中国哲学的背景
中华民族的地理环境
在《论语》里，孔子说：‘知者乐水，仁者乐山。知者动，仁者静。知者乐，仁者寿》。”读孔子的这段话，使我查到古代中国人和古代希腊人思想不同的由来。
中国是一个大陆国家，。在古代中国人心目中，世界就是他们生活的这边土地。在中文里，有两个词语常常被用来表达“世界”，一个是“普天之下”，一个是“四海之内”。住在海洋国家的人民，如希腊人，会不明白，居住在“四海之内”（比如说，住在克里特岛上），怎么就是住在“普天之下”。而在中文里，它就是如此，而且是有理由的。
In the Confucian Analects Confucius said: "The wise man delights in water, good man delights in mountains. The wise move; the good stay still. The wise happy; the good endure." In reading this saying, I feel there is something which suggests a difference between the people of ancient China and those of ancient Greece.
China is continental country. To the ancient Chinese their land was the world. There are two expressions in the Chinese language which can both be translated as the world. One is "all beneath the sky" and the other is "all within four sea.". To the people maritime country such as Grees, it would be inconceivable the expressions such as these could be synonymous. But this is what happens in the Chinese language, as it is not without reason.
从孔子的时代直到十九世纪末，中国的思想家们从来没有到海上冒险的经历。在现代人看来，孔子和孟子所住的地方都离海不远。但是在《论语》里，孔子中有一次提到海：“道不行，乘桴海于海。从我者，其由与？”（公冶长》第六节）仲由即子路，在孔子的学生中，以勇敢著名。据说，仲由吃到孔子的这句话，非常高兴。 孔子并没有因仲由的过分热心而高兴，他说；“由也，好勇过我，无所取材。”{仲由虽然勇敢，受苦乃能裁度事理。同上）
孟子提到海的话也同样简短。他说:"观于海者难为水，游于圣人之门者难为言。”孔子只想，泛舟浮于海，孟子也只是望海惊叹，并不比孔子好多少。对比之下，苏格拉底、柏拉图和亚里士多德，出生在海洋国家，漫游列岛，又是多么不同啊！
From the time of Confucius until the end of the last century, no Chinese thinkers ahdnthe experence of venturing out upon the high seas. Confucius and Mencius lived not far from the sea, if we think in modern terms of distance, yet in the Analects, Confucius mentions the sea only once. He is recorded as saying: "If my way is not to prevail, I shall get upon a raft and float out to the sea. He who will go with me will be Yu." Chung Yu was a disciple of Confucius known for his courage and bravery. It is said in the same work that when Chung Yu heard this statement, he was much pleased. Confucius. however, was not pleased by Chung Yu's overenthusiasm, and remarked: "Yu is more brave than myself. I do not know what to with him."
Mencius's reference to the sea is likewise brief. "He who has seen the sea," he says, "finds it difficult to think anything about waters; and he who has wandered to the gate of the sage, finds it difficult to think anything about teh words of others." Mencius is no better than Confucius, who thought only of "floating out to sea." How different wree Socrates, Plato, adn Aristotle, who lived in a maritime country and wandered from island to island!
