Critical analysis of Mou Zong San's understanding of the philosophy of Lao Tzu with reference to concepts of 'Zhi de Zhijue' and 'Zhong Guan'.

摘要

Mr. Mou Zong San, one of the most important representatives of Contemporary New-Confucianism, tries to justify the fact that human being has intellectual intuition ( Zhi de Zhijue) in Kantian sense through the tradition of Chinese philosophy. In my research project, I make it clear that with Mr. Mou Zong San's explanation and proof the intellectual intuition of the Taoism of Lao Tzu is not the intellectual intuition in its original sense in Kant's philosophy. Moreover, I analyze that Mou's explanation and proof of the intellectual intuition of the Taoism of Lao Tzu will bring about certain theoretical problems, and pinpoint that the explanation is mainly built on his interpretation of Confucianism. The thesis also argues that Mou's interpretation of the Taoism of Lao Tzu as "metaphysics of vision-form", in contrast with the moral metaphysics of Confucianism, is inappropriate. Mou ignores the meaning of "Being-form" in the Taoism of Lao Tzu. As a result, he emphasizes too much on the static state of vision through self-cultivation, which makes him overlook the initiative of Taoism.