多彩的雅典娜————论哲学的希腊性问题

在文化圈的视野下,运用跨文化研究的方法考察哲学的起源,我们不可避免要涉及哲学的“希腊性”(Hellenism)这个根本问题。如果专注于希腊哲学的产生,那么哲学的希腊性问题就是希腊哲学的起源问题,这个问题的语境是城邦时代的古希腊,希腊人率先迈进理性思维的门槛,创造了哲学。如果专注于希腊哲学的发展和传播,那么哲学的希腊性问题就是希腊哲学的跨文化传播,这个问题的语境是整个地中海世界,希腊哲学在保持了理论思维特质的同时，其内容和样式又多样化了。如果专注于一般哲学的发展,哲学的希腊性问题就是哲学的民族性问题,这个问题的语境是整个世界,随着各个民族理论思维能力的提高,希腊哲学必将继续与其他民族文化相遇,产生新的哲学。

Colorful Athena: On the Problem of Philosophy's Hellenism

Philosophy has always resembled a cultural gene,residing in the spiritual homeland of nations;weaving through cultures and revealing the essential spirit of the times and nation.However,once the seed of philosophy has left its native country and settled on the soil of different cultures,it would either be met with praise or with criticism. The study of ″philosophy’s Hellenism″ by Chinese scholars will provide us with a new perspective for a deeper understanding of the origin and development of Western philosophy.In this way,we may further understand the general rules for cross-cultural transmission of philosophy.This may also lead to new ways of thinking about the Sinization of Marxist philosophy and the legitimacy of Chinese philosophy. Heidegger and Derrida confirmed that the history of philosophy started from Greece,and Hellenism is its essential character.Philosophy is the product of human thinking transitioning from the non-rational into the threshold of rationality.Emerging first in ancient Greece,it has managed to carry this ″Hellenism″ throughout its developmental history.″Hellenism″ is thus the feature or characteristic of the Greek way of life(including its way of thinking). In researching later periods of Greek philosophy,scholars need to expand their scope,so as to focus not only on the Aegean Sea,but also on the entire Mediterranean World.As such,we must use a cultural perspective and a cross-cultural research methodology to investigate the origin and development of philosophy.By studying the spread of Greek philosophy in the Mediterranean cultural world,we discover that Greek philosophy crossed cultural borders without losing its Hellenist character but diversified its content and forms.The so-called ″orthodox Greek philosophy″ did not actually exist.Having such a grasp of Greek philosophy,we must adopt a relatively broader definition of philosophy that stretches back to its original meaning of ″wisdom″ or ″thought.″ In this manner,we can avoid reducing philosophy to a skeleton of only constructed concepts and categories that neglects its profound contents. In a global context,the issue of ″philosophy’s Hellenism″ is also an issue of philosophy’s nationality.In comparing Eastern and Western cultures,Hegel and Husserl expressed similar ideas,namely that philosophy emerged in the West and not in the East.Philosophy is ″a critical theoretical thinking and an ultimate concern with the world(including society and the human person).″ On the horizon of the Aegean Sea,the Greeks,by absorbing other nations’ cultural elements,had enhanced their own ability for rational thinking,and became the first to cross the threshold of rationality,thus creating philosophy.It is under this context of a comparative study of the history of culture that we claim that philosophy,as a way of rational thinking,has its origin in ancient Greece.However,in the present world context and from a global perspective,philosophy is universal while Greek philosophy is specific.When another nation’s ability of rational thinking reaches a certain level,its culture will inevitably encounter Greek philosophy and will eventually create a new philosophy expressed in its own national language.