu, profoundly studied this basic principle and set up the six "joints" of "return" of "original thought": echo - transmission - jump - foundation - future - the last god.
Fifth, heaven and man are connected. Since ancient times, China has had a wealth of ideas such as the unity of heaven and man, the separation of heaven and man, the intersection of heaven and man, and the induction of heaven and man. Later, techniques such as the body cognition of the big and small Zhou Tian were also formed, and they were widely immersed in the natural remedies advocated by Chinese medicine.
Synthesizing the above ideas, it is possible to construct a set of free philosophical paradigms different from Aristotle's first natural philosophical paradigm, and try to solve the problem of the large framework of future philosophy, and clarify a basic field for the philosophy of new civilization.
The second beginning is a new starting point for civilization's self-salvation based on the concept of civilization abandoning itself and knowing how to return from the lost. Because civilization is an extremely complex system, people usually summarize it from the three simple perspectives of artifacts, systems, and spirits, of which artifacts belong to the "natural side" and institutions and spirits belong to the "social side".
Here, only from the social side, according to the order of concepts, theories, norms, policies, and actions, a slightly specific U-shaped transformation diagram is given, showing the three major stages of civilization development in a concise way (Figure 1).
The lower arc zone between the first and second beginnings is the oscillation zone that is currently entering. From a civilizational perspective, this shock indicates the urgency of the problems facing humanity and the decline of the norms of the old order.
The new philosophy based on such an understanding of civilization is a path of thought from the philosophy of nature (the philosophy of consciousness) to the philosophy of practice, from the philosophy of laws to the philosophy of rules, and is a discipline group based on the idea of ecology and biodiversity, which reconstructs the overall system of philosophy in the new era along the approach of "ecological philosophy - ecological anthropology (and social philosophy) - spiritual philosophy (and cultural philosophy) - philosophy of intelligence - original learning".
In this way, at least in the late 19th century and early 21st century, various philosophical explorations can find their place in this "new system" and contribute to the construction of their own philosophies for future new civilizations.
The position of Taihui learning
Based on the foregoing, the greatest characteristic of Tai Chi wisdom is pluralistic inclusion and processual unfolding, which is a constructive position. The proposal of a constructive program is a fundamental change in the world outlook of human interaction from "independence" to "communism." The emergence of constructive principles is an ascension and turn of human civilization, which provides academic rational support for many of the norms that are popular today.
First, constructiveness is the basis and intrinsic criterion of dialogue ethics. Although global world wars did not break out after World War II, regional conflicts continued, and the basic strategy for overcoming and resolving these conflicts was to coordinate as much as possible through dialogue. Of course, because the orientation of dialogue is peaceful and low binding, it is far more difficult than the confrontation and war of brute force, but this is the principle of unconditional preference, otherwise humanity may return to the jungle era overnight.
Second, constructively highlight the true value of individual people. Because everything exists relatively, without the collective and the "common", the individual has no comparison, right or wrong, good or bad have no social and cultural significance; because man is a social being, without the collective there is no society to speak of, the individual's thinking and action have no object, and they lose the field and become lonely, meaningless and possible.
Third, the constructive concept of common well-being magnifies the circle of human wisdom and happiness, and is of special value to human understanding of happiness and meaning, and to the improvement of the state of existence and the way of feeling, including the treatment of the natural world, and so on. Even in terms of the way of feeling, in a constructive context, beauty is no longer just an object activity, but a mutual activity in which instrumentality and purposefulness are integrated, and beauty becomes "ethics".
Moreover, the original meaning of Greek dialectics stems from dialogue, from "talking" and speaking, and dialogue requires at least two people to take place, and both sides must have the basic conditions and sincerity of dialogue. The presence of both parties in the dialogue is a realistic premise that is more important than the content of the dialogue itself. It is on the basis of this that Marx pointed out that the essence of man is not a single abstraction, but, in terms of its reality, an interconstructive existence that coexists with others, that is, a social existence.
Practice too wise learning
Chinese philosophy has demonstrated its special practical advantages of "common" in dialogue with the western traditional philosophy of the whole and the philosophy of the modern individual.
(1) Self-practice. The most effective ethics of mankind at present are the ethics of the community, and it is only from the global ethics that the focus is on the ethical relations between the communities. Therefore, the habitual so-called "positive" efforts are all about enlarging the vision of the community. The common is not only a fact, but also a value and a method, not only an object of theory, but also a principle of practice itself.
In this way, the expansion of concentric circles centered on theory formed in modern times shows fundamental flaws, and it is necessary to consider how to reverse the existing scheme from practice. At the same time, it is necessary to supplement or expand the concept of practice, and strive to add a "new" category of self-practice, which can also be called "spiritual practice", in addition to the previous Aristotle practice of communication and Marxist materialization.
Just as motion is the material way of being, practice is actually the way of being of the spirit. Self-practice, on the other hand, could have been deduced from the first two categories of practice with the help of the principle of "transforming the subjective world by transforming the objective world", but it was initially not paid enough attention to it and was listed separately as a category of irrational activities such as religion for a long time.
