T'ang Chun-i's idea of transcendence, with special reference to his Life, existence, and the horizon of mind-heart

This dissertation attempts to examine a central concept of the thought of T'ang Chun-i ('pinyin': Tang Junyi 1909-1978), that of the transcendental dimension, with the hope of contributing to a resolution of several controversies regarding Confucianism in general and contemporary Neo-Confucianism in particular. I demonstrate the extent to which contemporary Neo-Confucianism, in this case exemplified by T'ang's thought, has retained important religious dimensions, while experiencing changes with the introduction of Western philosophical terminology, concepts and ways of argument. Further, I answer the assertion, which prevails both in the West and the East, that Confucianism is totally secular, without any idea of transcendence, by showing T'ang's thought to be imbued with a religious humanism which opens itself to the realm of transcendence. Finally, I shed light on two interrelated problems, namely, whether Confucianism is a religion or not, and what kind of humanism contemporary Neo-Confucianism (here manifested in the thought of T'ang Chun-i) advocates. Chapter 1 looks at the point of departure for T'ang's system, the concept of human nature. For T'ang, the key element of being a human being is the notion of consciousness of transcendence ('chaoyue yishi') which I interpret as the dynamic of transformation. Next, T'ang's discussion of the Christian idea of transcendence will be examined mainly in two parts, one devoted to arguments supporting the existence of the realm of transcendence and the other dealing with the content of this realm of transcendence. These form Chapter Two. Chapters Three and Four examine the Buddhist and Confucian Horizons of transcendence respectively. They are followed by an exposition of T'ang's system of doctrinal classification in Chapter Five. Chapter Six is an evaluation of T'ang's thought which includes the evaluation of T'ang's dual argument, and the discussions of the nature of T'ang's system in particular, and the nature of T'ang's thought in general. The conclusion of the thesis is that Tang's argument cannot support the notion of God (Absolute) that he wanted to establish. From the beginning, T'ang believed that the realm of transcendence was something ultimately beyond human discourse and therefore impossible to establish philosophically. Rather, what is important is the promotion of Chinese culture and the awakening of people's moral spirit. Under these considerations, the most important function of philosophical investigation is to lead people to the way of the sage, or, to use T'ang's word, to "replant the spiritual roof" (' linggen'). T'ang's philosophical investigation aims not merely to achieve intellectual knowledge but to arrive at the truth. For him, knowledge is not an end in itself but a means to wisdom--to truth. If that is the case, and the realm of transcendence is ultimately beyond knowledge and language, then, strictly speaking, such a transcendent level of the learning of the mind-heart should be outside the scope of philosophical speculation--that is, it is not completely the object of rational knowledge. That is why T'ang's thought has non-rational aspects which contribute partly to its religious dimension. Perhaps, we should call it the religion of mind-heart and nature ('xinxing zhijiao'). Therefore, in terms of its foundation, T'ang's religious humanism is moral humanism. But on account of its transcendent dimension, we can clearly see a profound religious spirit running through it. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)