孔子在中国文化史上的地位及其成因(上)——兼评“去圣化”倾向

The Position of Confucius in the History of Chinese Culture and Its Causes: With a Comment on the Tendency of Desacralization

孔子以文自任,始对中国文化统绪进行系统建构与自觉反省。他上承六经,乃经学之鼻祖;下开九流,乃诸子之源。由孔子始,以传播知识为谋生手段的独立的士(文士)阶层开始走上历史舞台,开辟了中国学术文化独立传承、发展的统绪。没有孔子,就没有战国时代诸子并作、百家争鸣局面的出现。孔子以其全幅的生命撑开成就了"人伦之至"(圣人)的人格典范,可以说"去圣没有真孔子"。

Confucius undertook the transmission of culture as his task, and began to reconstruct the system of Chinese culture with a strong sense of cultural introspection. As the first one to inherit, study, and compile the Six Classics, he opened up the nine major schools of Chinese philosophy and spurred a long succession of philosophers and scholars. From Confucius on, the shi （scholar-officials） began to investigate history and became an independent social class by disseminating knowledge as their means of living. Moreover, shi initiated a system of independently inheriting and developing Chinese academic culture. Without Confucius, philosophers would not have contended with one another in the socalled hundred schools of thought during the Warring States period. Confucius spent his entire life practicing as he preached, thereby setting the example of what the ultimate standard of human relations （a sage） should be. It can be said that the true Confucius would be lost if he was desacralized. Here is the first half of the article, the second part to be published in a later issue.