中国人的时间观念

中国人的时间观念

The Times of Heaven in Chinese Ancient Philosophy

Since middle ages, westerners held mainly two views on time: eschatological (teleological) and physical (scientific). The former came from Christianity and understood time through the relations between human being and God. Time or history goes towards the expectable end, i.e., the Last Judgment. The latter is connected with the means of measuring time, which becomes more and more precise. To this view, time essentially has nothing to do with human's existence. It is an objective, even and irreversible passing, having no meaning by itself and serving merely as an existent form of physical beings. Certainly, from the beginning of this century, there have been new perspectives occurring in science and philosophy among which, the phenomenological one in a broader sense is especially concerned with us.

Up to now, "Chinese philosophy" is usually approached, at least in China, through the conceptual perspective of the traditional western metaphysics. Therefore, seldom interest has been put on the problem of time in Chinese ancient literature due to its non-metaphysical character. It is true that, generally speaking, there is neither teleological nor physical view on time in Chinese tradition. But, if we read the literature of pre-Qin period, especially pre-Warring-States period faithfully, we may

find a striking role of time (shi2)1 in them. During the crucial "time" of Chinese history, the wise men experienced time originally and concerned themselves with it. This is a phenomenon that was extremely rare in other civilizations. We find another rarity in ancient Greece, where the philosophers, people who loved wisdom, were fascinated by mathematics and pure form (eidos) of being.

美国人的时间观念Americans think a great deal about time. They constantly refer to time and the value of keeping busy. From childhood, they learn to value time, and their language reflects this preoccupation with it. As children, they are taught to be on time for events and to do work on time. They learn that the price of committing a crime is to do time in prison. When they are having a good time, they say that time flies; they say sadly of someone who is dying that he is living on borrowed time. From the time of its beginning, American English has reflected this preoccupation with time. Nowhere can this sense of time be seen more clearly than in the working place. Working Americans are bound to the clock. It is a commonly held belief that one should balance work against a set time, for example an 8 hour day or a 40 hour week. Anything over these time limits is overtime, and the worker should receive more money per hour for work done during overtime. Time during nonworking hours is also considered very precious. Whether an American decides on a hectic weekend schedule, when Saturday and Sunday are filled with activities,or on a relaxed weekend,the time will be regarded as valuable. Some Americans feel they have a love / hate relationship with time. They love the comforts that progress has brought through work, but they hate the bondage to the clock and the pressures of a time-oriented society. There is little