儒家性朴论:以孔子、荀子、董仲舒为中心

Confucian Doctrine of Man's Original Nature as Simple and Uncarved:Focusing on the Ideas of Confucius,Xunzi,and Dong Zhongshu

在儒家中持性朴论的典型代表是荀子和董仲舒,孔子也倾向于此论。《荀子》一书中的《礼论》、《劝学》、《荣辱》、《儒效》等都表明了人性朴,而《性恶》应该是荀子后学所作。董仲舒在继承荀子性朴论的基础上凸显了性中善的潜质,但不认可孟子的性善论。根据性朴论,人性不能说是善的,也不能说是恶的,而是中性的,故它不同于性善论,也不同于性恶论。性朴论也异于性有善有恶论和性无善无恶论。司马迁、董仲舒、韩婴等西汉中期的人未读过《性恶》,对我们推断它的产生时间很有帮助。

Xunzi and Dong Zhongshu are typical representatives of Confucians who hold that man＇soriginal natue is simple and uncarved. Confucius＇ opinion of human nature is similar to that. TheChapters in the Xunzi such as ＂Discourse on Ritural Principles＂, ＂Exhortation to Learning＂, ＂Of Honorand Disgrace＂, ＂the Teachings of Ru＂ show simple and uncarved human nature. The chapter ＂Man＇sNature is Evil＂ should be written by Xunzi＇s followers, not by himself. Following Xunzi＇s opinion ofhuman nature, Dong Zhongshu highlighted the good potential of man＇s original nature. But he did notapprove of Mencius＇s doctrine of man＇s originalnature as fully good. According to the doctrine of man＇soriginal nature as simple and uncarved, the nature is neither fully good nor fully evil, but basicallyneutral. It is different from both the doctrine that human nature is good and the doctrine that humannature is evil. Meanwhile, it doesn＇t mean that man＇s original nature is partly good and partly evil or thatthere is neither good or evil potentials in the nature. The fact that people in the middle Western HanDynasty such as Sima qian, Dong Zhongshu, Han Ying never read the chapter ＂Man＇s Nature is Evil＂ isvery helpful for us to detect the time when the chapter was written.