With Yuri's detailed discussion of ancient Greek "natural philosophy"[1], Hongyi hurriedly put the finishing touches on his comment:

"Just as the Chinese ancestors said the 'five elements': all things are composed of five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, and each element is adjacent to each other. The Greeks also believed that the essence of the worldly realm was something concrete, such as water, or clouds, water, earth, stones, fire, and so on. ”

"Huh? It turns out that the Westerners and my Chinese ancestors have such a consensus? Du Duhu sighed.

"Yes, Lord Du. It is precisely because the ancient Greeks were also pondering these profound questions that they gradually developed their knowledge and became the forerunners of Western scholarship today, because in almost every field and every problem, the Greeks left a reflection on it. Yuri didn't need to be prompted by the master this time, and took the initiative to take over the topic.

"The ancient Greeks were very knowledgeable. As to why this is the case, Aristotle, whom Baylor mentioned at the beginning of one of his books, said that there are three conditions for the birth of philosophy and learning: the first is "astonishment", which is the confusion and amazement that people show in nature and many phenomena in the human world, and with astonishment comes the feeling of their own ignorance, and in order to get rid of ignorance, people will thirst for knowledge. But the quest for knowledge is not for practical purposes, but purely for the love of wisdom, the pursuit of truth. In layman's terms, the first condition is that people are required to be curious and eager to learn. ”

The second condition is "leisure". Scholars do not have to work hard for a living, because they are engaged in heavy physical work all day long and have no leisure, they cannot engage in such complex mental work as seeking knowledge. ”

The third condition is freedom. Philosophical knowledge is self-sufficient. It exists not for any other purpose, but purely for its own sake, and it is a free discipline that requires freedom of thought, freedom of expression, and freedom from the dictates of other ends and interests......"

"Ahem......"

Hongyi heard the word "freedom" and hurriedly spoke out to stop it. Is this worth it? This is China, which has been in the same vein of imperial autocracy for thousands of years, and if you say freedom, then you can pay it back! The most famous "freedom" in Hongyi's mind is defined in the Declaration of the Rights of Man, the programmatic document of the French Revolution: "Freedom is the right to do anything that is harmless to others." But how easy is this kind of harmless anything to others in China after the Ming Dynasty?

But in fact, in ancient China. There is also no lack of free spirit: as early as in the Book of Han. The word "freedom" is present in the Five Elements Chronicles. Zheng Xuan's "Zhou Li" of the Han Dynasty is annotated with the saying that "to stop dare not be free". By the time of the Song Dynasty. "Freedom" even became a popular phrase for a time. If we go back further, the pre-Qin Zhuangzi's "Wandering Away" has already laid the ideological and theoretical foundation for "freedom".

The reason why Zhuangzi calls it "leisure" is not the simple life of freedom and freedom as understood by contemporary people, and the freedom to do whatever you want. It is a kind of letting go of fame and fortune and letting go of desire. Pursue absolute freedom spiritually.

Coming to the roots. It is because the free thought of Taoism is a consistent Chinese spirit in China's academic circles. Lao Tzu proposed "Taoism and Nature". Zhuangzi inherited and carried forward Laozi's ideological tendencies. He called heaven and earth "the great one of form", and proposed that "the whole world is one breath and one ear", and "people between heaven and earth" are also developed from qi. Linking heaven, earth and man with "qi", it further advocates the concept of freedom and life philosophy of "Taoism and nature" and "leisurely travel".

In the Warring States Period, when the princes were contending and the priests were arguing, various schools and factions not only launched fierce debates in philosophy and politics, but also expressed different opinions especially on the issue of human nature - Confucian Mencius put forward the theory of sexual goodness, and Legalism held the theory of sexual interest in human nature (represented by Han Fei), believing that "where the profit is, the people belong to it", human nature is good, and the relationship between people is also the word "benefit". On the basis of developing Lao Tzu's idea of "seeing simplicity and embracing simplicity", Zhuangzi believes that human nature is natural, innocent, and simple, and that lust and benevolence are not sexuality, and advocates that sex is not moved by external objects. "Let one's life be loved" preserves one's nature, and pursues the realm of personality independence and spiritual self-destruction.

Zhuangzi exposed and criticized the deformity, pathology, and ugliness of patriarchal hierarchy and authoritarian society, and even more hated the "rampant materialism" and "artificial objectification" caused by social reality.

In order to get rid of the alienation and repression of human nature by social reality, Zhuangzi adopted the practice of not cooperating with the rulers and not merging with the flatterers on the road of life. His attitude of "preferring to play with desecration and being unfettered by those who have a country", and his incomparable contempt and deep hatred for those who "lick hemorrhoids" are "the negation and protest of individuals based on nature against the patriarchal society that uses etiquette to plan and restrict human nature", and the application of Zhuangzi's theory of human nature of "letting one's life take one's life" in life practice.

