《礼记》中的“小人”——以《哀公问》“丘也小人,不足以知礼”为例

Xiaoren in The Book of Rites——Taking "Aigong asked Confucius" as an example

《礼记·哀公问》篇首,"哀公问礼于孔子"时,后者自称"丘也小人,不足以知礼"。"小人"作为孔子自称,在其他典籍中极少出现。本文拟从当时的社会状况出发,结合文本与其他典籍,疏解"小人"在此处的意蕴,兼论《礼记·哀公问》"哀公问礼于孔子"中"君子"的内涵。

In the first part of ＂Aigong asked Confucius＂ in The Book of Rites,when Aigong asked Confucius the meaning of rites,Confucius answered that he was xiaoren,knowing nothing about rites.Taking xiaoren as the title of Confucius himself is a very rare phenomenon in whatever books.This article will explore the accurate meaning of xiaoren and gentleman,based on the society of pre-Qin dynasty and other classic texts.