苏轼辨孟考

A study of Su Shi's dialectic attitude towards Mencius

苏轼毕生都对孟子思想持有辩证的态度,他真诚地尊孟,于孟子之学深入有得;亦严肃地辨孟,与孟子展开深刻的思想对话。苏轼辨孟可条为四端,或为误读《孟子》,或为质疑孟子所言不符事实,或为担心孟子的立论为后人误解,或为观点确与孟子不同。南宋尊孟派据其最后一端视之为非孟派,所论虽欠公允,但亦确有所依。苏轼辨孟之关键在于孟子辨性善,苏轼认为人性虽有向善之倾向,却无善恶之属性。苏轼以情本论立言,固有会通儒道之意,却背离了儒家在性理维度上对人性的根本规定,南宋理学家视其为非孟派,亦可谓直抵本根。

Su Shi took a dialectic attitude towards Mencius all his life. Despite his respecting Mencius sincerely,his concerns over Mencius' thoughts find expression in the following aspects: his possible misunderstanding of Mencius' thoughts; his doubts about the accuracy of Mencius' argument; hid worries over the possible misunderstanding of Mencius' thoughts by later generations; his different points of view from Mencius's. Based on the last aspect,the Mencius-respecting scholars in the Southern Song dynasty were somewhat right in regarding Su Shi as an opponent of Mencius. Su Shi's argument different from Mencius's focused on the goodness of human nature. Su Shi held that although there was a tendency of goodness in human nature,it was not good or bad in essence. Su Shi established his emotion-based theory in order to integrate Confucianism with Taoism,which in fact deviated from the basic principle of human nature of Confucianism. Therefore,it was appropriate that the Neo-Confucians in the Southern Song dynasty regarded him as an opponent of Mencius.