Spiritual Cultivation Research Articles

Leibniz and Confucianism: The Search for Accord, and: Discourse on the Natural Theology of the Chinese (review)

476 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY David E. Mungello. Leibniz and Confucianism: The Searchfor Accord. Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii, 1977. Pp. xii + 200. $10.00. G. W. Leibniz. Discourse on the Natural Theology of the Chinese. Trans. Henry Rosemont, Jr. and Daniel J. Cook. Monograph of the Society for Asian and Comparative Philosophy. no. 4. Honolulu: University Press of Hawaii, 1977. Pp. xi + 187. $5.00, paper Despite the fact that Leibniz's interest in things Chinese was enduring enough to persist from before 1690 to his death in 1716 and intense enough to lead him to believe that "human cultivation and refinement" were concentrated in only two places, Europe and "'Tschina," that interest has been passingly noted rather than intensively studied. The two volumes under review thus constitute a significant addition to the Leibnlz literature. Completed with full knowledge of each other (each refers to the other in its bibliography), the two are exemplary complements, the second presenting the text most central to the first. For the student of Leibniz, Mungello offers a number of valuable disquisitions: on Leibniz's sources for knowledge of China, on his understanding of Chinese thought and the uses to which he hoped to put it, and on probable reasons for his failure. Based on scholarship in Chinese as well as in the appropriate Western languages, his book gives balanced views of Leibniz's dependence upon but critical distance from the missionary situanon in China; the philosopher's religious and d~plomatic motivations in seeking rudiments of a universal, natural, and in some sense "Christian" religion and metaphysics within Confucianism; and the effects both those motivations and his underlying philosophic Pythagoreanism had upon the formulations at which he finally arrived. It was this Pythagoreanism, of course, which welded together his interests in Chinese as a possible universal language, in the hexagrams of the 1Ching as a binary calculus, and tn the elements he found to be both rationahstic and religious in Confucian metaphysics. Mungello's subject matter forces him to take Leibniz's religious sennments and theological interests seriously, as against secularizing interpreters like Russell. The same subject matter, however, forces him away from such theologizing interpreters as Kroner and Schmalenbach, since he sees Leibniz's crucial failure to understand Chinese thought to lie in his taking spiritual cultivation to be synonymous with intellectual cultivation. This was, of course, a common weakness in Leibniz's age; Mungello even suggests that it may be more generally a characterisnc of the West, one that limits attempts to achieve philosophic accord with China: Though his mtennons seem sufficiently genuine, he was obviously no religious sage, as the fadure of the rehglous sideof his phdosophy amply confirms. Yet by most Western criteria, he could bejudged a genius. The importance of analyzing this judgment m such detail lies in the possibihty of what u m~ghttell us about ourselves. , our mability and perhaps our reluctance to judge his spmtual achievements may reflect our own weakness as well as his (P. 128) The other volume under review presents the first Enghsh translation of a 14,000-word discourse in French that Lelbniz wrote, in his seventieth year (1716), to Nicholas de Resmond, as a response to two works on Chinese religion by Catholic missionaries. Therein he discusses, in light of his own vtews of God, preestablished harmony, entelechy, substances, and binary notation, a number of items in Chinese thought he found to be analogous, presenting along the way his own mature methods of argument and demonstration. The translation seems to have been done with care, with ample notes identifying indwiduals and giving and explaining terms and references not only in Chinese but in Western theology and in Leibniz's own philosophy. The forty-page introduction covers more tersely some of the same questions of sources, and so on, given more extensively in Mungello, but adds, m small compass, a remarkably rich overview of "the Chinese intellectual tradition" and those of its classics central to Leibniz's discussion, most useful for the reader largely innocent of Sinology. Both volumes contain adequate indexes, useful bibliographies, and footnotes that present a great BOOK REVIEWS 477 deal of historical and explanatory material. In addition, the...

