论召公在我国思想史上的地位

Study on the Status of the Duke of Shao in the History of Thoughts in China

学术界充分肯定了周公在我国思想史上的地位,而召公则被忽视。其实,召公对我国思想史发展的深远影响,是可与周公媲美的。这表现在召公:就如何对待"天"及发展西周王朝,提出了"天不可信",振兴西周王朝这决定于我——"时我",推进了从神本走向人本的历史进程;提出了处在共同体中的"休(美好)"、"恤(忧患)"矛盾的对立统一,强调防止"休"向"恤"转化,此实为和谐哲学的雏形;提出了"弥性"的性善说和"节性"的性恶说,开启了我国人性论的先导;提出了"敬德保民",以德治国的新思想;提出了要以夏、殷"不敬德"而亡国为鉴。其"不敬德"的内涵集中到一点就是"贪婪腐败"。故以夏、殷为鉴,就是要以其"贪婪腐败"而亡国的教训为鉴,从而揭示了一个国家政治清廉则兴,贪婪腐败则亡的历史规律;召公为政清廉,为民不扰民,以利民便民为务,这既是"敬德保民"思想的身体力行,又是其平民化思想的标志。总之,召公对上述六个方面的论述的深刻性超越了周公,对思想史的发展做出了独特的杰出贡献,应充分肯定其在我国思想史上的崇高地位。

The contribution of the Duke of Zhou has been fully recognized in Chinese history of thoughts while the achievement of the Duke of Shao has been ignored. In fact, the Duke of Shao has exerted a great influence on the development of Chinese history of thoughts and his attainment can rival that of the Duke of Zhou. His talents and achievement can be convincingly proved by the following ideas. To the attitude towards the “heaven”, he put forward the view that the “heaven”couldn’t be trusted and depended. To the development of Western Zhou Dynasty, he came up with the point that it was determined by“I”, that is, the“present self”. His thoughts contributed to the historical change from being God-oriented to being people-oriented. What’s more, he raised the viewpoint that welfare and adversity existed in a unity with opposites contradicting with each other. He emphasized the necessity to prevent the welfare from being changed into adversity, which in fact paves the way of the for-mation of the harmony philosophy. He also proposed the thoughts that people were born naturally benevolent or evil, which ini-tiates the theory of human nature in China. Additionally, he advocated the new thought of respecting the virtues, protecting the people and governing a country by morality, which could be illustrated by the subjugation of Xia and Yin Dynasty. The core of“showing no respect for virtues”referred to“greed and corruption”, from which a lesson is clearly displayed that prosperity of a country can only be guaranteed by integrity while decline is doomed as the result of corruption. The Duke of Shao stuck to the principle of clean governing and regarded serving the people as his own obligation. He set an example by personally practicing his own thoughts, which symbolized his civilian theory. In brief, the Duke of Shao excels the Duke of Zhou in the profound ar-gument of the above six aspects. He made a unique contribution to the development of Chinese theories and his lofty status deserved a full affirmation.