中国古典艺术思想中的“无”

学者在讨论孟、荀两人的理论差异时,大多集中在他们各自所持的人性论之差异上,但他们在重建社会政治秩序的主题上却目标相同,即如何在一个充满“争”与“乱”的世界中重建合理的社会政治秩序。若因其所“同”而观其所“异”,则其所“异”的可能解释之一便表现在“如何建立秩序”的方法问题上。孟子主张以“仁心”之直推以求政治秩序之实现,荀子则坚持以客观化的“礼”为架构来重建政治秩序。孟子对建立政治秩序的思考完全基于个人自足的内在“仁心”。在就道德而言道德的角度上看,其思想无疑成就了道德的尊严和人格的伟大;但若必欲即此而言政治,却会因其对政治之特性缺乏可靠的认知基础而导致政治上的空想主义。荀子对重建政治秩序的致思则委诸于先王制作的“礼”,礼的内涵虽然包容甚广,但与孟子的“仁心”不同,荀子言礼的首出的意义是政治学的而非伦理学的,是为了去乱止争以实现“出于治”、“合于道”的政治目的而形成的一套制度设计。即此而言,在面对重建政治秩序的时代主题时,若与孟子言仁心之兴发和推扩相比,荀子的此一主张无疑更具有客观和可实行、可“设施”的特性。然而,荀子的礼既是政治学的,又是伦理学的,其间各自在根源上的分际并不明确;同时,由于荀子心目中紧紧绞固于政治秩序的实现,道德则不免沦为维护政治的手段,乃至常常以政治的方式来处理道德问题,其结果则导致对专制政治的强化。学者谓荀子尊君、重势、倾向于独断,良非无故也。
Abstract：“Nothing” is a significant and fundamental concept in philosophy. In spite of their obvious differences, both Chinese and Western philosophies have deep reflections on it. In the classical aesthetics of China, it always played a guiding role in understanding of art and the creation of art. It is very significant to understand the role of the concept “Nothing” in Chinese classical aesthetics for comprehending the features of Chinese ancient art, in which “Nothing” revealed the truths and their intrinsic relations and rules, and people acted according to the intrinsic relations successfully. Nothing is the root of the transformation of all things, but it itself is invisible and intangible. Since the ultimate end of art is to understand and enquire into marvelous changes, it naturally seeks to grasp and express “Nothing”. However, “Nothing” as the greatest beauty of heaven and earth is infinite and immaterial; it cannot be exhausted by brush and ink. People can merely indicate the infinite by limited ways and transcend traces to enquire into the ultimate truth. Therefore, concision is one of most fundamental principles of Chinese aesthetics. Mimesis has been the mainstream of the classical Western theory of art since Plato. But one can hardly find the idea that art should imitate nature in Chinese ancient aesthetics. On the contrary, it is regarded as the mark of mediocre art to seek likeness in appearance. It is just because the Chinese ancient art wanted to manifest the cosmic creating, i.e. the spectacle of “Nothing.” It puts less emphasis on forms as the Western in the thought of art. Forms and rules occupy less prominent positions in the Chinese ancient thought of art. Artists often emphasized the importance of breaking old conventions. Though the function of “Nothing” was operated by human beings, in Chinese ancient theory of art the subjective role of artists was essentially faint.