Possibility

June 29th, 2022

My individual attempt at an English translation of an excerpt from the dean's commencement speech at graduation ceremony for School of International Relations of Peking University.

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Start of translation>>

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"…Today I want to talk to you about one thing - 'Human is possibility', as some final words before we part.

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What is 'Human'? This is a matter of discussion that has occurred repeatedly throughout the history of Western philosophy. The essentialism of the West commands that there shall be definitions of "essence" for all things, including Human. For example, Aristotle defines that Human in essence is 'a political animal'. Such essentialist definitions can help us, in knowing and understanding the general rules of the things and the world, but they can also mask our eyes from seeing the particularity, complexity, and versatility of the same things and the same world. Under the definition that 'Human is a political animal', personal emotions could find no home for refuge. You might also admit that Human is an emotional animal, but essentialism will ask you to eventually choose one from the two. This is how we could have a world in division and immobility. Of course, such definition cannot be compared to those by Machiavelli or Hobbes for their possible consequences - Human is an animal for power and for self-interest. We might just lose hope for the future of Human.

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Thanks to Rousseau, the West has picked up 'Freedom' to define, or rather resist, the Human essence. After him came Kant, who signifies freedom as the label of Human value and dignity. There is no doubt that their thoughts have paramount contributions; Kant especially. He sees the Human essence in freedom and moral self-control and laid foundations for modern political order. But for them, freedom is one of the will; it is 'free will', and being free at your will is not the same as being truly free. And Rousseau so said, 'human is born free but is everywhere in chains'. He himself designed a society in hopes to free everyone, but the succeeding generations see it as a hotbed for totalitarianism. Two hundred years later the West met with Heidegger and started to see: Human is actually a being-in-the-world, and borrowing from Heidegger's own complex terminology, a "thrown projection" onto possibilities of the future.

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Such has been the situation of the West. But in fact, we do not have to embark on a journey to find a common lesson at our doorstep. In our cultural traditions, there has been no such discussion on the 'essence' of Human. It is by no means because Chinese do not discover, understand nor know to refine Humanity, but because: Chinese never intend to define, or to confine, Human; Chinese perennially see it this way:

Human is possibility.

It may well be that we are too familiar with it that we do not try to recall it.

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But Human is possibility to us, as an Ancient Chinese saying goes "all men can be promoted to become saints". Yangming Wang said "the saints are everyone along the streets". Surely this is not a fact, but a possibility that everyone can work to attain, an encouraging possibility. Confucius' student Yanhui said: 'the great preceding emperors Shun and Yu, who are they? All who work to do great can be like them.' And Xunzi said the similar:

'The saints are who walk every human steps to achieve'. We can and will work to do great because Human, is possibility.

We might not all become 'saints', but we can become a better human of ourselves.

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Humans are animals, certainly. And we must be led by some necessities: eat while hungry, dress warm while feeling cold; Aristotle calls it the vegetative and animal types of the souls. Yet from the same Human possibility, we always have a choice, for the moral, between the necessary and the possible. This is the humanity, and maybe even the divinity, of Human, as opposed to animals and plants. Remember Mencius:' What our mouth is for tastes, eyes for colors, ears for sounds, noses for smells, limbs for comfort, is the humanity destined. Such is a humanity Gentleman does not have to discuss. What humaneness is between fathers and sons, righteousness between the governor and the ones serving him, rites between hosts and guests, and what knowledge is for sages, commands from Nature and Heaven for saints, is the humanity chosen. Such is one Gentleman does not need to discuss. Let us not deny the human necessity, but try to surpass, and let us try even more, to attain the human possibility, although we know some possibilities may not come true.

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This is because possibilities go together with times and conditions. In the best time we can ride the tide and maximize our potential; in the worst time we shall adjust to the conditions and avoid doing harm. In the latter, it is the time when we safeguard our intention and resist the countercurrent, and one when we remain patient and prepare for the better time when it comes. Laozi said, "the ultimate good is like water".

Just like water, let us not accept setbacks from the rocks but continue to flow around and over them, and let us not fight for the sake of willing to win, but cherish and nourish both the losing and the winning. That is when we accept the possibility.

The possibility does not promise the truth at all times. Turning possibilities into reality requires more than external conditions, but, more importantly, our decision making, to seize the possibility with prudential consideration, thorough judgement, and accurate assessment.

Think and think for the good before act; act and act only when time is right.

To make the right decisions is a responsibility to yourself - find the right space within your boundaries where the external and the internal work together the best for you. There is no need to give up, but there is neither a reason to be reckless. As from the Book of Change, when you know you could reach the end, do not give up, and when you know it must end, do not resist and end it yourself. Those who do know can walk steady and slow but with real speed in time, and they can also realize the possibilities without forcing acts. I wish you the same wisdom, but at the same time, take my advice:

Human as possibility can be either evil or saint. It takes only a turn of thought to do good, but also evil. Do not trust yourselves blindly. Be on guard even with only your full self, and mind it even it is only a tiny signal.

But with such here does come the meaning and value of education. To educate is not simply to pass on the knowledge and skills, but to guide the ones learning to build their world of possibility. In ancient China, the true meaning of education is to influence the students overtime with the moral feelings. In ancient Greece, education was seen a craft for the soul and so said Socrates "knowledge is virtue". It is not a forceful craft but one that follows the time, the being and the potential of the students. So much for the vegetative and animal types of the soul, Aristotle also defines the character and capacity of Human, and that is something not of nature but neither against. Mencius shares the similar: the four senses - one of empathy, one of shame, one of humility, and one of the right, are born together with Human.

Those who?know how to enhance and extend these four senses into humaneness and righteousness, rites and truths, can bring peace to the most distant coast of the world, and those who do not, do not qualify as parents.

Let education serve the true purpose -?enhance and extend these possibilities…"

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>> End of translation

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Some may bear tears, like I have, not for the reality in parallel to this speech, but for the one we are to be in.