儒学之渊源特质与荀子论儒

The Origins of Confucianism Traits and Xunzi’s Exposition on Confucianism

儒之内涵,当以《说文》"儒,柔也"最为根本,但对其理解,似多有未得其义者。察所谓柔,一应指儒者温文柔和的人格修养特征,二指儒家在政治上主张以礼乐仁义治天下,反对武力霸道。有论者说儒以耶稣比孔子,以犹太教比儒学,立说不可谓不巧妙,但究竟还要从中国古代的历史文化传统中追寻儒学之根,是即周代的师儒教育制度。儒本为王官职守之一,后流为一种社会职业,至孔子则改造为具有特定社会理想的道义追求群体。为说明儒的的社会角色影响,荀子曾根据儒学标准划分天下王公士庶品类,此为荀子论儒最可注意者。因为儒与中国古代社会之关系究竟如何,此论实有大可玩味者,因为其后的社会历史发展,似在相当程度上印证了荀子之论。

The basic explanation of the connotation of Confucianism is ＂Confucianism means gentle＂in the Shuo-wen,however,there are many misunderstandings about Confucianism.The ＂gentle＂,on one hand,refers to the soft gentle personality of Confucians;on the other hand,to the Confucian’s political stand to rule the country by ＂social rules for etiquette and harmony＂and ＂benevolence＂but not by force.It’s very ingenious that some scholars make a comparison between Jesus and Confucius,and,between Judaism and Confucianism,but we must seek the roots of the Confucianism from ancient Chinese historical and cultural traditions,that is,the scholarly Confucian education system of Zhou dynasty.Confucianism was originally one of the offcial duties,later became a social professional,and in the period of Confucius,it became a moral group to pursuit a particular social ideal.In order to illustrate the impact of the Confucian social role,Xunzi divided the category of maharaja according to the Confucian standards,that’s Xunzi’s exposition on Confucianism which drew the most attention.Xunzi’s exposition might be able to explain the relationship between Confucianism and Chinese ancient society;the subsequent development of social history has proved Xunzi’s exposition on Confucianism to a certain extent.