由先秦道家的“为我”主张看中国传统文化的“个人主义”

Abstract

Individualism defined by modern western scholars lays stress on egoism, which naturally reminds people of Weiwo concept of pre-Qin Daoism. Weiwo concept of Chinese pre-Qin Daoism is represented by Yang Zhu, who holds that being stingy is favorable for the nation. He states that if everyone is unwilling to lose a penny and merely concerned about his own profits, then the state can be peacefully ruled. This concept is based on the Daoist’s life philosophy of keeping one’s true nature and doing no harm to one’s health for the material things, which embodies the concepts of valuing life, approving egoism and asserting everyone is born equal. Among the political theories of pre-Qin scholars, this is the most definite statement which expresses from the standpoint of the theory of human nature and view of life that individual is the basis of governing a state. The core concept of it is quite similar to what is written in Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: “Individual itself is the end, and of the highest value. Society is only a means to an end.” The political connotation of the Weiwo concept of Daoism is directly pointed to Lao Zi’s idea of governing by doing nothing that is against nature. This ideal state, as described in Laozi (the book), is a simple sight of “small territory and population” and bears the impression of naturalism. The political idea of it puts emphasis on a spontaneous order, or a primary anarchism. By proposing the governing type, making this spontaneous order more specific and stressing the individual factor during the forming process of customs, Yang Zhu emphasizes that individual (or family) is the basis of governing a society, that one for oneself means one individual for all, and that individual self-governing leads to collective governing. The so-called idea of “everyone is unwilling to lose a penny and merely concerned about his own profits” can be more explicated that anyone or any group has no right to determine what another should be like. Such concept is based on the small-scale peasant economy, which is of decentralized management, but trying to be self-sufficient. It contains evident criticism and negation of the social customs at that time. So, it cannot be simply criticized as egoism, and yet it is directly contradictory to the collectivism advocated by Confucians. In the Chinese academic history, Yang Zhu’s Weiwo concept is only a nine day’s wonder since it doesn’t agree with the Chinese traditional culture. Collectivism is deeply planted and rooted in Chinese traditional culture. Individualism, a political and social philosophy, has no place in the dominating thoughts of the past dynasties. Patriarchal clan system is one of the most important characteristics of Chinese traditional culture. The concept of “Morality foremost” (or pan-moralizing tendency) is the idea that keeps abreast with patriarchal clan collectivism all the time. Collectivism and individualism fall into historical category and both are closely related to moral evaluation. In the specific context of Chinese traditional culture, the relationship between collectivism and individualism is embodied in “publicity and privacy” and “righteousness and profits”. The modern transformation of Chinese culture is, on the one hand, the strengthening of the awareness of individual rights and the improvement of individual rights and benefits protection; on the other hand, it is also reflected in the advocation of moral self-discipline, service duty, overall consciousness and associative spirit. Therefore, it is still a long-term and necessary task to combat various egoism in the form of selfishness, particularly the traditional patriarchal familism.