德性实践与德性之知——论二程经学诠释的转向

Moral Practice and the Understanding of Virtue——On the Cheng Brothers' Shift in Confucian Classical Commentary

传统经学诠释有训诂、义理之分,北宋二程的经学转向进一步揭示出经学诠释中的"德性"内涵。二程经学思想不啻是义理之学,更是德性之学,它包含了德性实践和德性之知两个维度。二程将诠释重点从作者和文本转向读者,将治经问学的目的从知性理解转向德性实践,这就脱离了形式上的训诂之学。同时,又指出以德性之知来接近圣人境界,进而理解圣人所作经典中蕴含的义理,这又超越了普通意义上的义理之学。注重德性实践,从德性出发去理解经典和圣人,最后通达"天理",是二程经学思想的核心,也是两宋"道学"或"宋明理学"不同于传统儒家经学的关键所在,更是中国儒家经典诠释思想与西方诠释学思想的差异所在。

Traditional Confucian classical commentary distinguished between exegesis and argumentation.The Northern Song dynasty's Cheng Brothers,Cheng Yi程颐and Cheng Hao程颢,changed this and revealed the argumentation's moral dimension;their thought was not just a theory of argumentation but also of virtue,concerned with understanding it and with moral practice.That is to say,the Cheng Brothers shifted the focus from the authors or texts to the readers and turned the study of the classics away from intellectual understanding toward moral practice,deviating from formal exegesis.At the same time,they emphasized moral understanding as a means of approaching the realm of the Sages and of grasping the classics'argumentation,thereby transcending the sense of the common exegesis.The core of the Cheng Brothers'thought is paying attention to moral practice,understanding the classics and the Sages through virtue,and finally approaching heavenly principle(天理),which is the key distinction between the Neo-Confucianism of the Song and Ming dynasties and traditional Confucianism,as well as a difference between Chinese Confucian classical commentary and Western hermeneutics.