先秦儒家“性”“欲”之辨——兼与周德清先生商榷

Differentiation and Analysis of "Humane" and "Desire" Made by the Confucian School in the Pre-Qin Period——a dispute with Mr Zhou Deqing

关于人之“性”与人之“欲”,最早的认识从孔子开始。《论语》大量记述了孔子对“欲”的言说,他认为“欲”是“性”发的结果,“欲”可分为:“性”发而皆中节的“和之欲”和“性”发而失中节的“贪之欲”。“和之欲”经《中庸》的进一步阐释,为孟子所继承并提出性善说;“贪之欲”为荀子所发挥,提出了性恶说。

The earliest discourse on ＂humane＂ and ＂desire＂ of man was made by Confucius. The Analects makes a lot of descriptive record of his discourse on ＂desire＂. ＂Desire＂ is the result of ＂humane＂ behavior. His description of ＂desire＂ can be classified as ＂mild desire＂, which is the result of moderate humane behavior, and ＂rapacity＂, which is the result of greedy humane behavior. The idea of ＂mild desire＂ is further expounded by The Doctrine of the Mean and inherited by Mencius, who put forward his conception that ＂Man＇s nature at birth is good＂; the idea of ＂rapacity＂ is carried forward by Xunzi, who put forward the concept that ＂Man＇s nature is evil＂.