Chinese Philosophical Epistemology and Its Defects

The "University" proposes the proposition of "investigating things to acquire knowledge", presenting the rudimentary form of Chinese philosophical epistemology.Over the following 2,500 years, it has undergone numerous debates on the relationship between knowledge and action; however, no philosopher has developed a comprehensive epistemological system that explores the nature, source, formation, application, truth, testing, structure of human knowledge, as well as the relationship between language and thinking.The concept of "know" in the philosophy of "investigating things to attain knowledge" is equivalent to concepts such as "idea" and "meaning" in Western philosophy.However, the cognitive state of "know" has not been fully explored and expanded upon, nor has the distinction between empirical and rational recognition of "know" been made.Confucianism advocated the "learning" of language communication as one of the ways to acquire knowledge, but it failed to evolve a method of using language to conduct formal logical reasoning to acquire knowledge and test truth.The "eight trigrams" deduction and yin-yang and five elements theory in the "I Ching" have stifled the emergence of modern scientific epistemological methods in China in terms of thinking mode.Confucian epistemology: focuses on "reason" and interpersonal relationships, with an emphasis on the establishment of moral ethics and social order.Taoist epistemology: pursues a realm beyond experience and social conventions, understanding the world through introspection and insight; it focuses on grasping "Tao", providing vague guidance for determining universal truths and acquiring precise knowledge; it is prone to falling into the dilemma of nihilism and relativism.The concept of unity between heaven and man and unity between knowledge and action has led to the lack of differentiation in Chinese philosophical epistemology regarding the study of the relationship between subject and object, not involving the way in which the subject understands the object, the limitations of understanding, and the interaction between subject and object in the process of understanding.