COMPTES RENDUS - AFEC

Comptes rendus
of Wang's philosophy, it is perhaps préférable to indicate some aspects of
Wang's mental universe that hâve hitherto either escaped the attention of
other scholars or been insufficiently studied, but which, as Gernet demonstrates,
are of fundamental importance.
In the fïrst place, one should certainly bear in mind the significance
of Wang's refusai to consider language as more than an artificial and
inadéquate tool for dealing with the complexities of the real world. His
remarks on Confucius' famous statement "Je voudrais ne plus parler...
Est-ce que le Ciel parle ?" are quoted in the section where Gernet
élaborâtes on the Chinese préférence for an interprétation of the world
through graphie signs and their inter-relationships in time and space, as in
the symbols of the Zhouyi. Of course, Wang was by no means alone in this.
Confucius apart, one finds variations on the same thème across the whole
spectrum of Chinese philosophy. Wang's debt to his Song predecessor,
Zhang Zai, in his studies of the Zhouyi, is clear. And another Song-dynasty
thinker, Zhou Dunyi (1017-1073), exerted considérable influence through
his diagram of the Taiji ;fc|H or Suprême Ultimate, originally a circle
representing the universe in its yin and yang aspects, but which Wang
interpreted as a sphère full of yin and yang energy. Although the place of
the Zhouyi and Zhang Zai in Wang's thought has long been recognized,
Gernet's analysis intégrâtes this in the larger context of a Chinese tradition
in a way that is exceptionally illuminating.
Two terms that recur in Gernet's study are 'Nature' and 'artifice'.
This is not surprising. Wang, like most Chinese thinkers, was concerned to
understand Nature (in the broadest sensé of the term, including the human
world), to fïnd ways of cooperating with its complex and mysterious
movements. (No notion hère of mastering Nature or conquering it, in the
western sensé). Language, as we hâve seen, came into the category of
what was artificial. Nevertheless, Wang insists on man's position as an
intégral élément in the structure of the universe. This together with his
concept of human nature as something which grew and evolved through
human life, and his théories concerning universal change and human history
led him to adopt a dynamic and realistic attitude towards the problems
of his day. In this respect, as Gernet emphasizes, Wang, and Chinese
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