孟子性善论的源与流

Source and Flows of Mencius＇ Good Human Nature Theory

“性善论”是孟子思想的基础，孟子被认为是孔子思想的继承者，然而孔子却未对“善”作过专门论述。老子称“上善若水”，孟子“道性善”，二人有关“善”的思想是否存在某种渊源？在人人都对“善”充满美好向往的先秦时代，荀子为什么针对孟子的“性善论”提出“人之性恶”？董仲舒在审视孟苟人性论的基础上提出了“性三品说”，“性三品说”能否成立？厘清他们之间的思想关系，这些问题就会得到合理的解答。

Mencius is usually regarded as inheritor of Confucius＂ thoughts. But the basis of his theory, original good nature of human, has no source from the latter, who had no specific comment on that. On contrary, there are many traces of other interrelations： Lao Tse remarked that ＂best nature is like water＂ , and Mencius said ＂Tao is good in nature＂ ; in the ＂goodness＂ -pursuing pre-Qin period, Xuan Zi proposed ＂original evil human nature＂ as contrary to Mencius＇; On basis of Xun Zi＇s theory, Dong Zhongshu proposed ＂three natures of human＂ . A survey of the entanglement of those theories, we can find a reasonable answer for the riddle.