Chang Tsai's Theory of Mind and Its Metaphysical Basis

CHINESE PHILOSOPHY DURING the Sung and Ming periods is generally divided into two schools, that of Ch'eng-and-Chu and that of Lu-and-Wang. Yet, the school of Chang Tsai is really a school by itself. The central concept of Ch'eng-and-Chu is reason, that of Lu-and-Wang, mind, and that of Chang Tsai, ether (ch'i3). It is generally accepted that the philosophy of the Sung and Ming periods started with Chou Tun-i, whose major work is the T'ung Shu. Now, the T'ung Shu deals mainly with the ways of spiritual cultivation in order to become a sage or a worthy. As for Chou's Explanation of the Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate, it would seem too simple except for Chu Hsi's commentary. The Cheng-meng4 of Chang Tsai, on the other hand, is a book that seeks consciously to establish a system of philosophy of its own, and thus establishes a theoretical foundation for spiritual cultivation. Ch'eng I critically referred to the book as exhibiting much effort and strain, which meant at that time the lack of mellowed maturity. In our day, however, we can see that the philosophy of Chang Tsai is worked out with much care and detail, though it might not have reached the high level of Ch'eng Hao, Chu Hsi, or Wang Shou-jen. He defined unequivocally such vague terms in traditional Chinese thought as Heaven and man, human nature and the Heavenly decree, spirituality (shen5) and transformation (hua6), the mind and the nature, the void7 and the ether, the searching for spirituality and the knowledge of transforma-

Newman and Pater

John Henry Newman stood alone among the leaders of the Oxford Movement; he possessed that elevation of mind which helps men to acquire those rare attributes of spiritual cultivation making for the fulfilment of life in Divine terms. Spiritual cultivation demands many qualities, and among the more prominent may be discerned courage, strength of will, sensitiveness, courtesy, kindliness, refinement and enlightened reticence. The last the rarest of all and the crown of the edifice. It is no rhetorical exaggeration to urge that all of these reposed in the character of Newman.Newman was logical in matters of Religion; he combined the qualities of the scholar and the saint; he was an intellect and a master of the spiritual life. A gentleman deeply read in English literature and with whom I have had the privilege of written discussion on the character of Newman, noted in one of my papers that he regarded it as singular that Newman, more than the other outstanding figures of the Oxford Movement, should have possessed the logical faculty in a degree unusual among men of definitely artistic temperament, as his perfect literary style shews him to have been. My literary acquaintance went on to say that although the criticism and comparisons Froude makes in Volume IV, “Short-Studies,” have encountered much hostile criticism he still thought that Newman was shewn in his proper magnitude as against Keble’s wistful sentiment and Pusey’s hesitation. Newman’s mastery of spiritual values shewed that he was well versed in the management of conduct.

Industrial Reformation in Japan and the Position of Engineers and Naval Architects

The welfare of a nation depends upon its national power, which is surely the back ground of the politics, economics and militari tic strength of the nation. The promotion of the national power of Japan depends entirely on her industries. The fundamentals of industries are the natural resources and human power. Although the recent engineering development of Japan has been remarkable, the shortage of her natural resources has hindered the advance to the world's competitive market.The independence of Manchukuo and the concert with Japan have given opportunity to render the latter substantial supplies of the former's abundant resources. Consequently, the old industrial policy of Japan should be reformed to meet the future advancement.The industrial consolidation between Japan and Manchukuo is very natural, both having the same spiritual ideals of mutual assistance, which should promote the well-being of both nations with consequent augmentation of the peace and welfare of the Far East.The failure of the League of Nations is entirely due to the lack of recognition of the outstanding features in the Far East and also of the industrial strength of Japan, which compelled her to withdraw from the League and caused the futile argument of an arms embargo.The world's culture originated in Asia and proceeded toward the West, as the Sun goes. The material civilization was highly amplified in Europe, and propagated to America and lastly reached Japan. Now, the nation of Japan is responsible for the re-circulation of the material civilization, well-amalgamated with spiritual cultivation. On this ground, the industry of Japan should be the prime mover for the cultural advancement of the world. Under such consideration, the fundamental re-establishment of the Japanese industrial policy has also very great meaning for the well-doing of the human race.Manchukuo and Japan differ in their geographical conditions and natural resources. Both countries have things which the other has not, so that industries of these two countries should be established upon their own merits, and the unification of these industries will promote the prosperity of both countries owing to natural nutual assistance. With this in view, Manchukuo should be in charge of heavy industries such as mining, iron and steel making etc., whilst Japan should take refined industries such as mechanical, electrical, shipbuilding, constructional engineering etc.Some Japanese shipbuilders consider that Manchukuo is not a market for the shipbuilding industry, but the author considers that there is ample scope for the development of this industry in Manchukuo, in river transportation, shipping naval affairs. etc.The idea of the Manchurian market would, however, mean only a minor economic circulation in this part of the Far East, so Japanese engineers should aim at the world's competitive market.The shipbuilding industry having very keen relations with all other branches of industries such as steel making, mechanical, electrical, ordnance, civil, structural engineering etc., it is in the most suitable position to become negotiator amongst the various industries in order to establish the new national industrial policy of Japan, and to this great aim the shipbuilders should endeavour with their utmost energy as the pioneer for the reformation, which will not only promote the prosperity of Japan, but also is a substantial policy for the shipbuilding revivail and then toward the international competition.