Tao, Xiuao. "The Book of changes
Revisted from the Perspective of the
Process Phlosophy." (Conference Paper- International Conference on
Creativity and Process: East-West Dialogue 2007).
Abstract
The principle of Change is
the endless process of creativity. The subjects in the Book
of Change are tai chi and the gentlemen. The tai chi creates
the eight kuas, and thus creates the eternal objects, as well as the
actual entity or the actual occasion, which for the gentlemen are the
hsiangs. The hsiangs are the unity of certainity and
uncertainity. The kua ofQian signifies
the principle of movement, while the kua of Kun the principle
of conversation. The two aspects combine together and create
all the things in the world.
The creativity of the
gentlemen is firstly to set the kua. The process of setting a
kua is also the process of prehension. There are two kinds of
prehension: one is the prehension of the real occasion, or the physical
prehension; the other is the prehension of the eight kuas, or the
conceptual prehension. By setting a kua, the hsiangof a kua
is to be produced, which symbolizes a kindof value, i.e. good or evil,
fortune or misfortune, but which is only the potential value, and won't
become the fact without a gentleman's moral efforts. And
therefore, the creativity of the gentlemen lies not only on the pocess
of setting a kua, but also his practice.
The above understanding of
change also proves that Whitehead's process philosophy is a kind of
metaphysics with an aesthetic value, and its principle of creativity is
the creation of the aesthetic value. The metaphysics of
change is also the metaphysics of the moral value, the principle of
which is the creation of the ultimate goodness, which means the unity
of morality and happiness. In this sense, the principle of
change is the real settlement of the Kant's antinomy of morality and
happiness.