亲人、熟人与生人--社会变迁图景中的儒家伦理

Family Members,Friends and Strangers:Confucian Ethics in Social Transformation

本文试图为儒家伦理的现代意义提供一个新的论述框架。它不是以人性论为基础对儒家伦理的形上价值的重复阐述,也非再次展示儒家道德人格在当代生活中应有的魅力;而是从人对人的眼光与态度出发,运用儒家传统的思想资源,重构一幅人伦关系、价值取向与社会组织结构相关联的图景。论文的思路,是追溯儒家伦理原则的形成,同它运用于其中的社会组织或结构的相互关系,探讨它在应对社会秩序的变化时,是否具有变通或扩容的能力。而在描述人与人的关系上,不再延用阶级分类或抽象的人的概念,而是采取像亲人、熟人、生人甚至敌人这样更直观的表达。这些范畴在理解我们的伦理经验时更具普适性。作者想阐明的观点是,儒家伦理不但有需要,而且有潜力扩展其应对现代生活的原则。同时,这种扩展的目标,不只是对现代经验的被动适应,它也包含着以自身的价值塑造现代生活的努力。儒学应当面对当下,关怀未来。

This paper attempts to provide a new framework of exposition on the modern meaning of Confucian ethics. It is not a repetition of the metaphysical value of Confucian ethics based on human nature,nor is it another display of the charm of Confucian moral personality in modern life. Rather,it starts with how people view and treat each other and,equipped with the philosophical resources of the Confucian tradition,sets out to reconstruct a picture of inter- personal relationship and value orientation in association with social organization and structure. The paper traces the formation of the Confucian ethical principle and its interaction with the social organization or structure in which it is applied,and explores whether it has the adaptability and expandability to cope with the ever- changing social order. In describing inter- personal relationship,the paper relinquishes class division or any abstract concept of human being and adopts the more straightforward terms such as family members,friends,strangers and even enemies which have greater relevance to our ethical experiences. The author maintains that Confucians ethics not only needs to but also has the potential to expand itself to encompass modern life. Such expansion is not just passive adaptation to modern experiences,rather it contains the initiative to shape modern life with its own value. Confucianism should be both reality-oriented and forward-looking.