All these ideas of Zhuangzi, the pursuit of personality independence, spiritual freedom, and transcendence, are concentrated and clearly expressed in "Wandering Away". He once proposed that in the social reality of hierarchy, patriarchy, and autocracy, "the world cannot but barter things for their nature" or "martyrdom" or "martyrdom" ("Thumb Puppet"), and the result is "man-made servitude" and the loss of independent individual personality and spiritual freedom. The main purpose of "Getaway" is to explain that only by breaking the shackles of merit, fame, fortune, fortune, power, power, respect, and position can a person recover his natural "nature" and gain personality independence and spiritual freedom; The pursuit of human beings and infinite and eternal nature as one, "taking advantage of the righteousness of heaven and earth and resisting the debate of the six qi, to swim infinitely" is the highest state of "leisurely travel".

Zhuangzi believes that there are two reasons why people are not free: one is "to wait", that is, the constraints of external material conditions; The second is "having been", that is, the bondage of free body and spirit. He said: "If the husband takes advantage of the righteousness of heaven and earth, and the debate (change) of the six qi is infinite to swim, and the evil is to be treated" ("Leisurely Travel"), which means that by virtue of the right path of heaven and earth, the changes of the "six qi" (yin, yang, wind, rain, obscurity, and light) are not limited by various conditions, this is "leisurely travel".

Zhuangzi also proposed that in order to achieve "no waiting" and "no already", the fundamental method is "heart fasting" and "sitting and forgetting". Through the cultivation of "heart fasting" and "sitting and forgetting", we can spiritually transcend all the limitations of nature and society, eliminate the opposition between things and self, forget society, and forget ourselves.

In fact, the concept of freedom and the philosophy of life of "Leisurely Travel" not only "marked the awakening of the individual under the patriarchal, hierarchical, and autocratic system, and had great cognitive significance" under the historical conditions of the time, but also helped people to open their minds and horizons, so as to break the spiritual shackles and liberate themselves from traditional ideas and secular concepts. Not only has it had a positive and far-reaching impact on future generations, but it is also extremely valuable for the Anritsu of modern life.

However, after all, China has been under the rule of an absolute monarchy for a long time, and the broad masses of the people are rarely free, and there has never been a class of "free people" like ancient Greece and Rome. Therefore, in the heyday of the so-called feudal autocracy - the Ming and Qing dynasties, freedom has become a word that makes everyone shudder.

This is also the reason why Hongyi had to kindly prevent Yuri from laying out the word "freedom". Fortunately, Du Duhu and Zhu Changzuo were both annoyed with "learning dementia", and they were pondering these unheard of theories, and they did not express their opinions for a while.

"Yuri, then tell me about the difference between the Chinese and the Westerners! Or just the question I just asked, tell me why the descendants of ancient Greece were able to create the telescope and look at the Moon Palace, and why no one made this thing in my country? Hongyi took the opportunity to change the subject.

The "certain book" of Aristotle referred to by Yuri was actually translated by the Chinese as the famous Metaphysics [2]. The reason why Hongyi took the initiative to ask Yuri about the difference between Eastern and Western "learning" was because through powerful descriptions, he found that this high-achieving student who graduated from a regular college still knew the basic content of Greek classical philosophy very well, and he also spoke very accurately, so he had a lot of expectations for Yuri's "scientific view".

"Huh!"

After answering, Yuri mustered up his courage, sorted out his thoughts a little, and finally said the following long paragraph.

(Chapter to be continued)

"A limerick poem. Hidden Head

Reading literature and reading history is only a long breath

I was saying that there was an opportunity back then

The layout is a long-cherished wish

It's hard to come and go

Get up and spend a hundred years

Point out the suffering and diseases of the world

The edge of the town was razed to the sea

Wen'an Wuding tears of joy

[1] Natural philosophy is the predecessor of modern natural science, which mainly thinks about the philosophical problems faced by man, including the relationship between nature and man, the relationship between artificial nature and original nature, and the most basic laws of nature. Many of these theories have laid the foundation of today's physics. Many modern celebrities, such as the English scientist Isaac Newton and the German philosopher Hegel, have written works on natural philosophy.

[2] Metaphysics is an important philosophical work by the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC). It was compiled by Andronic, the eleventh heir of the Lycaum (at its peak, c. 40 BC). Since the book is ranked after the works on physics in Aristotle's collection of writings, it is called "Metaphysic", which means "after physics". The issues discussed in this book are basically important philosophical questions, such as the fundamental causes of existence and the question of the origin. The Chinese translation of the name "metaphysics" is taken from the phrase "the metaphysical is the way, and the metaphysical is the instrument" in the Yi Chuan, which accurately reflects the content of the book. The Chinese translation of this book can be found at: Metaphysics. Translated by Wu Shoupeng, Commercial Press, 1983. (To be continued......)