语言的寻求与本体论的肇兴--从泰勒斯到巴门尼德的哲学内在逻辑演绎

哲学说希腊话 ,早期自然哲学肇始于“水为万物本原”的泰勒斯 (Thales) ,这一世界统一性的追溯尽管脱胎于神话中诸神的谱系 ,但却是人类精神从纷纭的幻想中解放出来的标志 ,确立了思想自身的原则 ,思想的使命就是超越感性实在 ,达至纯粹思维。继泰勒斯之后的自然哲学家的探索都可以说是泰勒斯找寻哲学语言的努力的承续 ,赫拉克利特 (Heraclitus)的万物浑灏流转使得从自然中找寻本原始基的追溯陷入窘境 ,始基不在流变之外 ,流变中无物常驻 ,只能听从一切即一的逻各斯 ,领悟流变。从主体主义哲学的视角来看 ,始基究竟至极实为人所设想的常如本体 ,只不过因为早期哲学还是一种客体形而上学 ,自然主义的素朴性使得哲人们不得不一心一意地凝视着外在的客体世界 ,始基的超自然性和人化性就没于感性具体的物象之中 ,然而 ,究原委竟 ,始基乃是将主观视界中的东西当作客观世界里的自然物使然。正是因为人在始基上有着朦胧的主体性倾向的投射 ,思想也就注定要从感性自然物中超拔出来 ,作为终极存在的始基最后发展到在巴门尼德(Parmenides)哲学中被明确地建立在思维和语言的基础之上 ,本体论由之而滥觞。

The Quest for Philosophical Language and the Rise of Ontology

Philosophy speaks Greek. Natural philosophy can be traced back to Thales' idea that everything is made of water. Although strongly influenced by the pedigree of the gods in mythology, this exploration in the unity of the world marked the liberation of human spirit from various speculations with a principle of its own. The aim of spirit was now to purely transcend the material. It is safe to say the natural philosophy afterwards is the continuation of Thales' efforts in looking for the language of philosophy. Heraclitus' idea that the world is changing puts the quest for the basic element in the dilemma: the element is always floating. From the subjective philosophy point of view, the basic element is stable as is in our imagination. Its super-naturalness and humanness disappeared in the phenomena of material as the early natural philosopher had to focus on the external. The concept of the basic element is a projection of the subjective, and as a result thinking is doomed to rise above the natural world. In the end, the quest for the basic element reached a clear definition on the basis of thinking and language of Parmenides' philosophy, and hence the rise of ontology.