Now that there is self-practice, a complementary structure of three-dimensional linkage of practice is formed, thus ensuring that the individual completes the process of practicing the self while moving towards others and the world.
Based on self-practice, the logic of the unity of individuals, clusters, and classes can be reconstructed. For example, several major civilization regions in the classical Axial Age have each discovered common self-or spiritual practice principles and created their own forms of thought, including law (liturgy), love (benevolence), nature (sex), introspection, and so on. Human civilization has come to this day on the basis of these principles and programmes.
Therefore, the practice of reconstructing the "communist" must first shift ideologically from the reality of substance to the reality of relations or the reality of the two. Thus, at least in the axiology, the solitude of the entity without a proper relation will be meaningless, and this relation will at the same time be transformed into a fundamental element of self-practice.
(2) Inward adults. It can promote people to live a spiritual (such as the induction of heaven and man) inner spiritual life, so that people can return to the heart, not only not to be enslaved by external objects, but also to construct a new anthropological and adult culture based on self-practice.
Adulthood is a double process of compounding, and only in adulthood can human behavior (practice) and knowledge (inner spirit) be unified, and the attainment of self and things, that is, humanity and nature, can be unified, and through the "double circle tendency" of individual self and quasi-self, jointly compose the song of life integrated into the greater cycle (circle) of nature, to become what Nietzsche called "superman", and to fundamentally eliminate the nihilistic problem in human civilization.
(3) Say goodbye to nothingness. Nihilism is a pervasive emotion of disappointment or despair in the face of the future. Because man is a psychological being, there is hope that he can mobilize the positive energy of the psychology and optimize the living world, and without hope, he may break the jar and even make extreme destructive behavior. Therefore, nihilism and despair are destructive to mainstream civilization at all times and in any place.
Because there is a phenomenon of dependence in the scope and time of culture, that is, small culture relies on large culture, which means that the influence of small nihilism is limited and can be corrected, while global nihilism is difficult to correct. At present, some popular development trends or theories, such as "global risk society", "loss of certainty", "loss of control", "collapse" and other statements, are generalized in terms of goals and values, pointing to nihilism and are difficult to correct.
There are three main reasons for nihilism:
First, the excessive secularization trend makes human desires and selfishness take pleasure in grabbing, possessing and consuming more material wealth and resources, thus requiring an infinite world to satisfy, resulting in the contradiction between "supply and demand" of the earth;
Second, people have established barriers to survival in the face of limited resources for their own selfishness, and have materialized such barriers through concepts, systems, individuals, organizations (interest groups), power competitions, and calculation methods, so that the wheel of historical progress will encounter obstacles step by step;
Third, the increasingly atomized sense of loneliness and isolation of individuals in society makes it more and more difficult for human beings to reconnect.
Since nihilism is a cultural phenomenon of man, how to deal with it still begins with man himself, from man's systematicness, from breaking the old reflexivity to the new positive transcendence. This is a chain of gradual deepening and upgrading, and only in the greater exchanges and interactions on the basis of "more" can an effective "internal cycle" be formed to curb the dissolution of isolated systems. Then, on this basis, it is possible to "reversely" advance from the factual level of "man's position in the universe" to the value ethics level of "man's responsibility in the universe", and then climb to the "top" level of "man's realization in the universe", and take it as a fundamental path of self-practice or cultivation, and radiate a cosmic spirit that was unattainable by previous generations.
The future prospect of mankind lies in how to turn the life course and pursuit of the class into the self-practice of each individual, that is, the path of adulthood, so as to achieve two-way possession of each other, and then jointly go to the great journey of the depths of the universe. And the mystery of all this lies in man's nature, for man himself is the unity of nature and spirit (freedom), and it is only when man fully reveals his nature in his continuous growth and transcendence that it is possible to achieve the polarity of naturalism and humanism.
04
Yu: Please land together
We must make full use of the diverse ideological and cultural resources that human beings already have, and explore a variety of effective ways and forms of constructiveness, just like the recovery of space rockets. First, it is necessary to actively tap the common resources in human culture and establish common ideas and thinking; second, we must constantly create various common organizations; third, we must carry out common education.
The leap of the new civilization is to establish its own philosophical foundation from the self-negation of the strong, so the philosophy of his negation to the philosophy of self-denial should become the first criterion of the common construction of the second beginning. This also means that with the constructive exploration and practice of the common, everything we have, especially the meaning of life, will be newly explained, so the realization of the common principle of diversity also means a significant improvement in the level of human civilization.
【This paper is a phased result of the major project of the National Social Science Foundation of China "Sinicization of Natural Dialectics and Contemporary Innovation Research", project number: 20 &ZD043]
Article source: Academic Frontiers Magazine February 2022 (WeChat has abridged)
Author: Professor Liu Xiaoting, Director and Director of the Institute of History of Science and Philosophy of Science, Beijing Normal University
Editor-in-charge of the original text: Chen Luying
New Media Editor-in-Charge: Li Siqi
Vision: Liu Jie
(Image from the Internet)