评中国古代哲学家的群己关系观

Ancient Chinese Philosophers' Viewpoints on the Relationship Between the Individual and the Group

群己关系是中国古代哲学家最为关注的人生问题之一。儒家提倡能为人时则为人,不能为人时则为己;墨家和道家主张人己(己群)兼顾;杨朱学派、明末清初的李贽和顾炎武则主张利己不损群。总的来说,中国古代哲学家大多倾向于群己兼顾的模式,而纯粹的利己观点还是比较少见的。

Relationship between the individual and the group was one of the issues that attracted ancient Chinese philosophers' attention. The Confucians advocated benefiting others when possible and benefiting oneself when it was impossible to benefit others. Mohists and Taoists advocated taking into consideration both the group and oneself. Yang-zhu School and Li-Zhi, Gu Yanwu in the late Ming Dynasty and the early Qin Dynasty advocated benefiting oneself without doing harm to the group. Generally speaking, ancient Chinese philosophers tended to give consideration to both the individual and the group and it was very rare to find someone who agreed with sheer egoism.