王阳明与柏拉图善恶观之比较

A Comparison of Plato and Wang Yang-ming's Perspective of Goodness and Evil

王阳明和柏拉图的善恶观都是建立在其宇宙观上的。在宇宙观方面,阳明是理一元论,而柏拉图是创造者与被造物二元论。由此产生了其善恶观的不同。在柏拉图那里,善恶是与精神和物质、灵魂和肉体的二元对立相对应的;在阳明这里,则善恶本为一物,善之过与不及就是恶。善恶不是简单地对应着超验与经验、精神和物质、人和动植物之对立。将阳明道德学说与柏拉图的古典道德学说相比较,就能看到良知学说之独特性和优越性。

Plato’s and Wang Yangming’s distinct viewpoints of goodness and evil,with regard to the cosmology,referred to the dualism between creator and created things,and the monism as the source of common things,respectively.Plato viewed goodness and evil as material and spirit,mind and body in a dual perspective while Wang thought of evil as equal to goodness,emphasizing that,whether someone overdoes the goodness or not,goodness was connected with evil absolutely,and that goodness and evil were not easily linked with the antithesis between transcendence and experience,physical and spiritual factors,as well as human and nature.The comparative study of these distinctive theories of classical ethics can contribute to revealing the superiority and uniqueness of conscience.