善的形上学追问——孟子善恶观的道德解析

After the Metaphysics of Goodness: the Moral Analysis of the Mencius' Theories of Goodness and Evil

善是什么?善何以可能?善的终极根据是什么?通过对善的不断追问,孟子为善建构了形上学的根据。“可欲之谓善”是孟子德性论的道德立场的体现。孟子通过对善的伦理追问、人性追问和天道追问,为善建构了一个较完善的思想体系。各种人伦规范正是可欲之善的现实存在;性善论是善何以可能的内在根据;天道观则是善的超越根据。孟子以性善说人性,以天道说性善的思维理路,成为儒家后学道德形上学建构理论资源。

What is the goodness, how to achieve it, and which is its ultimate basis. Through these questions, Mencius put forward the ultimate basis of goodness. At first, Mencius provided the answer to the question that how to achieve good with goodness of human nature. Then he was tracing back to heaven as the basis of goodness of human nature. Further, his di scourse about the way of heave offered the divine, eternal and universal metaphysical basis of goodness. Mencius believed that the way of heaven and the human nature interacted mutually and united in one. And his theories about unity of heaven and na ture constructed the logical thinking of the Confucian moral metaphysics.