Understanding knowledge by observing things is an important concept of ancient Confucianism in China, and it is a discipline that Confucianism specializes in "the principle of things", but it was later lost. Wu Ge is an important issue in the methodology of Confucian epistemology, and is the cornerstone of the Eight Prefaces in Three Outline and Eight Prefaces.
Extended data:
The "style of things" mentioned in "University" is extremely important. If people want to cultivate a level of order and become famous all over the world, "style" is the foundation, premise, fundamental effort and the cornerstone of "the way of university". Improper "things" and unclear "knowledge"; If something is unqualified, then something is unknown. For such an important category of philosophy and pedagogy, there are various explanations in history, but none of them can get to the bottom of it and explain it thoroughly, just like Sima Guang's criticism of "not doing what the ancients meant" in the Northern Song Dynasty.
In the pre-Qin era, the phrase "learn from time to time" was probably not a particularly abstruse language, so it didn't need any explanation. However, since the Han Dynasty, due to cultural faults and other reasons, people's interpretation of it has been very problematic. When Zheng Xuan annotated the Great University in the Eastern Han Dynasty, he explained Wu Ge: "Gelaiye; Things or things. Knowing what is good will bring good things; If he knows the depth of evil, he will go to evil. Words and deeds are good for people. " (Notes on the Book of Rites, University and Thirteen Classics). )
This explanation that "Ge" is trained as "Lai" and "Wu Ge" as "Good" and "Evil" is contrary to the original intention of the author of "Da Xue". In this regard, Zhang Taiyan pointedly pointed out that if you follow Zheng's annotation, the cause and effect will be reversed, because the order of the article "University" is "the governor after the governor", while Zheng's annotation thinks that "those who know the good will produce good, and those who know the evil will produce evil", and putting "governor" before "governor" is inconsistent with the original intention of the classic.
Sima Guang explained the meaning of "knowledge is material-oriented" in the article "knowledge is material-oriented" and said: "University says:" knowledge is material-oriented. "Case, still in defense, still in defense. Can defend foreign objects, and then you can know. Is Zheng's style based on style, or not as good as what the ancients meant! He taught "Ge" with "shou" and "shou", and thought that only by defending against the intrusion of foreign objects can people know the road. It is obviously influenced by Taoism in the way of cognition.
Sima Guang decided that the word "Ge" had the same meaning as the word "Yu", but did not explain why the word "Ge" had such a meaning. Due to the lack of textual research in philology, this statement is a bit abrupt. He disagreed with Zheng Xuan's explanation and thought that Zheng didn't fully understand the meaning of the ancients. In fact, Sima Guang's explanation is not the original meaning of "university".
Regarding the governor's explanation, Cheng Yi believes that "the case is still poor, things are still reasonable, but it is still poor." . If the sun is poor, it will be cloudy. Poverty is enough to know, if you are not poor, you can't know. I think that Zhu's so-called knowledge is useless, but he wants to reach my knowledge, but he is not good at it. (Supplementary Biography of University Chapters and Sentences) Both Cheng and Zhu interpreted "Ge" as a meaning similar to "poverty", that is, the meaning of inference and exhaustion. Neither of them explained why "Ge" was "poverty".
Wang Yangming said: "What you mean is what you mean; Gezhe, Ye Zheng. " ("Wang Wencheng Public Rights Book" Volume 26) and said, "With my conscience, I can know it." (ditto) In his view, it is a matter of self-righteousness, knowledge is a matter of conscience, and it is a purely introspective effort.
In the early Qing Dynasty, Yan Yuan regarded Ge as the "Ge" of "hand beast" and "Ge" of "hand killing", which was the hand of the perpetrators of rubbing against motorcycles (The Legacy of West House, Volume VI), and it was a purposeful and conscious practice and reform activity of the subject to the object, and its purpose was practical.
Wang Fuzhi believes that Fang Yizhi's theory of qualitative measurement is closest to the original meaning of physical objects. He said: "Mi Weng (Fang Yizhi) and his son are qualitative scholars, who study and think, and are sincere. Those who cover things, that is, things are poor, only quality. " [3] [3] On the study of qualitative measurement, Fang Yizhi said: "Everything has its reasons, and it is really exquisite. They are big and small, but the vegetation is crawling, which is similar to their temperament. It is called qualitative measurement to levy its likes and dislikes and push it to change constantly. " [4] [4] Fang Yizhi's "qualitative measurement" is characterized by focusing on field research, classifying knowledge, and grasping the laws of development and change of things.
Xiong Shili said when talking about the original Confucian study of physical objects: "Assuming that the physical world of all kinds of things is real, the poor classification is the view of physical objects (the study of physical objects in ancient times is still a cloud science)."
Looking at the ancient sages' interpretation of "Wu Ge" and training "Wu Ge" into "Lai", "Shou", "Yu", "Poverty" and "Righteousness" are all speculations to a certain extent, and there is no thorough textual research on ancient philology. Only Fang Yizhi's qualitative measurement, which Wang Fuzhi admired, is close to the original meaning of "Wu Ge" in universities. Xiong Shili's explanation of "classification poverty" is also close to the original intention of the scripture.
However, neither Wang Fuzhi nor Xiong Shili further clarified why Wu Ge was regarded as this kind of training. It seems that if we want to approach the original meaning of "Wu Ge" in "Da Xue" and return the original face of "Wu Ge", we can change the research perspective and look for new evidence. In this respect, the elementary school's You Wen Shuo provides the possibility to truly understand the original meaning of the word "ge" in "Da Xue" and then grasp the original features of "Wu Ge".
My humble opinion of right and wrong: Shangshu comes first, and the university comes last. The key to the style of things lies in the meaning of style. From Yao Dian, the meaning of style is full, and later it is extended to look at the overall situation, the macro, and know the details. There is no doubt that books were well read in the pre-Qin era. Allow Gong Ke to let, just four tables, up and down. Shangshu Yao Dian
References:
Wu Ge _ Baidu encyclopedia