周人之“德”为“明德”论——兼论殷周之“德”的区别

Research on“light De”of Zhou— the differences between the Shang's “De”and Zhou's “De”

"德"的原始观念来源于人们对"效能"和"能力"崇拜,是古代君王通过"巡省"方式树立自己的权威和影响力的反映。"德"字之初义就是"政治控驭能力和权威影响力",这种观念大概产生于部族联合体的尧舜禹时代,所以"德"不是周人的首创,周人只是提出了不同于商人的"明德"观念,以"帝迁明德"为自己的政治合法性依据。"德"作为政治控驭能力的代称包括"刚克"和"柔克"两种手段,作为"刚克"手段的刑罚也是原始"德"含义的一个方面。与周人的"明德"观念相一致,"明刑"、"明罚"思想也是周人"明德"观念的衍生思想。

The primitive concept of ＂De＂ originated from the worship of ＂efficiency＂ and ＂ability＂ of people and reflected that the ancient kings established the authority through ＂inspection＂. The initial meaning of ＂De＂ was ＂political controlling ability and influence of authority＂ and this concept probably produced in the tribal alliance of Yao and Shun and Yu times. Therefore, ＂De＂ was not the initiative of Zhou people who only proposed the concept of ＂light De＂ which was different from that of the Shang people. Besides, they took ＂the emperor of heaven moved light De＂ for their political legitimacy basis. As a political controlled ability, ＂De＂ included ＂rigid＂ means and ＂soft＂ means. Punishment, as a ＂rigid＂ means, was an aspect of the original meaning of ＂De＂. Consistent with the Zhou people＇s ＂light De＂ concept, ＂light penalty＂ and ＂light punishment＂ were also derivations of the ＂light De＂.