荀子的认识论及其对儒学发展的意义

On Xunzi’s Epistemology and Its Significance to the Development of Confucianism

荀子在对先秦诸子批判吸收的基础上提出了自己的认识论。他对感觉器官与思维在认识过程中的关系及作用进行了系统的总结,提出了"虚壹而静"的主体认识状态及认识方法,摒弃了具有巫术孑遗的神秘性感应成分,把认识论建立理性的基础上。荀子所注重的认识对象主要是社会政治问题,没有把自然当做相对独立的认识客体。在其认识论的指导下,荀子对当时各种思想以及儒家内部各派进行了批判,进一步深化了儒家尊重、适应社会而又不失基本价值持守的传统,对儒学在秦汉的传播与实践起到重要作用。

Xunzi developed his epistemology on the basis of his critical absorption of those pre-Qin scholars＇ theories. He made a summary on the relationship between sensor organs and logical thinking, concerning with their function in human beings＇ cognitive process. His epistemology advocates observing things calmly and faithfully with an open mind as the main recognition method, and it abandoned the mystery induction of witchcraft, and thus bases epistemology on rationality. Xunzi＇s epistemology mainly focuses on social political issues, without the awareness of regarding nature as a relatively independent object. Under the guidance of his epistemology, Xunzi criticized the ideas of the time as well as those of the different Confucian schools, which further deepened the Confucian tradition of respecting and adapting to the society without losing its own fundamental values. This played an important role in the communication and practice of Confucianism in Qin and Han dynasties.