Chinese concept of a person: An essay on language and metaphysics
中国人对个人的理解: 语言与玄学
Shuanfan Huang 黄宣范

Abstract 摘要
Concepts of spirit, mind, and body as embodied in the Chinese language are examined. It is claimed that if Chinese is taken as a guide to an account and understanding of the nature of things, the Chinese concept of a person seems to point to a gradient ontology with the entities posited to exist forming a continuum in which properties attributed to these entities overlap with each other. Reasons for the gradient character of the metaphysics of a person are pragmatic and historical, reflecting the reasonableness, naturalness, and simplicity of the expression of the concept of a person evolved over a long period philosophical experience.

“人”这个概念中国人是如何了解的？本文就历来哲学家的看法与现代中文所含蕴对此一概念的内涵作一番检讨。概言之，中国人对“人”持一种连续性的本体论的了解，亦即对人的躯体，气，心灵，精神等概念赋予许多互相重叠的属性，与西方常见的心物二元论见解颇不相同。

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