中國古代形上學中數字觀念的發展

數字觀念的源起很早，《易》占可能是已知最早的源頭。自先秦經兩漢至宋明，數字觀念問題意識有較大轉變。先秦思想家以數字觀念解釋萬物的生成，建構其宇宙觀。漢代數字觀念繼續朝向神秘化、複雜化的方向發展，以卦氣觀念為核心的思想影響所及，幾無處不在。為回應玄學和佛學的衝擊，宋明儒者注重以數字觀念建構形上學，既運用數字描述形質世界的秩序和意義，又處處強調數字所表述的形上本體的普遍性和超越性。而且，宋儒的數字形上學和漢儒的數字觀念有若干傳承的關係。
The concept of number originated very early and divination by Zhouyi might be its earliest origin we know. From the pre-Qin period to the Ming dynasty, the consciousness of the numerical concept experienced great changes. Thinkers of the pre-Qin period interpreted the formation of the myriad of things by the numerical concept and established their cosmology. The numerical concept continued to tend to mystery and complication in the Han dynasty and the thought with the concept of Gua qi (a theory correlating the trigrams or hexagrams to seasonal points) as the core almost permeated each realm. To respond to the challenges of Buddhism and metaphysics of Daoism, neo-Confucian scholars of the Song and Ming dynasties stressed to establish their metaphysics by numerical concept, i.e. describing the order and significance of the physical world by numbers, and always emphasize the universality and transcendence of the metaphysical noumenon described by numbers. In addition, numerical metaphysics of the Song neo-Confucianists inherited some aspects of the numerical concepts of the Han Confucianists. Copyright © 2006 周易研究編輯部.