文化与人性:再论孟子的心性论

Culture and Humanity:Revisit Mencius' Theories of Mind-nature

孟子以仁义礼智之心作为人之为人、人禽之辨的根本,这种人性论自提出后就因其先验性而受到质疑。但现代人类学倾向认为文化在人由古猿到智人的进化过程中起了主导作用,它最终导致了人类心智的形成。心智指的是人类生物体的某类倾向定势,主要指人类创造并使用象征性符号的能力,以及与之相伴的人类道德的倾向性,孟子所说的仁义礼智之心指的就是这种文化学习能力和道德倾向性,它意味着没有独立于文化的人性。没有文化的人类会是没有多少有用本能的怪物,只有极少的可理解的情感,而且没有智力,是智力的残疾人。换言之,没有文化的人类不能称其为人,正是在这个意义上孟子才将仁义礼智之心作为人性的根本。仁义礼智之心是先验的,但由于它是在人类的文化实践中形成的,因而又是经验的,只有在相应的文化中才能被感知。所以说道德建设的根本在于文化建设,这也正是孟子仁政思想所要表达的主旨。

Mencius considers the heart of benevolence,righteousness,propriety and wisdom as the most fundamental feature of human beings which differs themselves from brutal animals.Once his theories of mind-nature was proposed,doubts and arguments on the transcendentalism of the theories have never ceased.Modern anthropologists tend to believe that it is culture that brought about formation of human mind;therefore,culture played a leading role in the evolution from fossil anthropoid to homo sapiens.Human mind refers to the tendencies and conventions human beings possess,mainly including abilities to create and use symbols and moral orientations associated with those symbols.The heart of benevolence,righteousness,propriety and wisdom represents the cultural learning abilities and moral orientations,and it cannot be isolated from culture.If human beings were deprived of culture,they would become monsters with basic survival instincts,minimal emotions and intelligence disability.In other words,＂human＂should not be addressed before the word＂beings＂if beings do not possess culture,thus Mencius sets the heart of benevolence,righteousness,propriety and wisdom as the essence of human mind.The heart of benevolence,righteousness,propriety and wisdom is transcendental because it forms in the process of human beings＇ cultural practice;while it is also empirical because it only can be perceived in the corresponding culture.Therefore,moral construction lies in cultural construction,which is the core of Mencius＇ ideas of Benevolent Policies.