《孟子》中“天”字涵义辨析——兼论“天”在孟子哲学中的地位

The Analysis Of the Concept of Heaven in Mencius——On the Position of "Heaven" in Mencius’ Philosophy

《孟子》一书中“天”共出现82次,这八十多个“天”的含义主要有五层涵义:自然之天、主宰之天、民意之天、命运之天和义理之天。其中民意之天和义理之天为《孟子》中“天”的主要含义。义理之天是孟子性善论的理论基础,民意之天则为孟子民本思想的重要内容。而孟子哲学思想的核心是性善论和民本观,所以“天”在孟子思想中地位很高。

The concept of heaven has appeared in the work of Mencius for 82 times.The concept of heaven has five connotations:the heaven of nature,the heaven of domination,the heaven of the will of the people,the heaven of fate,and the heaven of ration.The two main meanings of heaven in Mencius are listed as follows:the heaven of the will of the people and the heaven of ration.The heaven of ration is the theoretical basis of the kindness of human nature,while the heaven of the will of the people is the important content of populist ideas.As is generally acknowledged,the cores of Mencius’philosophy are the theory of the kindness of human nature and populist ideas,so the concept of heaven occupies an important position in Mencius’philosophy.