去玄的玄学解读——简评耿宁先生的王弼研究

The De-metaphysical Interpretations on Metaphysics: A Brief commentary on Iso Kern's Study on Wang Bi

耿宁认为,儒学中政治与道德实践的具体、实在效用,与人性、心性的本体问题如何解决有着极为重要的关系,打通"用"之"实"与"体"之"玄"的宋明儒学之努力,也与魏晋玄学、与王弼的探讨有关。首先,王弼的哲学言说方式,是为其儒家的政治、伦理关怀服务的。王弼思想之玄远,是为解决政治和伦理效用过多纠缠于具象而不能体现大效用的问题而设。王弼的贡献,不仅在于他通过《老子》赋予儒家政治与伦理思想新意义,而且在于他同时通过《庄子》赋予儒家生活形式与修身功夫新意味。正是通过《庄子》,原本被片面玄化(抽象化)理解的《老子》道家思想对儒家思想的补充作用,起到了连通道家与以孟子为中心的儒家理论的桥梁意义。

Through interpreting Iso Kern's study on Wang Bi's metaphysics, this article tries to show the peculiarities of his study that should be noticed. According to Kern, there are very important connections in Confucianism between the specific effectiveness of political and moral practices and the methods to solve the ontological problems of human nature. Confucians in Song and Ming dynasties attempted to understand thoroughly the relationship between practices' effectiveness and nature's metaphysics. This effort connects tightly with Wang Bi's thought. First of all, Wang Bi's philosophical means of expression are at service for his political and ethical concerns. The metaphysical aspect of Wang Bi's thought derives from the problem that political and moral effectiveness is so much tangled with specificities that it cannot embody the great effectiveness. Moreover, Wang Bi's contribution not only lies in the fact that he gives a new political and ethical meaning to Confucian thoughts through commentary to Laotsu, but also lies in the fact that he endows the new way of life and cultivation to Confucianism through commentary to Chuangtzu. More importantly, it is just through the commentary to Chuangtzu that Taoism of Laotsu,which was understood one-sided metaphysically(abstractly) before, becomes a supplement to Confucianism; in other word, it bridges Taoism and the Confucian theory which took Mencius as its center.