从“内圣”到“外王”:儒家人性论反思

From“Inner Sageness”to“Outer Kingship”: A Review of the Confucian Theory of Human Nature

"内圣"与"外王"演绎了儒家政治理论和实践的一般逻辑,"内圣"为"外王"预设了前提假定,"外王"则是"内圣"的逻辑推论。较之于西方基督教人性观和康德的人性观,儒家的人性观显然是高调而又乐观的。由于儒家人性观缺乏对人性幽暗面的直视与警醒,一直致力于内在圣贤人格的修成而少有外在制度方面对权力进行防范,这导致了传统中国政治实践中德治和人治观念的盛行,从而难以产生出现代民主法治精神。由于"内圣"与"外王"之间的因果逻辑,新儒家从"老内圣"推出"新外王"的理论努力值得商榷。

'Inner sageness'and'outer kingship'deduce a general logic of the Confucian political theory and practice: the former being the latter's presupposition and the latter the former's logic consequence.Compared with the views of human nature of Kant and the Western Christians,the Confucian view of human nature is both lofty and optimistic.The Confucian view,however,lacks the insight into and the vigilance against the dark side of human nature;it advocates the cultivation of the inner sageness and rarely keeps watching the outer institutional powers. This leads to the prevalence of rule of man and rule of virtue conceptions in China's traditional political practice and the dystocia of the spirit of modern democracy and rule of law. Because of the causal logic connection of the'inner sageness'and the'outer kingship',the Neo-Confucianist theory of'new outer kingship'deducted from'old inner sageness'is debatable.